Torrey Craig, Ish Wainright say struggling Suns remain among teams to beat in West

The Suns have approached a fork in the road for better or for worse to begin 2023. But their collective mentality is to go straight according to their game plans, and believe they're still an elite team despite losing nine of their last 14 games since December.

Phoenix (20-20) is in their second five-game losing skid this season after being ousted at home by the Miami Heat on Friday. The Suns haven't had a .500 record in January since they were 8-8 that month during the truncated 2020-21 season, in which they turned things around and made their run to finals.

It's been a steep drop from atop of the Western conference to ninth in the standings since their first five-game losing streak between Dec. 5-13, which began in Dallas.

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Following their 25-point blowout home loss to the West's second-place Memphis Grizzlies on Dec. 23, Suns coach Monty Williams told the media that they've "got to get back to chasing something and right now I feel like the prey and I don’t like that feeling," and the Suns have "got to get our edge back."

Players and coaches aren't using excuses about being short-handed due to a series of injuries to starters (All-Stars Devin Booker and Chris Paul, Cameron Johnson, Deandre Ayton) and key players off the bench (Landry Shamet, Cameron Payne, Duane Washington Jr.). Nor or they talking about being down one roster spot from their veteran power forward and defensive specialist Jae Crowder remaining on the trade block since training camp.

During the Suns' pregame media availability on Friday, Johnson's starting four spot replacement Torrey Craig said they aren't panicking, nor is morale lowered from their recent struggles.

“Coming out in the first quarter and making a statement, setting the tone early," Craig said.

"I think that’s been our identity these past couple of years to be coming out, get off to a run and get going and everybody feels confidence and we’re able to walk away and win games. So we’ve been lacking that these last couple of games and we’re gonna be back to our winning ways.”

Craig doesn't know if he agrees with Williams' notion from a few weeks ago about being hunted by other teams. He believes they're still one of the West's top teams despite losing eight of their last nine.

“I don’t really know. I don’t really look at the standings but I know it’s not too many games that separate guys from seventh and eighth and first, second, third, so it’s too early to speculate,” Craig said.

“I think teams still look at us as a team to beat in the West. Like I said, we just gotta come out and execute in that first quarter and stick with the game plan a little better and come up with some wins.”

Suns forward Ish Wainright concurred with Craig during their Saturday practice.

“I stand by him. We all stand by him. We’re still one of the teams that everybody wants to beat," Wainright said. "Nobody likes us, we’re OK with that. We’ll take whatever teams throw at us and we’ll get back on track soon. ...

“Don’t get me wrong there’s a lot of great teams in the West. But we’re still one of the top teams that everybody is trying to get to. I say we gotta stay the course, trust the process, trust our coach, trust the game plan and let’s get some things going.”

Craig is correct that it's still too early to envision the playoff picture. Teams often turn a new leaf around the start of new year, which is the 82-game regular season's technical midpoint over a month before the All-Star break.

The divergent fates of the Boston Celtics and the Brooklyn Nets are a good example of that.

Through Jan. 8 last year, the Celtics were two games under .500 and in the East's 10th spot before they surged to a nine-game win streak, finished at 51-31, emerged as the NBA's top-rated defense, nabbed the East playoffs' second seed, won the East title and had a 2-1 finals lead over the eventual champion Golden State Warriors.

The Nets went from 24-13 on Jan. 8, having the highest odds to win the NBA title, to finishing 44-38 and having to claw their way to a seventh seed. They went through a 2-13 skid between Jan. 23 and Feb. 24.

The Nets were swept by the Celtics, 4-0, in the first round.

In addition, the West has parity thus far this season. There have been seven different teams in the top spot. Only the Suns and current leader Denver have held that spot for the longest—two weeks. Five other leaders have held the spot for a week or less.

The sixth through ninth place teams are now between six to 6.5 games out of first, and the second to fifth place teams are within five.

Craig further added that the Suns' morale hasn’t changed despite their losing streak and underwhelming performances over the past month.

“The vibes don’t change. You see guys still doing their same routine," Craig said. "Guys are still interacting, smiling, so this team don’t change no if matter if we win 20 or lose 10 straight. We kind of keep the same energy, try to stay the same. Never too high, never too low.”

Wainright said he views 20-20 as a clean slate, not rock bottom.

“It’s zero-zero, now it’s time to get going. We know what we gotta do as a team. The (veterans) have talked," Wainright said. "We believe, we trust.”

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Suns' Craig, Wainright say they're still among West's top teams to beat