Bradley Beal - Suns in 'different position' with better health - ESPN

PHOENIX — One day after the Phoenix Suns' devastating first-round series sweep by the Minnesota Timberwolves, starting guard Bradley Beal lamented the team's poor health and lack of continuity as key factors that drove their disappointing season to its swift end.

«I mean, in retrospect we won 49 [regular-season] games,» Beal said Monday at the team's practice facility. «That's a lot of games. And I missed what, 30 games, roughly? That's a lot of games. I'm not saying we'd have won every game if I'd have played, but we would be in a totally different position if I'm healthy the whole year, if everybody's healthy the whole year.»

Beal began the season with lower back tightness and nerve pain down his legs. He later faced an ankle sprain, hamstring strain, a broken nose and a concussion throughout his first season with the Suns, during which he played 53 out of 82 possible regular-season games.

Devin Booker, Kevin Durant and Beal played together for exactly half of the regular season, with the team posting a 26-15 record in those games — a 52-win pace that would have been good for fourth place in the Western Conference.

«We didn't look at this thing as a one-year thing and we're going to come in and just, we only got this year to figure it out,» Beal said. «No, we've got time. You don't want to use that as a cop-out, but the reality we live in, that's the game plan. We have a window. Yeah, it's a short window, but we have a window, so we want to maximize it as much as possible. And obviously, we still have a lot of room to grow. We all have to be better. I've got to be better. And we all have to be better as an organization and move towards that goal of winning the title, which isn't easy.»

Beal added, «We're not going to