“Captain of the team” Robert Sarver, as the apologetic owner referred to himself in Sunday’s disquieting interview with the Arizona Republic’s basketball writer, said he feels better about where the Phoenix Suns are than at any other point in the past 18 months.

And then he said GM Robert McDonough “definitely” will keep his job, despite the club’s continued nosedive in the standings, and he told Paul Coro that aging center Tyson Chandler “will play better next season at 34.”

I seriously doubt any owner in the NBA’s 67-year history has ever admitted, publicly, to a longer list of failures.

And – wait, you knew it was coming — Sarver wrapped the interview with a reminder that, with regard to the Talking Stick Resort Arena lease, “We have an out in five years if [the building’s] deemed to be obsolete and not competitive enough.”

That sounds suspiciously similar to what the owner of the Seattle SuperSonics said in 2006. You may remember the Sonics, a team which came into the NBA one season ahead of Phoenix. In case you lost track of the Sonics, they’ve been operating as the Oklahoma City Thunder for the past eight seasons.

Sarver also told Coro he sees youngsters Kevin Booker and Alex Len as faces of the franchise for the next ten years, implying that building through the draft will salvage the club. Then, next night, who should come to town but the draft-pick-rich Minnesota Timberwolves, including the past two overall No. 1 picks, Andrew Wiggins and Karl Anthony Townes, plus 13th pick Zach LaVine from 2014.
How’s that working? Well, for only the second time in nearly two months, Phoenix won a home game. Both teams continued in last place in their respective divisions, the Suns already officially eliminated from the playoffs for a club-record sixth straight season and the Wolves on the verge of a 12th straight season of futility.

And the beat goes on****