I walked into the home opener for the Phoenix Suns for the 28th time on Wednesday night. Many years I knew I was entering into the building to see a team that was going to be playing games into late May, early June. For the last ten years, including last season, I wasn’t really sure what I was going to see. I started feeling like the franchise was turning the corner upon the arrival of James Jones and Monty Williams, but there was always the wildcard of the owner.
What I saw on and off the court over the summer was truly remarkable. Great chemistry, no “Me” just “We”. The magical run to the NBA Finals took me back to all of the years when I would walk in on the opening night and know that there was a team in town that was going to make a deep postseason run. Charles, KJ, Amar’e, Nash, Raja, and many, many others are now joined by Chris Paul, Devin Booker, Jae Crowder, and the rest of the Suns team that was introduced before the opener against Denver.
But like any good story, there are going to be the ups and downs of the regular season. An unexpected injury will happen. The losing streak of a couple or three will happen. The conversation about Deandre Aytons contract being a problem will undoubtedly be brought up to fill in the gaps of the slow time of a long(too long) NBA regular season. Get back to me around Christmas Day and let’s see where the team stands. But on my 28th opening night, I left the building knowing that this is a team that will be playing when the calendar is in May and, likely June…
Brad Cesmat
