In the Nash years, we weren't contenders like the Barkley years. We were Western Conference favorites with Barkley.
No we weren't. We struggled the next season with injuries and a bit of a hangover, coming into the playoffs as the
3RD SEED. The 63 win Sonics were the highest seed and the favorite in the West in 1994. Going into the playoffs, they had HCA and had taken us to 7 the year earlier when we were a better team. Most people had us even odds with Houston, who had a better record than we did too. 1994 was our great missed opportunity mostly because Seattle had that epic choke job against Denver, becoming the first 1 seed to ever lose to an 8, after having a dominating 2-0 lead in a 5 game series no less! It was after Dikembe literally blocked them out of the playoffs that KJ and Barkley went running around the Houston stadium celebrating because they believed their toughest opponent was gonzo.
And we were the 3rd seed the next year too when it was anyone's guess who would come out of the West with the Spurs winning 62 games and the Jazz winning 60 to our 59.
We were a great story with Nash. A team of young players finding their place and playing an exciting style. Since we always came up short against the Spurs it wasn't like the Barkley years when only Jordan in his absolute prime could stop us, or Barkley's brittle back.
That Nash team got screwed by three things... $arver pinching pennies, Amare's micro fracture and Cheap Shot Bob Horry. They definitely weren't favorites in 2004-5, but they were the most fun thing the NBA had seen in forever and had an exciting playoff run. They were loaded for bear the next year with people predicting them to be a true blue contender with the addition of Raja/KT but Amare blew out his knee.
And then in 2006-7, it was a 3 horse race between us, the Spurs and the Mavs as a trio-of-title-contenders with the de facto NBA Finals happening in round 2 between us and the Spurs because the Mavs went the way of the 1994 Sonics, losing in the first round to GS.
Granted, those teams never quite had the same...
magic the Barkley teams seemed to harness, but when I really think about it, I think that's because they're the only ones who actually got most of us to the Finals and thus we had more belief that they were favorites because they had been there before. But reality is after they got to the Finals, the next two Barkley teams never even got out of the second round and the last one got it's ass kicked in the first.
Man, I can't wait to see Jackson and Booker in the playoffs. I hope that they're able to provide better playoff memories than the J-Kidd teams. Booker in the postseason should be fun. I wouldn't be surprised to see the Suns be like the Pelicans this year and play spoiler when they do get there. I know this next season is unlikely but maybe if the West falls apart some, they might be able to sneak in. We'd probably need Portland to blow things up and maybe Davis get sent to the Eastern Conference if he gets mad the Pelicans won't resign Cousins. That would create 2 more playoff spots, with the possibility of Towns getting traded also that could create a 3rd opening. The Nuggets are probably ahead of us in their rebuild but we'd be battling with the Lakers and Clippers to steal one of those final spots.
I'll be stunned if they get there this year and probably drop dead of shock if they do get there and spoil someone's party. They're just too young.
But if they draft Ayton and he ends up being the real deal, next year watch out. That's when this team might just start doing some damage.
