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Maybe [url=http://www.arizonadiamondbacksteamshop.com/authentic-archie-bradley-jersey]Archie Bradley Jersey[/url] , just maybe, the worst is behind the Phoenix Suns.

Their 50th anniversary season was awful, even worse than the two that came before.

For the eighth season in a row, the Suns won’t make the playoffs. The win totals the past three seasons: 23, 24 and – this year 21. That 21-61 mark is the worst since Phoenix went 16-66 in its inaugural 1968-69 season.

The season devolved in the final months, with injuries depleting the already exceedingly young roster, leaving a contingent of G League transfers to fill out the lineup in the final days. The Suns lost a franchise-record 15 straight in one stretch.

Now, everyone involved is insisting, enough is enough.

”I’m done with not making the playoffs,” rising star Devin Booker said as the players cleaned out their lockers and conducted exit interviews Wednesday. ”I’m serious. This is probably my last year ever not making the playoffs. If that’s putting pressure on myself, I’m going to take this summer and work that hard so that it doesn’t happen again.”

His goal is ”turning the franchise around and getting it back how it used to be.”

8”You watch the highlights of Barkley, Nash and them and how alive the arena was,” Booker said. ”So one of my goals is to get it back that way.”

Booker, T.J. Warren and rookie Josh Jackson form the core of the young talent the Suns have accumulated. Dragan Bender and Marquese Chriss could be part of it, too, although their development has been uneven.

But Phoenix needs experienced players, and not just old guys to cheer on from the sidelines.

”The voice in the locker room or the voice when they’re teaching carries a lot more weight when the person is contributing,” interim coach Jay Triano said [url=http://www.eaglesauthorizedshops.com/authentic-dallas-goedert-jersey]Dallas Goedert Eagles Jersey[/url] , ”not just there as a teacher. … They need those guys on the court to follow.”

General manager Ryan McDonough agrees the time is come to ratchet up investment. To begin with, Phoenix has the most ping pong balls in the May 15 lottery and a chance at the No. 1 overall pick. At worst, the Suns will draft No. 4. They will have one, and maybe two, more first-round picks.

”We’ll be one of five or six teams with more than $10 million in cap space,” McDonough said, ”and I think we have the ability to create significantly more if we want it.”

So the assets are there if they can be translated into needed players, and not teenagers, except that early first-round pick.

Three years of concentrating on acquiring this young talent is long enough, McDonough said.

”If you go beyond that I think the losing starts to set in and the guys start to become accustomed to that and the bar is lower,” he said. ”Next year we’re going to try to raise the bar. We’re going to try to raise our standards. We won’t be as young. We won’t have nearly as many young players as we had last year.”

A couple of things to consider after the Suns’ miserable season.

COACH SEARCH: McDonough said the search will begin immediately for a head coach with a list of five to 10 candidates in mind.

Triano would like the job. He took over after Earl Watson was fired just three games into the season.

McDonough said he would like to have a coach in place before the draft combine and lottery in mid-May.

BOOKER’S CONTRACT: The Suns would like to have Booker sign a maximum contract extension in the offseason and he’s open to the idea.

Triano knows that Booker is tired of losing and believes things will get better for his budding star with more experienced talent around him.

”He looks around the locker room and sees what it is and he knows that it’s time,” Triano said. ”I think the growth that he’s gone through individually as a leader and the capability he’s been able to show as a scorer has set the tone to make this an attractive place and to have him be the focal part of that. People around the league want to play with Devin Booker.”

KNIGHT IN WAITING: One of the biggest needs for Arizona is at point guard, and they’ve had one watching from the sidelines all season.

Brandon Knight, left over from the old days of three point guards with Eric Bledsoe and Isaiah Thomas, missed the entire season with a torn ACL. Once stuck at the end of the bench with no playing time when he was able to go, he’s being talked about as the starter alongside Booker next year.

”As a competitor, as a winner, I just love to play the game [url=http://www.broncoscheapshop.com/cheap-authentic-bradley-chubb-jersey]Bradley Chubb Jersey[/url] ,” Knight said. ”I had the game taken away from me by the injuries and due to other things. … I’m just trying to help the Suns in any way I can.”

—

The Minnesota Vikings have secured yet another core player with a long-term contract, signing wide receiver Stefon Diggs to a five-year extension and moving the star of the "Minneapolis Miracle" pass into the NFL's top 10 highest-paid players at his position.

Diggs has yet to post a 1,000-yard or 100-catch season, but his ability was on full display when he turned a sideline catch into a 61-yard touchdown as time ran out to lift the Vikings to victory over New Orleans in last season's playoffs. He formed a prolific tandem with Adam Thielen last year, helping Case Keenum stabilize the passing game after Sam Bradford was injured, and over his first three seasons has been one of the biggest steals of the 2015 draft.

"I love it here. I truly do, and I'm just happy I'll be here for a while now," Diggs said after practice Tuesday. "That's why I want to play for them for selecting me in the fifth round. It was a bumpy road that day, and I just remember getting a call, and they gave me a chance. They believed in me, and they won, and going forward they pushed me to be where I am now."

Now the Vikings have a new quarterback in Kirk Cousins, who was elated by the news that Diggs is under contract through 2023.

"What I most like is he loves football and loves to come and work, because as a quarterback it can be miserable if you're out here with someone who is here to just get a paycheck and leave," Cousins said. "He wants to work."

The Vikings offense was at the new practice facility on Monday night past 9 p.m. working on playbook installation.

"I've been a part of some locker rooms where by 9 o'clock, some of your guys are sleeping in the back row, not taking notes, not paying attention. They're basically checked out [url=http://www.raiderscheapshops.com/cheap-authentic-arden-key-jersey]Cheap Arden Key Jersey[/url] , texting or whatever," Cousins said. "That's not him. That's not these guys."

The new deal is valued at $72 million plus an additional $9 million in possible incentives, according to a person with knowledge of the contract who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the details. Diggs, who will play the final season of his rookie deal for the original base salary of slightly more than $1.9 million, received a $15 million signing bonus.

"He's been a good person off the field. He's been a good person on the field as far as that," head coach Mike Zimmer said. "When he messes up, he knows. One time I had him in my office, and I asked him ... a question, and he said, 'Now, coach, you know you knew the answer when you asked the question.' He's a smart guy."

Since Cousins signed his fully guaranteed $84 million contract in March, the Vikings have signed linebacker Eric Kendricks, defensive end Danielle Hunter and now Diggs to multi-year deals. The Vikings now have Cousins, Diggs, Thielen, running back Dalvin Cook, left tackle Riley Reiff [url=http://www.raiderscheapshops.com/cheap-authentic-arden-key-jersey]Authentic Arden Key Jersey[/url] , right guard Mike Remmers and center Pat Elflein all under team control through at least the 2020 season. On defense, the same goes for Hunter, Kendricks, defensive end Everson Griffen, defensive tackle Linval Joseph, cornerback Xavier Rhodes and safety Harrison Smith. That's a lot of star power to squeeze under the salary cap, with linebacker Anthony Barr the only prominent player with an expiring contract this year.

"Continuity, to me, is very important, and it's not a luxury we have in the NFL these days," Cousins said. "There is a lot of change year in and year out, so I've come to expect that and understand you can't use that as an excuse."

Diggs has come a long way since his father, Aron Diggs, died of heart failure in 2008. He told his son in his final months to make sure to look after his mother and two brothers, and for Diggs this new deal was the consummation of that directive.

"I'm happy that I can look at my mom and smile and tell her that everything is going to be OK," Diggs said. "I'm just very thankful for everybody involved."

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