Bill Simmons: What could be cooler than the Suns making the Finals?

The Phoenix Suns’ season-high seven-game winning streak came to an end on Thursday night in Los Angeles at the hands of the Clippers, 113-103.

But in the Suns’ defense, they were coming off of a 117-113 overtime win on Wednesday night in Phoenix over the Utah Jazz, who sport the best record in the NBA.

“I don’t think any NBA team is winning that game (Thursday night) and I still feel like they’re a true contender,” The Ringer’s Bill Simmons said on The Bill Simmons Podcast after the game. “If I had to rank the West teams, I’d still have the Lakers No. 1 and I’d have Phoenix and Denver 2-A and 2-B and I would have Utah fourth. … I think Phoenix would beat (Utah) in a series absolutely.”

While Phoenix’s decade-long playoff drought won’t technically come to an end until the start of the postseason, Suns fans have been giddy about the prospect of playoff basketball since the bubble.

Simmons noted the long run of success the Suns have had in the Valley — albeit without any Larry O’Brien championship trophies to show for it. From 1976 to 2010, Phoenix made a grand total of nine conference championship series appearances, which included two trips to the NBA Finals in 1976 and 1993. Unfortunately for the Suns, those both ended in bitter disappointment, the latter of which came at the hands of Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls.

Fast forward to 2021 and it’s become evident on the court that Phoenix is a legitimate title contender once again thanks to the roster general manager James Jones has constructed.

“They have an identity. They play with pace, they’re efficient. They know who they are,” Simmons said. “They have two guys who can create really, really, really, good shots when it matters in (Chris) Paul and (Devin) Booker. They have interchangeable wings. Sometimes they don’t show up, like (Jae) Crowder [Thursday night] was awful — it’s one of the reasons they lost. But for the most part, pretty flexible team. (Deandre) Ayton allows them to basically play a bunch of smaller guys around them.”

Offensively this season, the Suns are averaging 114.4 points per game (tied for eighth in NBA), shooting 48.9% from the field (tied for second), 37.6% from three (ninth) and 83.2% from the charity stripe (tied for second). Phoenix also ranks seventh in offensive efficiency and 26th in pace of play.

“They’re playing as about as slow as any contending team, but they’re getting all the shots they want and they’re getting them at a high level of efficiency,” Simmons said. “And they’re also the third-best free throw team in the league. And here’s why that’s important: If they’re up three with 20 seconds left, the game is over.”

When it comes to late-game free throws in crunch time, the Suns have a few guys who they can depend on. That’s because the likes of Paul (92.3%), Cam Johnson (88.1%), Booker (85.7%), Mikal Bridges (82.8%) and Crowder (79%) are all shooting around an 80% clip.

“I like the shots they get late. I like all the clutch minutes they’re getting for reps. I like their defense. I like how hard they play and the switching that they do,” Simmons said. “And really the only turd in the punch bowl would be Deandre Ayton. The smart teams just try to get him in a switch 20 feet from the basket, but that really doesn’t make him any different than Rudy Gobert. The Suns did that to Rudy Gobert all of Wednesday. I just think there’s a lot of parity in the West this year.”

The lack of a true backup for Ayton is a concern for Simmons, especially after the Suns were relatively quiet at the trade deadline/buyout season as big men joined other title contenders around the league.

“They don’t have a backup center. That would be my fear,” Simmons said. “If I had to point what are your two fears with this team to not being able to win three rounds, it would be: Ayton foul trouble — what do they do if he has five fouls in a pivotal game halfway through the third quarter? And then Chris Paul’s health — can he last and what kind of alien is Chris Paul? … Chris is the point guard version of (LeBron James).

“Point guards don’t age like this. Point guards are usually done as guys who can play more than 25 minutes a game by the time they’re 35. … He’s still really good and he’s 37 and he has a ton of miles on him. And if you compare him with the games played, the minutes played and his production, which he’s basically 17 and nine every night and the same kind of shooting percentages and you compare that to every point guard ever — he’s alone. Nobody’s done this. Nobody’s done this at the level he’s doing it.”

Simmons says the Suns can make the NBA Finals for the first time in nearly 30 years if they can get the No. 1 or No. 2 seed and avoid a healthy Los Angeles Lakers squad, at least early on.

“It leads to Phoenix being able to reinvent themselves as a contender. And you think if they had taken (Tyrese) Haliburton instead Jalen Smith, I actually think they’d be the favorites in the West. Right now they’re not the favorite. The Cam Johnson pick — the fact that we all thought he was going to be a bust — he’s not. And you just think, what could be cooler than Phoenix in this really goofy, [expletive] up year than them making the Finals?”

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