The Suns went 8-0 in the Bubb but they missed the playoffs anyway. I get the sense that there are some butthurt feelings about this, but everybody should keep in mind that, if the Suns wanted to be in the playoffs so badly, they could have tried actually winning more games during the season. There’s no award for bad teams picking up their level of play late in the season when they’re out of the playoff hunt. That’s why teams don’t even try to do it. But the Suns do it and now it’s some tragedy that they don’t get to continue their miracle run into the postseason? FOH outta here. Just FOH the HECK outta here.
Kevin Harlan (or at least somebody who I assume to be Kevin Harlan) said that Cameron Payne was an “outstanding pickup” for the Suns. I was immediately disinclined to believe him, as Payne has been a notoriously subpar player for his entire career, but then I looked at the stats, and what do you know? Payne’s been pretty good in The Bubb. Averaging 11 PPG per game on 48% shooting, and 52% from three, is so far above Payne’s career averages that I almost think basketball-reference is lying to me.
I’m not going to go out there and say that Payne has OFFICIALLY turned the corner and become a good three-point shooter. The way he shoots it makes me uneasy and shooters with wonky mechanics are always at a disadvantage when it comes to becoming a consistently good shooter. But I will go out there and say that Payne OFFICIALLY will maybe get a training-camp deal next season and OFFICIALLY could even be on an opening-night roster somewhere. Not bad for a guy who I thought was out of the league forever.