Phx-Suns.Net

Interesting thread about the top 10 best moves made by James Jones as Suns GM:



Here's a summary:

10) trading for Torrey Craig
9) signing Bismack Biyombo
8) signing JaVale McGee
7) signing Cam Payne
6) trading Trevor Ariza for Kelly Oubre
5) signing Ricky Rubae <3
4) signing Jae Crowder
3) trading #6 pick (Jarrett Culver) for #11 pick (Cam Johnson) and Dario Saric
2) signing Coach Monty Williams
1) trading for Chris Paul

What do you guys think? I think getting Monty Williams is maybe more important than signing Paul, but maybe I'm crazy. At first I was going to say that the Oubre move is too high, but given that he brought us a lot of swagger and energy and then turned into a key trade piece to get CP3, maybe not. It's a little early to include the Biyombo move on the list, but why not. I'd probably rate the Torrey Craig move above Biyombo, though, just because Craig was a big part of a playoff run that took us to the Finals, while Biyombo has just had a handful of nice regular season games. But that's a quibble.

That’s a solid list and I don’t think Oubre was too high. His energy helped turn the culture around and the other half of that move was getting rid of Ariza which by itself might rank pretty high.

But I’d also like to see a list of the bottom 10 moves. Drafting Stix over Haliburton would be up there I guess.

I would move Rubio up the list ahead of Jae and even Cam. Monty is pretty open about how impactful it was in our culture turn around to have Rubio here leading it.

Who wants to do a top-5 James Jones bad moves list?

Mori Chu wrote: ↑

Tue Jan 25, 2022 7:41 pm

Who wants to do a top-5 James Jones bad moves list?

It's a very thin list -

Selected Jalen Smith (when Tyrese Haliburton was available)
Traded T.J. Warren to Indiana for cash considerations
Traded a 2020 first-round draft choice (#30 - Desmond Bane) to Boston for Aron Baynes and Ty Jerome.
Re-signed Abdul Nader to a multi-year contract
Signed Elfrid Payton to a one-year contract

Keep in mind that Warren has played in only 71 of 193 games with the Pacers and only 4 in the last two years.

And that they also got a decent year out of Aron Baynes.

And that Nader and Payton don't really cost them that much since they were signed as end of the bench players.

The Bobster wrote: ↑

Tue Jan 25, 2022 8:12 pm

Mori Chu wrote: ↑

Tue Jan 25, 2022 7:41 pm

Who wants to do a top-5 James Jones bad moves list?

It's a very thin list -

Selected Jalen Smith (when Tyrese Haliburton was available)
Traded T.J. Warren to Indiana for cash considerations
Traded a 2020 first-round draft choice (#30 - Desmond Bane) to Boston for Aron Baynes and Ty Jerome.
Re-signed Abdul Nader to a multi-year contract
Signed Elfrid Payton to a one-year contract

The Josh Jackson dump was pretty painful.
I also don’t love not using our full MLE or the BAE (which expires) when we’re trying to win a title. Although I suspect those may have been Sarver decisions.

I think we gave up a second rounder with TJ no?

The fact that we actually drafted Ty Jerome is not great in my book. Not disparaging him as a player but we clearly weren’t ready for this type of player development.

Wasn’t the Ty Jerome pick made by McDonough?

Maybe. It’s a bit hazy for me. Most of the last decade is a bit hazy for me. I’m not shitting on JJ per se, more so that this discussion is bringing back a lot of suppressed trauma.

Ty Jerome was drafted by Philadelphia and acquired in the trade for Aron Baynes.

pickle wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 26, 2022 3:46 am

Maybe. It’s a bit hazy for me. Most of the last decade is a bit hazy for me. I’m not shitting on JJ per se, more so that this discussion is bringing back a lot of suppressed trauma.

Sure sounds like you're pinning some shit that happened before he got here on him.

To me he made one glaring mistake - he picked a player that they didn't use, and didn't pick up the option on instead of a player they could have used.

The other deals (even dumping Warren) can be rationalized.

James Jones drafted Ty Jerome. Same draft as Cam Johnson…technically someone else drafted him, but the trade was announced before the pick and just wasn’t completed until after the draft.

According to this we should be 46-0

Crazy stat

Of course the Clips are #1 in that stat. They've had a brutal season of injuries.

Split T wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 26, 2022 7:14 am

According to this we should be 46-0

Actually 46.01-0 and I'm not quite sure how that would work.

Probably had something to do with wins list vs expected wins lost. If the expected is say, 7, then it makes more sense.

That stat is dumb. The Suns were fully healthy to start the season and they went 1-3 in their first four games.