As the 4th winningest team in NBA history, these types of droughts are uncommon, even in the desert. The longest previous stretch of the Suns missing the playoffs was 40 years ago, from 1970-1975.
Knowing this, I wanted to figure out if there was something that could be learned from how the Suns management turned the 1975 Suns team from mediocre to Western Conference Champions the following season. The profile of the team going into the 1976 season had a lot of similarities to the current team.
The 1975 Phoenix Suns were coming off of a miserable 32-50 season under second year coach John Macleod.