Win expectations for Suns is not a concern for Watson
Oct 25, 2016, 12:51 PM
Phoenix Suns' Eric Bledsoe (2) talks with head coach Earl Watson during the first half of an NBA preseason basketball game against the San Antonio Spurs on Monday, Oct. 3, 2016, in Phoenix. The Suns won 91-86. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
(AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
For the past couple seasons, the Phoenix Suns have hoped that this is the year the team gets back to the playoffs. But as the season progressed, Suns fans have been left with disappointment and a feeling the team is not living up to expectations.
However, this year is different. Instead of talking about making the playoffs, Suns coach Earl Watson isn’t even talking about the total wins he expects this season.
“We don’t like to put limits on our dreams and goals, because if you do, you only meet that limit,” Watson told Arizona Sports 98.7 FM’s Doug and Wolf Tuesday morning. “So why not say, ‘Let’s win as many as possible,’ and maybe we win more than we ever imagine. You’re just getting better and better and really have no expectations and no fulfilling of expectations and then you surprise and have the craziest dream you can ever happen.”
For fans, that crazy dream would be standing in 110-degree heat in June for a victory parade after a Suns championship. But for the team, that crazy dream could be just getting to the playoffs with an overachieving team for the first time since the 2009-10 season.
“I’m a destination guy, so for me our destination is to bring multiple championships to this city over a period of decades and not just one,” said Watson, who recalled how he once told his grade school teacher that he wanted to make a $1 million and play in the NBA. Then he added how, as he got older, he discovered a thing called taxes.
“From that moment on, I realized that $1 million is not $1 million,” he said. “So for me I realized that it’s a destination thing for me. Let’s get to the destination and see how many times we can get to that destination over a period of decades.”
For the Suns, it’s a destination that fans would gladly take, where over the next 30 years, fans can enjoy the same success the Los Angeles Lakers have enjoyed in the previous 30 years — seven titles. But in the short term, fans would simply take a trip to the playoffs, snapping a six year drought that is the longest in franchise history and the longest since the early 1970s.
