The Phoenix Suns were supposed to be one of the up-and-coming teams in the Western Conference. Somehow that never came to pass. As their season continues to slip further into the abyss, Suns owner Robert Sarver is blaming the team’s struggles on the “millennial culture.”
Via the AZ Republic:
“The reality is, there’s only a half dozen championship-caliber organizations in the NBA over the last 25 years,” Sarver said. “My job is to find the right people and the right culture to eventually be one of those organizations, and it starts with me. I’m not shirking responsibility. […] The blame is to be shared from the top down. Our leadership needs to communicate better. It needs to provide a better culture that provides for more accountability and more motivation. We have a lot of good, young players. They need to be playing hard, aggressively and on the same page whether we win or lose. That’s what I expect going forward.”
Last season the Suns allowed twin brothers Marcus and Markieff Morris to wild out all season before shipping Marcus off to Detroit during the offseason. Now Sarver is using Markieff’s issues this season – which included throwing a towel in the face of head coach Jeff Hornacek – as the example of “millennial’s having problems with setbacks.”
“I’m not sure it’s just the NBA,” Sarver said. “My whole view of the millennial culture is that they have a tough time dealing with setbacks, and Markieff Morris is the perfect example. He had a setback with his brother in the offseason and he can’t seem to recover from it. […] I’m not sure if it’s the technology or the instant gratification of being online. But the other thing is, I’m not a fan of social media. I tell my kids it’s like Fantasy Land. The only thing people put online are good things that happen to them, or things they make up. And it creates unrealistic expectations. We’ve had a number of setbacks this year that have taken their toll on us, and we haven’t been resilient. Therefore, it’s up to our entire organization to step up their game.”
Well, that’s going to go over well considering the bulk of NBA talent is currently made up of “millennials.”
