The Phoenix Suns are just over halfway through the regular season at 18-24. Here are five mid-season awards to celebrate the occasion.
So you’re saying there’s a chance Award winner – James Jones
Believe it or not, even six-games below .500, the Phoenix Suns are still only two-games out of the playoffs. A little run, and they could very well end their ten-year playoff drought this summer.
This is in large part to the primary architect of this roster and coaching staff, James Jones, who even though the roster is still very much raw and unfinished, with the number of changes to the roster that Jones pulled off this past summer, coupled with the new coaching staff led by Monty Williams, there is every reason to believe that with the right move(s) at the deadline, the Phoenix Suns will be that much more improved, with the talent to make that playoff run.
If for some reason the team were any worse, if they were, say, 12-29, then making a move by the deadline, one potentially centered around a star, would seem entirely unnecessary. Focusing one’s efforts on the changes that could be made over the offseason would make much more sense, thus anything other than snagging a second round pick for Tyler Johnson would potentially cause greater harm than good.
But with the team so close, and that expiring deal, along with Aron Baynes and Dario Saric‘s as well, and such a move to help the team take a leap should be very possible, if not likely.
Looking towards the end of the season, the moment, with the team out of the playoffs, no one would necessarily consider James Jones as the Executive Manager of the Year.
However, if a big trade does in fact come, and the Suns do sneak into the playoffs, even if to be swept handily at the hands of LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and the Lakers, there is no doubt that Jones wouldn’t be heavily considered, and based on the one-year turnaround, the front-runner for the award as well.