The Phoenix Suns should consider bringing back Tyler Ulis

James Jones should recognize the power of friendship and consider bringing Tyler Ulis back to the Phoenix Suns.

Allow me to offer a little personal information about my background that doubles as a solid advice Phoenix Suns General Manager James Jones should heed.

Tyler Ulis encapsulates my internal struggle between passion and frustration with the Phoenix Suns.

While the Suns reign high as my favorite team across all sports, Kentucky Basketball is my religion.

As a toddler in the hills of Eastern Kentucky in the mid-80s, I didn’t really have a choice. My obsession with this holy phenomenon has compelled me to travel to five Final Fours, games in more than ten states, plus a random trip to the Bahamas. And that’s just in the last decade.

During this time, which has seen Kentucky produce such superstars as John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, Anthony Davis, and Karl-Anthony Towns, I never enjoyed watching a player more than Tyler Ulis.

Look: Tyler Ulis stands a generous 5’9” and claims to be 160 lbs. The man looks like a boy on the court juxtaposed to towering meta-humans more than a foot taller than him, and some nearly double his weight. Yet Ulis straight up balls out and it’s a jaw-dropping spectacle to behold.

In college, Ulis was first team All-American, SEC Player of the Year, and SEC Defensive Player of the Year. Those are the same awards Anthony Davis claimed his only year at Kentucky. Think about that.

Oh, also throw in the Bob Cousy Award for best collegiate point guard and you have all the hardware to justify, as my Appalachian brethren would say, “he ain’t some underdog story.”

Ulis’ confidence oozes off the court as well, perhaps best illustrated a leaked B-dubs order from his UK days.

Ulis ordered 12 wings but added an important parenthetical next to it: (all drummies).

First off, take a minute to appreciate he called one of the two varieties of buffalo wings something you’ve never heard of, but you still instantly knew what it was. To me, wings have always been classified as either single-boners or double-boners, but I still get the urge to refer to the single-boners as drummies on occasion because of this story.

Secondly, soak up the gall it takes to request the wing-guy sort through the heap and ensure your dozen are the only type you prefer. It’s brash enough to be awe-inspiring, yet mundane enough to be acceptable.

That’s a bad man.

As you likely surmised by this point, having Kentucky alum Devin Booker as the current face of the Suns shoots off all my brain’s endorphins.

So, when the Suns drafted Ulis (and famed Devin Booker BFF) with the 34th pick in the 2016 draft, my body went on autopilot to the Suns season ticket webpage.

My wife subsequently slammed the laptop closed when she saw the price, but regardless, I was all in.

Ulis’ two years in Phoenix showcased many highlights including a game winning buzzer-beater off a steal, getting an assist through JaVale McGee’s legs, and my personal favorite, getting in a mid-court jump ball with his notably undersized competitor, Isaiah Thomas.

But then, in the offseason after this second year, the Suns front office cut him.

They just waived him.

Don’t mistake my outpouring of over-the-top fandom as blind loyalty. I get it. A 7 point and 4 assist average over two years is fairly pedestrian and watching him get backed down by the likes of big guards such as Russell Westbrook and Damian Lillard makes you wonder how he wonder how he won Defensive Player of the Year anywhere, much less in the SEC.

But it is hard to argue he wasn’t serviceable and could play the role of a trustworthy backup.

Put basketball skill-set aside for a moment: he is the Suns franchise player’s best friend. And they just cut him without even giving a Booker a heads up.

In the immortal, yet slightly annoying words of the Monday Night Football crew: “c’me on, man.”

This is the same summer they sign Booker to a max deal, but don’t show him the respect to keep his roommate on the roster for another year? Or at least inform him of the plans to release him?

It seems like a cheap power play an insecure middle manager of a Buffalo Wild Wings would pull to let their star employee know who’s really in charge.

Clearly, Booker is no LeBron James, but the Suns current GM James Jones got a roster spot for a couple of years on different teams due to his close relationship with the King.

It’s what smart franchises, or even wing restaurants, do.

Let’s go, James Jones. Real should recognize real in this case. Bring back the drummy-eatin’ baller with the most confidence-per-pound in the league: the icon-sized icon, Tyler Ulis.