The 2015 online NBA betting season marked a tumultuous year for the Phoenix Suns. After posting a .476 win percentage the previous year, the Suns were looking forward to making progress on a turnaround season. However, those dreams were never realized and the 2015-16 season was filled with disappointments. So much so that the organization had to part ways with their head coach, Jeff Hornacek on February 1st earlier this year. Although they wanted to improve on their win percentage, when the season was over the Suns win percentage sank all the way down to .280.
Apart from their lack of wins, Phoenix also had some devastating player-relations issues last year. Online NBA betting fans will remember that these issues all stemmed from the Morris twins, Marcus and Markieff. Although their talents are unquestionable, the twins were a couple of nutcases on and off the court. Anything and everything from disrespecting the head coach, to calling out Phoenix’s fan base, and even having ongoing legal issues that would indubitably affect the Suns’ season.
Eventually Phoenix decided that enough was enough and would try to split the duo by trading away Marcus, but that only caused Markieff to act up even more. Ultimately, Markieff ended up getting traded at the end of the season, but there’s no doubt that both of their negativity played a huge role in the Suns’ lack of success. But even with the poison removed, the best NBA sportsbooks were still not going to side with the Suns.
To help lead Phoenix in 2016 the Suns brought in Earl Watson, a former NBA player turned coach. Watson actually took over at for the end of the 2015-16 season and would post a 9-24 record. Not the best finish but to be fair, Watson was taking over a train wreck. The 2016-17 would mark Watson’s 1st stint as a full-time NBA coach and so far it hasn’t been too overly impressive. Right now the Suns are 6-13 and rank 13th in the Western Conference, which would give Watson a .316 winning percentage – not enough to convince the basketball betting lines to start favoring your team.
Part of Phoenix’s problems is a lack of identity; when analyzing their statistics it’s hard to find an adequate label for this team. Phoenix is not a pure shooting team, they aren’t a defensive powerhouse, and they certainly aren’t a run-and-gun squad. At times having a lack of identity can work to your advantage since the opposing team doesn’t know what to prepare for but in the Suns’ case, they would be better off trying to find common ground for all their players.
The Suns will take to the court this upcoming Saturday to face off against the Golden State Warriors. With the Warriors playing the way they have been, Golden State is an easy online NBA betting pick over the lowly Suns.