The Phoenix Suns might have considered a front office change at the beginning of the offseason, but they opted to let James Jones helm the draft and free agency. On paper, he did a stellar job with both, but time will tell if his moves paid off.
There’s no point in shaking up the front office now that the most important part of the offseason has passed. However, if the Suns come up short again, they can revisit that discussion next summer when a rival exec could become available.
Tim Connelly is quite possibly the best exec in the game. He helped put together a championship-winning roster around Nikola Jokić and Jamal Murray in Denver, but left for the Minnesota Timberwolves a year before the Nuggets sealed the deal.
In Minnesota he’s made several great moves, highlighted by the Rudy Gobert trade, that have turned them into a Western Conference powerhouse. But now it seems like he’s once again content with a change of scenery before seeing the T-Wolves through to a championship.
Anthony Edwards getting to talk shit to TWolves teammate Rudy Gobert pic.twitter.com/NV5BkYJu01
— Pardon My Take (@PardonMyTake) August 10, 2024
Connelly had an opt out in his contract that he could’ve exercised this offseason, but instead agreed to push that clause to next offseason. It’s not confirmed why Connelly had considered leaving in the first place, but some guesses can be made.
Earlier in the offseason, it was speculated that the Detroit Pistons could pry him away with a lucrative contract offer that far exceeded his current $8 million AAV, so perhaps he just wanted more money. Or maybe he likes the challenge of building up a new team.
The Suns can offer both. Mat Ishbia has shown that he’s perfectly fine with pouring obscene amounts of money into every level of the organization. Giving Connelly an offer he couldn’t refuse would fit that bill. And Connelly accepting to try and craft a new team in his image would also follow a trend.
As of now, the Suns aren’t wildly different than a Connelly-built team. They don’t take many threes, and the Nuggets and Wolves were rarely in the upper echelon of three-point attempts either.
The Suns also don’t put a preference on drafted players, instead opting to have their key roles filled out by veterans. If Jones stays on as an exec with Connelly working above him, those are things that they can find common ground on.
There is one key difference in their team-building philosophies that makes a partnership seem less likely, though. Jones, as we know from years of evidence, heavily favors small ball. That has contributed to the Suns success in recent years, but has also been their undoing in multiple playoff series.
This offseason, he has leaned further into that philosophy by acquiring the 6’1 Tyus Jones and planning to start him next to Bradley Beal and Devin Booker. That would leave the Suns even more susceptible to bigger teams.
When it comes to building those kinds of teams, no one is better at it than Connelly.
In Denver, he drafted Michael Porter Jr. and added Aaron Gordon and Jeff Green in a small period of time. Those 3 greatly improved Denver's ability to play big without sacrificing anything.
Connelly doubled down on that strategy in Minnesota, swinging the Rudy Gobert trade shortly after he arrived, which pushed the 6’11 Karl Anthony-Towns to the 4 position. The additions of Nikeil Alexander-Walker and Kyle Anderson finished off his vision for another big team.
Those moves paid dividends for the Wolves on their way to the Western Conference Finals this year. The Suns saw it first hand, as they got soundly beaten on the boards and at the rim on both ends in the first round.
The Suns may have lost to Connelly-built teams in back-to-back years, but the Wolves also beat the Nuggets during their run. Perhaps Connelly realized the Nuggets team he built were becoming the big bad in the West, and designed his new team specifically to beat them.
That may be giving him too much credit. More likely, he saw the direction the game was going and correctly made moves to anticipate it in both stops, and Minnesota just happened to play better in the matchup.
Jones is betting that if he goes against the grain the Suns can find an offensive advantage playing against bigger lineups. If that bet fails, and Connelly opts-out, the Suns would have to make a run at him.