Suns Named One of Five True NBA Title Contenders

The Phoenix Suns are just one of a handful of teams in the league who are true title contenders, according to The Athletic.

The Phoenix Suns are locked and loaded after a busy offseason. 

Months ago, Suns fans felt the pain of another second round postseason exit and made swift changes just 48 hours later when they relieved Monty Williams of his duties as head coach.

Frank Vogel was hired shortly after and more changes came, this time to the roster. Familiar faces such as Chris Paul, Landry Shamet and Cameron Payne were shipped away in various trades while the team welcomed another star in Bradley Beal. 

A strong group of free agents helped fill a roster that now has championship-or-bust expectations, if it didn't already. 

Are the Suns true title contenders? The Athletic's Zach Harper certainly believes so, putting Phoenix alongside four others in that category atop his recent NBA power rankings. 

The defending champion Denver Nuggets took the top spot, followed by the Milwaukee Bucks, Golden State Warriors and Boston Celtics before the Suns appeared at No 5.

"Despite the CBA being designed to prevent super teams, the Suns went out and got their third star in Bradley Beal. Then, they did a solid job of filling out the supporting cast, although they still don’t have any answers for perimeter defense or guarding someone like Nikola Jokić. Luckily, nobody else seems to either, so the Suns aren’t behind the eight ball on that," wrote Harper. 

"The Suns believe a solid team defense approach under Vogel with the firepower of their big three is going to be enough to win. Super teams have struggled lately, but they certainly can work. The Suns just have to hope the offense is so overwhelming in the postseason that they feel how Denver felt against them in May."

Vogel himself spoke on the championship-or-bust expectations at his introductory press conference:

“I love the mindset that we’re going to go after it (NBA championship) right away with all we have,” said Vogel. “I don’t give a damn about what the outside narrative is around expectations or whatnot. I care about what our expectations are, and our expectations are to go for it this year and hopefully every year that I’m here.”

Right below the Suns in the "brink of contention" category were the Los Angeles Lakers and Miami Heat.