Fluke or Future? Evaluating the Suns’ Sustainability and the Dillingham Standard

We’re kicking off 2026 with a look at the character behind the box score. On today’s episode of The Valley Verdict, we break down a tough New Year’s Eve afternoon for Arizona sports and why the post-game comments in El Paso might be more important than the final score.In this episode:Sun Bowl Post-Mortem: ASU falls 42-39 to Duke in a thriller. We dive into the media room with Jeff Sims, Jordan Crook, and CJ Fite. We react to the powerful exchange between Michelle Gardner (The Arizona Republic) and Jeff Sims—plus, why Kenny Dillingham’s public support of his quarterback is the ultimate culture-builder.Suns Road Trip Wrap: A 3-1 road trip is a success by any metric, but the 129-113 loss to Cleveland has the national media talking. We hear from Jordan Ott and discuss the "Sustainability" question.The Howard Beck Verdict: Howard Beck (The Ringer) joins Bickley & Marotta to ask the tough question: Is this 19-14 start for the Suns sustainable or a fluke? We give our take on whether the Suns are actually a Top 10 threat.Kings Preview: Sacramento comes to the Mortgage Matchup Center tonight at 7:00 PM. We look at what the Suns need to do to protect home court and start the New Year with a win.Subscribe to The Valley Verdict and follow us on Facebook [@thevalleyverdict], Instagram [@thevalleyverdictpodcast], and YouTube [@thevalleyverdict] for more analysis.