The Phoenix Suns deserve an “A” for their 2019 offseason

Trades

Technically speaking, both Johnson and Jerome were first acquired through trade, as each pick that they were selected with were originally owned by another team.

As you recall, the Suns had the rights to the 6th overall pick but traded back for the 11th (where Johnson was selected) and power forward Dario Saric.

In my opinion, this trade is absolutely brilliant.

Not only was Jones able to take the arguably best 3-point shooter in the entire daft, but by moving back five spots, he was able to address one of the two greatest positional needs on the roster – starting power forward.

Dario Saric will never be an Amar’e Stoudemire-type player, but what he offers in hard-nosed defense and above 3-point shooting is exactly what the franchise needed second most to filling the point guard position.

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How often can a general manager move back only a couple of spots in the draft and not only make a lottery selection but also add a second starter?

Such a suave move has not received the positive attention that it so very much deserves.

Jones also traded a future Milwaukee Bucks first round pick (from 2020 which may very likely be 28-30 based on their regular season record), and not only received a first round pick for the 2019 draft, but one of the most coveted backup centers in the entire NBA.

Again – why doesn’t that kind of a move garner Jones more credit?

He not only traded a future pick for a current pick (which was used to select a backup point guard who is an excellent shooter), but a backup center who was highly sought after by other NBA teams?

Obviously the most questionable move that Jones made was the dump off of both T.J. Warren and the Suns’ second round pick to the Indiana Pacers for absolutely nothing in return, yet consider again how he was able to completely wipe a long-term contract entirely off the books, and get rid of a second round pick (which Jones obviously did not believe he was going to get the kind of player that he truly coveted in that spot)?

Could Jones have found a taker for Warren and received something in return?

Sure! But then he would have had to take something back!

That player would have been under contract (which Jones apparently did not want), and may not necessarily have fit his vision of the kind of player the general managers wants on the roster.

Obviously we have no clue  as fans what the return on a trade with another team could have been, but if you consider that it was a clean slate of a trade, that has to be commended.

Finally, Jones traded Josh Jackson (with De’Anthony Melton), and essentially got nothing in return other than cap space and the loss of a franchise failure.

Prior to the deal, did anyone really imagine that Jones was going to literally be able to dump Jackson off on another franchise for nothing in return?

When you think about it, the deal was really Melton for Jevon Carter (a wash), wtih Jackson used as a throw-in to make the point guard deal go trough.

While the vast majority of Phoenix Suns fans had hoped that Jackson could eventually rehabilitate his image and game, it was obviously essential for Jones to move Jackson entirely to completely wash the slate clean, finalize the wiping away of the old regime’s numerous failures, and start the roster anew, with as little to no distractions as possible.

In this case, Jones did not have to trade one cancer for another team’s cancer. He was able to get a completely clean slate.

Do not tell me that that was not a powerful ideal and that he was thoroughly successful in his ability to follow through on.