Phoenix Suns are following Golden State, Oklahoma City models

PHOENIX — The comparison was made first by head coach Earl Watson and then general manager Ryan McDonough. Players, from Eric Bledsoe to Tyson Chandler to Jared Dudley, were asked about the comparison. But to be fair, Bledsoe wanted no part of the conversation.

“I don’t look at nobody else. I focus on what we got. They did what they did. I don’t care about them,” he said during exit interviews last month, referring to the Oklahoma City Thunder and Golden State Warriors.

The Phoenix Suns believe they are close — a year or two, maybe three — to knocking down the wall that has separated them from the Western Conference playoffs for the past seven seasons, which is the longest drought in franchise history.

The Suns believe they are on the right path. They point to the examples set by the Thunder and Warriors, two teams that built through the draft thus laying the foundation for sustained success.

“It’s all about putting pieces together that make sense,” Watson said.

Several times throughout this season Watson mentioned the Thunder organization and how it wasn’t long ago that they, too, struggled to win games like the Suns. Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook won 20 and 23 games, respectively, in their rookie seasons. Watson played on those teams in 2007-08 and 2008-09.

Then the following season, after the drafting of James Harden with the third overall pick, the Thunder jumped to 50 wins and began a stretch of five straight playoff appearances, including a trip to the NBA Finals in 2012.

“These young guys can grow quickly,” Watson said, perhaps hoping the same is in store for his team.

The Warriors experienced several lean seasons as well before their current run of success. Stephen Curry averaged 31 wins in his first two seasons. The addition of Klay Thompson produced just 23 wins in 2011-12. It wasn’t until Draymond Green’s arrival — as a 2012 second-round pick — that the Warriors finally had the pieces in place for their current five-year run of postseason success, including winning the 2015 NBA Championship.

The Thunder and Warriors models have been studied by the Suns, according to McDonough.

“Obviously, if any of our guys or some of our guys end up in the stratosphere of those MVP candidates, then we’ll have done well and they’ll have done well and that bodes well for the future,” he said.

Looking at the current group of Suns finds more than half the roster 24 years old and younger, including a pair of teenagers (Dragan Bender and Marquese Chriss) and two barely in their 20s (Devin Booker and Derrick Jones Jr.).

The Suns are building.

“We have some guys (who are) on that level and capable of really carrying a franchise. I played against the young Thunder team and we knocked them out in the Western Conference Finals and then they went on to be in the Finals the following year,” Chandler said, referring to his time with Dallas.

“With the pieces that’s already up there and you add a draft pick and a few veterans, all of sudden you can have something promising. That’s what I saw when I declined trade offers and things like that because I felt like why go somewhere else and help some other players develop when I got my young brothers here that are right there in turning the corner.”

Chandler knows first-hand how difficult it is to win in the NBA, especially for a young, talented player just entering the league. The second overall pick of the 2001 NBA Draft straight out of high school, Chandler won 21, 30 and 23 games in his first three seasons before making the playoffs in 2005.

The Suns are guaranteed a top-five pick in next month’s draft. They have two second-round selections as well, which will infuse more youth into the roster; barring a trade, of course.

Though as Dudley pointed out during exit interviews, adding another high draft pick doesn’t always equate to success, meaning making the playoffs. There are teams on the opposite end of the spectrum of Golden State and Oklahoma City.

“Minnesota has two No.1 picks (Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins) and they’re home right there with us,” Dudley said.

Philadelphia is another example. With Ben Simmons (No.1 pick, 2016), Jahlil Okafor (No.3, 2015) and Joel Embiid (No.3, 2014), it’s still been five years since the 76ers last sniffed the postseason.

In other words, some luck is involved as well.

For now, the Suns are preaching patience as they work to construct a roster that’s capable of winning for seasons to come.

“How long does it take? It’s a good question. I don’t know,” McDonough said. “This is a multi-year process. However, if we’re good over the next couple of years, I think, we’ll be good for 10 years after that because you usually win with guys in their late 20s to early 30s. In a few years, the core of our team will still be in their mid-20s and we’ll have a lot of talent and, I think, a lot of depth.”

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