ESPN’s Broussard: Phoenix Suns should contend for a playoff spot

The Phoenix Suns have not made the NBA playoffs in each of the past five seasons, but ESPN’s Chris Broussard said that run could come to an end in 2015-16.

Broussard told Bickley & Marotta of Arizona Sports 98.7 FM that the Suns should battle for the eighth seed next season.

“I think they’ll be in the hunt (for a playoff spot) with Dallas, maybe Utah,” Broussard said.

The Suns won 39 games in 2014-15 after winning 48 games the previous season.

Phoenix selected Kentucky’s Devin Booker 13th overall in this year’s NBA Draft.

In free agency, Phoenix re-signed point guard Brandon Knight to a five-year, $70 million contract, added former NBA Defensive Player of the Year Tyson Chandler on a four-year $52 million deal and made a run at one of the top free agents on the market in All-Star forward LaMarcus Aldridge.

Expectations, however, shouldn’t be too high beyond just making the playoffs, as Broussard said Phoenix is “certainly” not a title contender.

The big thing, Broussard said, is moving forward from being a middle-of-the-pack team.

“How do they get to that status?” he said. “I think they need a great front court player…you need somebody in that front court who is of All-Star caliber. Obviously LaMarcus Aldridge would have fit the bill.”

Without a player like Aldridge, Phoenix’s roster can be good, but not great, Broussard said.

“They don’t have the core where you can say in a few years, ‘Okay, in a few years this is going to be a contender,'” he said. “The Suns don’t have that kind of core.”