And how are we spoiled fans, we have zero championships and a ton of heartbreaks along the way. I think all anyone here wanted was a Finals appearance by the Nash era Suns, I wouldn't even have to have a finals win necessarily, just make it there. Sadly that isn't the storybook ending.
Having very entertaining basketball and 50+ seasons, deep playoff runs, lots of star players and a team capable of winning it all for a few seasons is pretty good imo.
You know how much fans of other teams would give for just the span of the last four Suns years? Ask the Clippers, Hawks, Knicks, T-Wolves, Sonics, Raptors, Sixers, Bucks, Pacers, Grizzlies, Warriors and so on.
When I worte "spoiled" I considered us Suns fans pretty lucky for what we had since I follow the NBA (early 90s). Since then, there are just a few teams that won it all: Bulls (6), Spurs (3+1*), Lakers (3), Rockets (2), Pistons, Heat.
That's just 6 of 30 NBA teams winning the title.
Of all the other teams I only consider few of them more or equally successful over this stretch as Phoenix. Utah made it to the Finals twice and has constant playoff teams.
New Jersey made it twice as well, but they always knew they wouldn't stand a chance against the West winner and sucked for the rest of their last two decades.
Even if you make an argument for the Knicks, Sonics (nice stretch in the 90s) or other teams, it's very hard to think of 10 teams being more successful as Phoenix.
And the moment we can't enjoy a 55 win season, I consider ourselves spoiled.
I know, it's a first round exit. But this is due to the enormous talent in the West right now. Every other year, and we wouldn't face the defending champions in round one.
And even in this series, we had our chances. You're right about the multitude of heartbreaks - but I take them over the nothingness of a Clippers fan every day.
And though I know it doesn't look promising, but the Nash era is not over, yet.
