Will the Suns win more games this year than last? (2026-27 edition)

[Adrian]

PHNX Suns

@PHNX_Suns
·
25m

UPDATE: The Phoenix Suns over/under has been MOVED to 39.5

 

[BooksOrangePlanet]

PHNX Suns
@PHNX_Suns
·
25m

UPDATE: The Phoenix Suns over/under has been MOVED to 39.5

almost wish i was a betting man

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

That's about where I see it. They will roughly hold serve from last year, but not measurably improve. And that's only because they got Bridges really. Running it back with the same group was very likely going to result in a significant fall off.

The one disclaimer is going to be the potential for injury concerns. Williams and Booker are both risks. They are going to need Maluach to be ready for major minutes, and also Green to stay healthy and the Goodwin/Gillespie combo to repeat last year's play to compensate for any time Booker misses.

I think this ignores development.

Gillespie played big minutes for the first time in his career last year. He knows better the rigor now. Bodies adapt. Small incremental improvement likely.

Dunn and Oso another year in, another year with pro weight and nutritionists. Another year of physical and skill development. Incremental improvement’s hopefully likely.

Fleming and Maluach both significantly improved physically and still growing and developing. Enhancing their skills materially. We likely see BIG, impactful growth and improvement for the team here.

Miles bridges Brings a physical component this team lacked last year. Improvement.

Jalen green likely won’t miss as many games. Likely improvement. Could be nothing all the way to big improvement. I think this is the biggest variance variable.

Loss of two very good high volume shooters is somewhat mitigated by addition of kennard. So this is a small incremental step backwards potentially.

Ott going into a second year as head coach. I’d expect growth there too.

In the aggregate I would expect this team to be measurably better. But none to an obvious addition of a star. But rather the aggregation of multiple smaller elements. Yes, all has to go right for those to align, but nothing I listed above is crazy.

EDIT: and that forgets peat. He’s a wildcard. I suspect he will be up and down this year, but I’m thinking he adds a little spice to the recipe.

 

[Yuma]

I think this ignores development.

Gillespie played big minutes for the first time in his career last year. He knows better the rigor now. Bodies adapt. Small incremental improvement likely.

Dunn and Oso another year in, another year with pro weight and nutritionists. Another year of physical and silk development. Incremental improvement’s hopefully likely.

Fleming and Malachi both significantly improved physically and still growing and developing. Enhancing their skills materially. We likely see BIG, impactful growth and improvement for the team here.

Miles bridges Brings a physical component this team lacked last year. Improvement.

Jalen green likely won’t miss as many games. Likely improvement. Could be nothing all the way to big improvement. I think this is the biggest variance variable.

Loss of two very good high volume shooters is somewhat mitigated by addition of kennard. So this is a small incremental step backwards potentially.

Ott going into a second year as head coach. I’d expect growth there too.

In the aggregate I would expect this team to be measurably better. But none to an obvious addition of a star. But rather the aggregation of multiple smaller elements. Yes, all has to go right for those to align, but nothing I listed above is crazy.

EDIT: and that forgets peat. He’s a wildcard. I suspect he will be up and down this year, but I’m thinking he adds a little spice to the recipe.

I agree with ALL of this.

Then I have the devil on the other shoulder whispering, the Western Conference just got tougher. SA has another year under their belt in development. Same with OKC. Stuff always goes wrong we don't see coming. Like Jalen Green being unhealthy for the first time in his career. Guys wore out at the end of the season because Ott played them too many minutes over the course of the season. Las Vegas odds makers have the Suns winning LESS games this season. The LV odds makers are usually pretty astute.

I just keep going back and fourth on wether they improve, stay put, or decline.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

I agree with ALL of this.

Then I have the devil on the other shoulder whispering, the Western Conference just got tougher. SA has another year under their belt in development. Same with OKC. Stuff always goes wrong we don't see coming. Like Jalen Green being unhealthy for the first time in his career. Guys wore out at the end of the season because Ott played them too many minutes over the course of the season. Las Vegas odds makers have the Suns winning LESS games this season. The LV odds makers are usually pretty astute.

I just keep going back and fourth on wether they improve, stay put, or decline.

Things like injuries are largely unforeseeable. As for OKC and San Antonio getting better - they were already way outta our weight class so that silent have much bearing on our record. The warriors are aging. I’m unsure what the wolves will look like. The rockets have whatshisname point guard coming but KD a year older. Lakers likely step back. Blazers who knows with a new coach and terrible ownership. To a degree the other teams are a crapshoot.

 

[PHI PHX PHAN]

I think this ignores development.

Gillespie played big minutes for the first time in his career last year. He knows better the rigor now. Bodies adapt. Small incremental improvement likely.

Dunn and Oso another year in, another year with pro weight and nutritionists. Another year of physical and skill development. Incremental improvement’s hopefully likely.

Fleming and Maluach both significantly improved physically and still growing and developing. Enhancing their skills materially. We likely see BIG, impactful growth and improvement for the team here.

Miles bridges Brings a physical component this team lacked last year. Improvement.

Jalen green likely won’t miss as many games. Likely improvement. Could be nothing all the way to big improvement. I think this is the biggest variance variable.

Loss of two very good high volume shooters is somewhat mitigated by addition of kennard. So this is a small incremental step backwards potentially.

Ott going into a second year as head coach. I’d expect growth there too.

In the aggregate I would expect this team to be measurably better. But none to an obvious addition of a star. But rather the aggregation of multiple smaller elements. Yes, all has to go right for those to align, but nothing I listed above is crazy.

EDIT: and that forgets peat. He’s a wildcard. I suspect he will be up and down this year, but I’m thinking he adds a little spice to the recipe.

This pretty much echoes my sentiments as a whole. I personally believe that had Green not missed such a significant amount of time that they likely win closer to 50 games last year.
I'm admittedly higher on Green as a player than others but with that aside;I am even more excited about how this roster has been transformed in such a short span of time.
We have some promising young talent, draft picks, and a more balanced roster.
I'm not afraid to go on record and say we win 48+

 

[Raindog]

I think this ignores development.

Gillespie played big minutes for the first time in his career last year. He knows better the rigor now. Bodies adapt. Small incremental improvement likely.

Dunn and Oso another year in, another year with pro weight and nutritionists. Another year of physical and skill development. Incremental improvement’s hopefully likely.

Fleming and Maluach both significantly improved physically and still growing and developing. Enhancing their skills materially. We likely see BIG, impactful growth and improvement for the team here.

Miles bridges Brings a physical component this team lacked last year. Improvement.

Jalen green likely won’t miss as many games. Likely improvement. Could be nothing all the way to big improvement. I think this is the biggest variance variable.

Loss of two very good high volume shooters is somewhat mitigated by addition of kennard. So this is a small incremental step backwards potentially.

Ott going into a second year as head coach. I’d expect growth there too.

In the aggregate I would expect this team to be measurably better. But none to an obvious addition of a star. But rather the aggregation of multiple smaller elements. Yes, all has to go right for those to align, but nothing I listed above is crazy.

EDIT: and that forgets peat. He’s a wildcard. I suspect he will be up and down this year, but I’m thinking he adds a little spice to the recipe.

I'm not nearly as sold on some of this as you are.
- Ott really looked more lost as the season went on, so I'm still not sure what we have there.
- I'll be surprised if Dunn and Oso get much playing time, and it will likely be a bad sign if they do.
- One could reasonably expect that Fleming should be improved, but how much run is he going to get with Bridges on board now? I can very well see Ott limiting him once again.
- Peat might turn out to be something eventually, but he's going to see even more limited minutes because of the aforementioned. Its pretty evident at this point that Ott doesn't trust rookies or otherwise less experienced players.
- Maluach is the main young guy who should be getting more minutes, and is likely to because Williams will very likely once again be unreliable over the course of the year. I just pray that Ott doesn't stymie his development by giving Oso his minutes.
- Gillespie and Goodwin will likely get good rotation minutes, but their roles are still going to be limited unless Booker and/or Green can't stay healthy... and both are going to dominate the ball when they are playing.

Like I said, I think the Suns will do okay as long as they stay healthy but that's mostly just because Bridges bumps the starting lineup over what it would have been with last year's group. But in reality, the best thing for the development of the guys you mentioned would have been keeping the same group from last year and increasing the roles of all the youngsters you mention. The Suns clearly did not opt to do that, which tells me that they probably aren't intent on emphasizing the development of their younger players this season either.