In an interesting and thought-provoking piece on ESPN.com, John Hollinger and Chad Ford look into the future of the NBA, unveiling their “Future Power Rankings”.

The Future Power Rankings rate teams in a number of categories to project their on-court success during the next three seasons. The categories considered are players (current players and their potential for the future), management (stability of front office and coaching staff), money (salary cap situation and willingness to exceed the cap), market (attractiveness to future acquisitions, etc.), and draft (picks and positioning).

Their formula revealed that the top five teams during the three-year period (or at least the teams with the rosiest future in the next 3.5 years) are Portland, Orlando, the Lakers, Oklahoma City and Miami.

So, where do the Suns fall on their list? Try 27th. That’s out of 30. The piece states “the Sarver administration has squandered an opportunity to make the Suns the league’s marquee franchise and instead made them a team trying to avoid a second straight appearance in the lottery.”

Ouch.

Check out the full rankings and the rest of the Suns’ story here. You must be an ESPN Insider to access the story.