I know we’ve touched on this one in various ways in various threads, but I wanted to consider it explicitly, in one place, all at once.

As we all know, the Suns were dispatched relatively easily by the Spurs in the first round. Then the Spurs were dispatched relatively easily by the Lakers in the conference finals.

Now, I know that some would dispute the “relatively easily” characterization in both cases. Many of the games in both series were very competitive. But a 4-1 series loss is a 4-1 series loss. To me, it looked like there was a decent-sized gap between the Lakers and the Spurs, and another decent-sized gap between the Spurs and the Suns. The Suns’ first-round out feels about right to me, given the competition in the Western Conference.

So, what about next year? No one in their right mind will pick the Suns to win the title. But I don’t think you can even call them contenders any more. Neither does Johnny Ludden. He thinks the Spurs might have another run or two left in them, but he looks to LA, Utah, Portland, and New Orleans as the future of the conference.

For the first time in years, Phoenix isn’t part of the conversation.

I don’t think they should be, either. If you ask me, the window is shut, and the Suns are no longer relevant when we start talking about prospective NBA champions.