FILE – In this April 24, 2019, file photo, Phoenix Suns general manager James Jones speaks to the media regarding the firing of Suns head coach Igor Kokoskov during an NBA basketball news conference in Phoenix. Jones’ hiring of coach Monty Williams and acquiring of All-Star guard Chris Paul are two of the biggest reasons why the Suns are in the second round of the playoffs for the first time since 2010.
Phoenix general manager James Jones was the guy who would routinely hold court at his locker a half-hour before games and engage in all sorts of conversations in his playing days. Books he was reading, what the financial markets were doing, current events, political matters, the nuances of the NBA’s collective bargaining agreement. It was all fair game.
He was smart. He knew it, too.
These days, the rest of the NBA — if they didn’t know previously — has figured that out as well.
The eight general managers left in the NBA playoffs all had success stories to tell long before their postseason runs of 2021 started. For the team that winds up winning the NBA title, it’ll be a breakthrough since none of the remaining franchises have won a championship since 1983. And for the winning GM, it’ll be another breakthrough — since none of them have won rings in their current capacities either.
“I took this job saying this would be a challenge for me to help young guys who are here in Phoenix, trying their hardest to see success and to live their dream,” Jones, a three-time NBA champion as a player in Miami and Cleveland, said recently on former NBA guard Rex Chapman’s podcast. “That became my motivation. So, when we started the work of changing the culture, it was more like, ‘Hey, this isn’t about us going to try and find the players that can get us back. It’s about taking the players we have and helping them move forward.’”
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