Where Suns Finished Across Final NBA Power Rankings

PHOENIX — The NBA regular season is now officially in the rearview mirror, and the Phoenix Suns are set to play some extra basketball after clinching the West's seventh seed.

With the play-in tournament arriving tomorrow, let's take a look at where Phoenix finished across the board of some national NBA power rankings:

Yahoo!: 13th

Ben Rohrbach on giving Phoenix a B+ grade: "The Suns suffered a miserable season last year, when Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal were playing on max contracts. They traded Durant, waived and stretched Beal, and they, too, got better. Devin Booker remains awesome. Dillon Brooks is the human embodiment of everything head coach Jordan Ott wants from his team — effort. Collin Gillespie was one of many players who took a step forward for Phoenix, where the whole is greater than the parts’ sum."

Our take: B+ is probably right where we'd mark the Suns ourselves, if not just slightly less at a B. The Suns did tremendous work given where they were at in the summer and the expectations that followed. Those preseason expectations were shattered by the trade deadline, though now the Suns will be tasked with avoiding midnight before their Cinderella story turns into a pumpkin.

The Athletic: 17th

Law Murray on Phoenix's last five weeks: "The Suns exceeded all reasonable expectations, and they’ve held seventh place every day since Jan. 23. Now, they have to show that their offense can come through against the Trail Blazers to earn a meeting with the Spurs. The Suns split their final 20 games but finished with a top-10 defense that featured the kind of ballhawking that would be critical against Portland in particular."

Our take: The Suns have really emphasized earning extra possessions over the last few weeks, which is a prominent stat head coach Jordan Ott focuses on. Phoenix, many times in press conferences, has been displeased with their overall defensive output, so it's good to see they finished as a top ten defensive team. We'll see if the postseason is any different.

Bleacher Report: 18th

Andy Bailey: "They lost a lot of momentum in recent weeks. And assuming they advance beyond the play-in, the Phoenix Suns are likely to get beat quickly and handily by the Oklahoma City Thunder or San Antonio Spurs in the first round. But there's really no way to see this season as anything but a smashing success. ... If nothing else, first-year coach Jordan Ott absolutely established a new, gritty and far more serious culture than the one that existed during the brief Kevin Durant era."

Our take: That's really the only way to view this season, regardless of how the year ends. Phoenix is on an upwards trajectory and need just one more season of staying out of the luxury tax before regaining full financial flexibility once again. We will say while the Thunder would surely advance past the Suns, Phoenix has played San Antonio extremely tough in their matchups. The Suns wouldn't quite be an easy pass for the Spurs in the postseason.