5 Low Key Highlights from Phoenix Suns Media Day

Monty Williams and James Jones Love Clichés

General Manager James Jones and Head Coach Monty Williams kicked the day off giving the exact press conferences you expected to hear from them, or any generic basketball figurehead for that matter.

There were a few quotes here and there some analysts may try to weave into something more than what was meant, but for the most part, they fed reporters lines pulled directly from the coffee table book on coaching clichés.

A few highlights from their full pressers included:

"“We are looking forward, not backwards.” – James Jones and Monty Williams, independently"

If I can be the sports writer I just teased for a moment and read between the lines, there did seem to be some subtle bashing of last year’s coaching and players, at times suggesting there wasn’t a lot of joy on last year’s team (no kidding, they only won 19 games), Igor Kokoskov wasn’t a great coach (again, 19 wins), and there were some not-so-good players on the team.

But they’re looking forward, not backward. Textbook.

"“(We need to) leave it all out on the floor.” -James Jones, twice."

Perhaps the most overused statement in the game: leave it all on the floor. Was Jones insinuating that year’s team didn’t give full effort?

Who knows? At this point, the phrase has been used to the point it has become meaningless.

"“We want to say we competed every night, every single practice.” – Monty Williams"

He actually followed this quote up by saying, “That may sound cliché,” which is true. It does.

What’s strange about this quote is this is the answer to a question about expectations for this year’s team. Clearly, those are not high if all he’s hoping is for the players to try hard.

Coach Williams also threw around the term “sweat equity” a lot in an apparent attempt to add a new phrase to aforementioned coffee table book.