It's time to give credit to the least likely member of the Suns

The Phoenix Suns find themselves in a good spot heading into the regular season. Devin Booker's ankle is good to go, while rookie Ryan Dunn has been one of the surprise packages throughout the entire league in preseason.

So much so, that a regular spot in the rotation is now assured for the former Virginia standout. With head coach Mike Budenholzer making this team take way more 3-pointers than last season - with early returns extremely promising - the Suns are in great shape in a crowded Western Conference.

Which is why we now have to give flowers to the least likely individual.

Step forward... General Manager James Jones. Yes, you have read that correctly. That's because - despite being ridiculed in The Valley for some time now - even the biggest critic of Jones has to admit that he's gotten a lot of things right in the last two seasons.

We're not even talking about the trades and signings, although if you're going to blame him for what has gone wrong, he should get love for what the franchise has done right. Jones was in the room when the team turned Chris Paul into Bradley Beal - and although that didn't look like a great move last season - already Beal looks better in preseason play.

Really though Paul's contract was such that there were very few players he could have been moved for anyway, with Beal being the best of the bunch. Paul now finds himself in San Antonio with the Spurs - and as we saw in his lone campaign with the Golden State Warriors - it is over for him as a key contributor at the highest level.

Many fans also laughed when the organization somehow turned Deandre Ayton into Jusuf Nurkic, Grayson Allen, Nassir Little and Keon Johnson. At this stage on Nurkic and Allen remain, but last year both were so important to a 49 win team that this trade can also be viewed as a success. Nurkic playing a team-high 76 games, Allen having a career year.

Ayton put up good numbers for about six weeks with the Portland Trail Blazers, but his trade value has only decreased since then. Nurkic on the other hand looks like an important piece of what coach Budenholzer is trying to achieve, after it was revealed at media day last month that getting him to take more 3-pointers than he ever has before was very much on the agenda this season.

Really though it is in the drafting of three players that Jones deserves a ton of credit. Already Dunn has had a massive impact - we went so far as to compare him to a Suns great recently - while second round pick Oso Ighodaro has also shown some early promise. He'll be brought along slowly and spend some time in the G League, but he could be a genuine solution for the team.

The tandem of Nurkic and backup Mason Plumlee at center is limited and lacking in young legs, but Ighodaro could just be a different look used at times throughout the regular season. The fact that is even a possibility at this early stage - plus the obvious massive upside of Dunn - is reason enough for Jones to take a victory lap.

But if you go back to that Ayton for Nurkic/Allen deal, you might remember a second rounder by the name of Toumani Camara was also in the deal. He'd looked good in Summer League for the Suns, but he really popped in his debut season in Portland. So much so that he's an important part of what they're trying to build there now.

That would make it three straight picks in a row that have hit for the Suns, even if only two of them ended up sticking with the franchise for now. Owner Mat Ishbia may have come in and splashed the necessary cash to attract Kevin Durant - but as much as it will pain certain fans to admit it - James Jones has steered this ship in the right direction for a while now.