The Phoenix Suns need Money Making McDonough
Ryan McDonough has received the scorn of many Phoenix Suns fans in his short tenure as general manager. However there is not denying: his recent moves are starting to pay off.
Let’s be honest with ourselves for a minute: Those Phoenix Suns fans who truly believed that the lottery would go our way, all I have to say is more power to you.
However, the majority of fans believed otherwise, and who could blame them!
For the first time in their history, the Phoenix Suns have not only secured their first number one overall draft pick, but they also ended the trendy current draft selection process of tanking.
Starting next season, the worst three teams will all have a 14% chance to win the lottery. That means there is no logical reason for tanking any longer. That has been the “process” for Phoenix the last half of the decade, with the architect of it being General Manager Ryan McDonough.
Hired in 2013, McDonough’s teams have averaged 31 wins per year. With a record of only 155 wins and a staggering 255 loses over this span, naturally the losing has been hard to swallow for most Suns fans.
Yet with this pick comes hopes of DeAndre Ayton and expectations of winning that was expected of McDonough five years ago.
In 2013 there was not much of a roster to work with, but now there is plenty of available cap space, plus there is a lot more (young) talent on the team.
The year before Ryan’s hire the state of the franchise was absolute turmoil.
Not taking away from the talent of Marcin Gortat and the opinions he shared about the Suns at the time, but when the center voiced his displeasure with the team (comments that ultimately got him traded) it started the downfall of the franchise that McDonough hopes to finally escape from with this summer’s first overall pick.
McDonough has been extremely open about what he will or will not do with the pick
Time and again he has said that all options are on the table, although he has confirmed that the likelihood of trading the pick are slim.
This is the reason he was hired.
This play on words, the total vagueness of each comment neither confirming or denying what his plans are, is exactly what Robert Sarver brought him from Boston for. He comes from a sports family and had 10 years in Boston under the helm of Danny Ainge and Doc Rivers – who both spoke glowing of his hiring – before coming here.
Hopefully this potential will finally blossom and allow him to add the right pieces to turn the franchise’s tailspin into an arm’s race to the top.
Next: The top-5 players selected 16th overall all-time
Winning not only changes a teams culture it saves jobs, makes people forget the hard times.
Even beyond the first overall pick though will be his ability to grab a gem at 16 (don’t forget, both Donovan Mitchell and Devin Booker were drafted 13th) or flip it for another veteran piece, will be his to own, good or bad.
The time for wheeling or dealing is now, and like the movie Paid in Full, we need “MMM.”
Money Making McDonough to get the Phoenix Suns headed to the playoffs for a chance to get a ring.