James Jones Deserves More Credit For Building The Suns
Maybe this James Jones guy is smart? Actually, that’s probably a foregone conclusion at this point. Look, maybe the Suns will win the title. Maybe they won’t. All I know is they’re the best team in the NBA and you won’t find a single person crediting the team’s architect right now. Jones deserves way more credit than he’s getting for building this Suns team.
Remember that time we looked at Jones like he had two heads for saying he would have taken Ja Morant over Zion Williamson? Turns out, he’s probably right. The moral of the story is, Jones has done a lot of off the radar things and hasn’t gotten any love for it. There is more than one example.
Jones hasn’t been perfect. He’s got his fair share of things wrong. Taking Jalen Smith wasn’t great. Neither was trading away a first round pick that became Desmond Bane for washed Aron Baynes and Ty Jerome.
More so than anything, Jones is learning from his mistakes and taking smart gambles. That’s all you can really ask out of your general manager. The Suns probably lost the NBA Finals a year ago because they didn’t have an upgrade over Frank Kaminsky. Jones corrected the mistake adding JaVale McGee and Bismack Biyombo who are BOTH giving the team good minutes. Jones deserves credit for that.
You have to give this guy credit for the number of gambles that have worked. Did anybody think Cam Payne had talent? Did anybody else have Cam Johnson as a lottery pick? He put a lot of faith in an old Chris Paul that nobody else seemed to be willing to do.
He also acquired Jae Crowder so you know he gets it. You can credit Monty Williams, if you want to, but Jones hired him so…
Who knows if the Suns are going to win the title. Maybe they will. Maybe they won’t. All I know is the Suns won 64 and that should mean something. Especially while working for an owner (Robert Sarver) that isn’t held in high regard. Phoenix isn’t attracting the star free agents either.
