Phoenix Suns: NBA teams which will benefit from a shortened season: Part 1
The NBA lockout has entered its fifth month despite detailed negotiations between both parties – the NBA players and the owners. The meeting on Friday, October 28, was expected to be a critical one as both Billy Hunter, the executive
director of the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA), and David Stern, the NBA Commissioner had indicated that the two sides were within striking distance of a deal. However not only the deal wasn’t reached but a catastrophic announcement about cancellation
of first month of regular season was also made by Stern.
“It’s not practical, possible or prudent to have a full season now.” He said. “We held out that joint hope together, but in light of the breakdown of talks, there will not be a full NBA season under any circumstances. I say that
with apologies to the municipalities in which we play our games, to the workers who earn their living in our buildings, and from businesses around the buildings.”
So now, it’s clear that there won’t be complete 82 games, there is still a possibility of a shortened season of let’s say 40-50 games. While most of the teams will suffer because of the slashed season, for many teams, this shortened
season might prove to be a blessing in disguise.
Few teams which are likely to benefit from a shortened season are as under:
Phoenix Suns:
Phoenix Suns is one of the finest but most unfortunate NBA teams. Having reached the Conference finals nine times and into the NBA finals twice, Phoenix has still not managed to grab a single championship title.
Since 2010, Phoenix is in rebuilding phase with most of the players leaving the team. After the departure of Amar’e Stoudemire, Suns was in dire straits and spent around $ 80 million last year to fill the gap left after Stoudemire
by acquiring Hedo Turkoglu and Hakim Warrick.
However Suns still has giants Steve Nash, Grant Hill and Vince Carter who was also acquired last year who together are the backbone of the team. These three are responsible to lead the offense of team and no wonder they were the
top scorers from Suns last season.
A shortened season is likely going to help Suns perform better because all these three players are above 30. The youngest of three Vince Carter is almost touching mid-thirties whereas other two veterans are almost forty.
Age is a critical factor and those who closely follow basketball know how age affects the performance of a player. Phoenix can use every missed game to provide rest to aging legs of its trio so their performance is enhanced in
the next game. The more time they will get in between games because of the short season, the more energetically they are going to be in the court and might take Phoenix into conference finals and who knows win them the most awaited title too.
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