Analytics site: Phoenix Suns have fielded three of NBA’s best 100 teams
May 22, 2015, 11:36 AM | Updated: 1:03 pm
Was the 1992-93 season the Phoenix Suns’ strongest campaign in team history?
No, at least according to the analytics website FiveThirtyEightSports, which recently ranked each NBA team’s best and worst season.
The website, created by statistician and writer Nate Silver, used Elo ratings to arrive at its comprehensive list.
Elo ratings, the basis for the interactive, should be familiar to regular readers of FiveThirtyEight. We introduced them for the NFL last year, and they proved to be a popular feature. But we didn’t invent the idea: Elo ratings were originally developed to rate chess players and have also been used in soccer, baseball and other sports.
Elo is like the iPad of sports power ratings: Their design is quite simple, and they do a lot with a little, depending only on the final score of each game and where it was played. Teams always gain Elo points after winning games — although more for upset wins and for winning by wider margins — and lose ground after losing them. They account for both regular-season and playoff games. If you want (much, much) more detail, see here.
So, where did Phoenix’s 62-20 and NBA Finals-qualifying season rank on the list for best campaigns?
The Charles Barkley-led group came in 92nd overall, but was behind two more recent versions of the Suns. The 2006-2007 Suns (61-21, lost in Western Conference Semifinals) were ranked 62nd, while the 2004-05 version of the team (62-20, lost in Western Conference Finals) came in at No. 72.
Seven other iterations of the Suns put together one of the NBA’s best 200 seasons, according to the analytics site:
No. 112: 2009-10 Suns (54-28, lost in Western Conference Finals)
No. 120: 1989-90 Suns (54-28, lost in Western Conference Finals)
No. 144: 2005-06 Suns (54-28, lost in Western Conference Finals)
No. 160: 1993-94 Suns (56-26, lost in Western Conference Semifinals)
No. 172: 1988-89 Suns (55-27, lost in Western Conference Finals)
No. 174: 2007-08 Suns (55-27, lost Western Conference first round)
No. 196: 1994-95 Suns (59-23, lost in Western Conference Semifinals)
The lowest-ranking Phoenix team was the inaugural one. The 1968-89 Suns, despite more than 20 points per game from both Gail Goodrich and Dick Van Arsdale, posted just a 16-66 record and what came to be the 1,474th-ranked season — the 12th from the bottom.
Despite five straight playoff-less seasons, the Suns still boast the fourth-best winning percentage of any NBA franchise at .551 — but, of course, the team is still seeking its first title.
The best three individual teams according to the rankings are the 1) 1995-96 Chicago Bulls, 2) 1996-97 Bulls and 3) 1985-86 Boston Celtics. This year’s version of the Golden State Warriors actually placed fourth, and could still move higher, depending on how the rest of the playoffs shake out.
