It seemed that many writers were putting the Suns in last place based solely on the turmoil caused by the drugs. The team's few positive factors seemed to be wrongfully overshadowed. There were plenty of negative factors as well on the team, like the lack of a solid center and any sort of defense, but the first thing mentioned in nearly every Phoenix comment was how the organization was being 'shaken up' by the drugs, not how shaky the defense was. If writers would concentrate on the basketball and not on the politics that surround the basketball players off the court, they might see more of what is happening in the game. But that would also be stupid.
Sports is more than demanding physical activity out of players on a team.
The mental attitude and concentration of athletes are as large a part of any game as the physical skills required to play. Ideally, the personal lives and drug habits of any player that may affect the mental part of the game are not evident in what happens in a sporting contest, but there is no ideal. There is an obituary column to every newspaper. Every dark cloud with a silver lining is still a dark cloud. Bad news travels faster than good news and we've got to look at its ugly face.