Why the New Phoenix Suns G League Team Actually Matters

Why the New Phoenix Suns G League Team Actually Matters

the valley suns are here the Phoenix Suns announced their g-league franchise on Wednesday morning on today’s episode of lockon suns what that could mean and why it’s only going to work if they make it let’s go you are locked on suns your daily Phoenix Suns podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team everyday we are back this is lockon Phoenix Suns we are part of the lockon podcast Network and I’m your host bran clean a credential media member covering the Suns for the past seven seasons the host of the just basketball show wherever you get your podcasts thank you for making lockon Suns your first listen to start off your Thursday back with you as the Suns off season continues and they’ve kept the announcements rolling like I don’t even need to say offseason It’s News Mania here in Phoenix and I appreciate you spending your Thursday with me hit follow subscribe if you haven’t already we’re freee and available everywhere including YouTube just hit that button get a new episode in your feet every single Monday through Friday get locked on to the Phoenix Suns all season long be coming every day or we’re going to have content for you all summer it’s not slowing down all right the valley Suns don’t think it’s everybody’s favorite name personally wish they would have gotten a little more creative you got the capital city go go you got the Memphis hustle you got the Rip City remix mix I like the kind of like nickname for the city concept with the valley but you don’t got to you don’t have to do the Suns just do something a little bit related um either way the logo is even worse I’m sorry to start the show on a negative note but that’s how I feel but the reality is here this is a a big opportunity for the Suns okay because you this is how you develop Talent all right this is how you develop Talent you take of every Avenue that’s available to you the Suns had not been doing that over the past four years since they sold their g-league team because Robert arver is a cheap skate now they have the opportunity to do it that’s the bottom line all right and so within that where are we looking every great team in the NBA develops Talent this way all right look at the Conference Finals right now you look at the Thunder they’re not in the Conference Finals I’ll start there Isaiah Joe you have Lindy Waters who I’ve mentioned Aaron Wiggins these guys Lou dor they came up playing in the Oklahoma City Blue you look at Minnesota nil Alexander Walker great example of somebody who had to really cut their teeth develop he didn’t even start his career in Minnesota he played in New Orleans and Utah and then finally got there and bounced around and they developed him he has played 16 uh sorry Nas Reed has played 16 games in the G League you go to Dallas maybe a little bit less of an example there drick Jones J certainly I don’t give the the Mavs credit he developed long before they got to him but he’s obviously a g-league product came through Phoenix once upon a time and then the Pacers where you know TJ McConnell is a byproduct of the process in Philadelphia and you have guys who have really again um I believe Aaron n Smith back when he was with the Celtics played a lot of time for the main g-league franchise I can get you the exact number of games there uh he played okay a handful as well as I believe a specialty tournament it’s up and down these rosters guys who one way or another on one franchise or another the g- league is a real thing all right the G League I mean they the Pacers put their rookies there this year for a lot of the Season jarus wer and Ben Shepard Ben Shepard’s playing minutes so I don’t need to throw more examples at you because it’s it’s the truth the Miami Heat have taken advantage of this the Clippers have taken advantage of this the Warriors have taken advantage and been able to develop real rotation players from the G League the Suns sold their team and we’ll get to their approach here as we go but they sold their g-league team because Robert Sarver I think honestly like he it wasn’t even a financial necessity I think that he just saw an opportunity to cheap out and took it he laid off staff he um sold this team he cut Corners all before he really had to you know before anybody really had clarity about the NBA season continuing or not continuing a lot of NBA teams furloughed their people but if you remember like Joel embiid donated some money along with Sixers ownership to help people out we don’t need to go back down the pandemic Rabbit Hole nobody wants to talk about that but the reality is this was unnecessary and an unforced error now the suns are on Level Playing Field again they have these opportunities at their disposal the organ the the the team the valley Suns this g-league franchise is not only centrally located in the city playing at mullet arena in t they are also not too far from footprint Center as a result of that not too far from the Verizon 5G practice facility as a result of that really just a straight shot down Scottdale Road and a little bit obviously to the west from there and you’re at the Suns facility so they should be able to turn this into something something good the facility at mullet is nice if you’ve ever seen a hockey game there you know it’s it’s new it’s it’s recently built it’s been you know prettied up in order for the coyotes to play there so it’s a better place than a lot of g-league franchises are going to play I would imagine you know Phoenix is desirable in the winter just the same as it is for the Suns you know it’s going to have that value for this g- league team people are going to want to play here people as they build out a coaching staff here a front office here out of imagine it will be a desirable destination if it’s anything like how Matt ishia has approached the front office with the Suns the head the coaching staff with the Suns same with the Mercury he’s going to spend and invest in this thing and a little goes a long way in the G league right you can hire a pretty good coach give him a fat raise from what he might be making elsewhere and still not really be breaking the bank that’s how this is going to work so that is all to say the best teams this year and throughout the g- League’s history but especially as teams have really started to take advantage over it over the past 5 10 years the best teams use it the best teams get results and actually get difference makers through this Pipeline and the Suns now have a chance to catch up that being said recent history under James Jones under Robert Sarver shows they might not want to pursue these Avenues even if the money is there and the resources are there to do it this will only work if they make it work I’ll tell you why next first Today’s Show brought to you by LinkedIn jobs the best place to hire the best place to get hired when you’re hiring for your small business you want to find quality professionals that are right for your role and that’s why 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well what’s really the point here however the reason I have my suspicions or my doubts or my qualms here is under James Jones and even under Ryan MCD previous to that the Suns have not taken full advantage of every Avenue the way that I just said they should even when they had the g- league team like I mentioned two-way contracts which will allowed them to to jump back and forth uh players to jump back and forth between the g-league and the NBA and really the whole Player Development infrastructure the Suns have been I don’t want to say resistant CU I can’t mind read but the results have not shown let me just read you the two-way players the Suns have had so the two-way contract I believe began in 2019 the 201920 season no the year before that I believe they did use a lot of DeAnthony Melton in um the g-league even though he wasn’t on a two-way contract so I’ll give them credit there I’m not sure if there was a two-way that year you go on to the next season 201920 I think the sun signed Jawan Evans at one point they had Jaylen leue at another point they had just actually uh Jared Harper is another one they had just signed Tariq Owens from Texas Tech if you remember him do a 2A contract right when Co hit I don’t actually think they ever officially signed it was like literally days before uh that they announced that uh the final season you’re talking about um did they even have one I don’t think so year oh taon Alexander was that season next year 64 win season you’re talking ish way right it has not been a resource that the Suns have taken advantage of there’s a reason I was struggling to remember those names even as I’m looking at the roster and there’s a reason you forgot most of them right it’s because the Suns have not taken advantage of it now of course that sucks because their g-league team once they sold it was whatever one they could assign a player to like Jaylen Smith spent the g-league showcase bubble thing that they did after the 2020 draft with I believe the Clippers affiliate so when you don’t have a once they sold the team in 2020 when you don’t have that direct affiliate your development infrastructure is is out of your control right you don’t you might have a relationship with the coach you might know a little bit about how they do things it might feel like the system makes sense but that coaching staff has no vested interest in your player getting better your player getting minutes and the terminology the culture the Personnel it might not be similar whereas again like to keep using the Thunder as an example because I think they’ve really taken advantage of it Mark dnal who just won coach of the year who led them to um a number one seed this season he was the g-league team’s head coach so Dort and these other guys like they had that familiarity and foundation with him he had served on Billy Donan staff before that then he went to the G League then he came back to take the head coaching spot like it’s worked perfectly for them it’s not going to be that easy for anyone else I’m not saying it should but it has to be top down it has to be collaborative and it has to be a focus it has to be an emphasis you have to say we’re going to draft this guy in the second round or we’re going to sign this undrafted free agent or this player from overseas and part of their development plan with what our vision is going to be is going to come through the G League We Trust our coach there we trust our GM there we’re going to do this that and this and get this player to the next level and hopefully backfill and have that guy eventually become a eighth ninth 10th Man for our NBA team back to some level of skepticism here I don’t think that I have to go too deep to remind you of an article that Kevin arnovitz wrote at ESPN before he left the summer of 2022 about the sun’s approach to all of this okay he commented about the thunder James Jones did sorry James Jones said to Kevin arnovitz in this article I respect what OKC does that’s what they’ve chosen to be I guess everything’s a choice I don’t judge I respect it it’s just not for me he says in a separate part of part of this article you’re either trying to win or you’re not trying to win if you’re not trying to win you can say what you want but you’re trying to lose you can say let’s go slow and win later but there are too many things between now and later I’m trying to win now and win later players know every day in the league brings them one day closer to the end of their careers and I can’t waste their days I don’t know I really don’t know you know there’s details in here about they have six seven guys on their draft board 2019 when they took cam Johnson 11th after trading back they were prepared to take him sixth because they just believed in him that much I guess to me you can afford to be all in on some of this stuff right plenty of teams are in the NBA what you can’t afford is to be ignorant frankly and to to have the confidence and the Cockiness that you are so good at all of the more present day aspects of building out a winning roster that you can ignore you know diligence around prospects 20 through 60 in a in a draft or sell your g-league team and not focus on it or not really be that treat two-way players really as like depth rather than development opportunities and all these other things that’s where you can go arai if you’re so cocky about well I can nail this trade and this free agency signing and this everything else so I don’t care about all that at the end of the day that can’t be true forever nobody if it was that easy everybody would have that approach because it it would just be solved tomorrow’s problems tomorrow and and figure it out but then you draft Jaylen Smith you trade a pick for Landry shamut you do all these things and suddenly oh crap well we’re not winning right now as much as we would like to and we don’t have the assets we would like to be able to increase our likelihood of winning now so we’re screwed what focusing on the g-league team and making a greater emphasis on scouting and Player Development does for you is it it should just work for itself again you have to hire the right people it has to matter to you you have to have it be part of your your vision overall but it it should just be a little bit of a machine at a certain point right like you should be able to say okay we liked this player he was 50th on our board 40th on our board but he didn’t get drafted we signed him because we talked to his agent ahead of time he became our starting two guard on opening night in Tempe at mullet for the G League we expect he’ll take a year or two in that program before he’s ready ready but we like how he fits here I mean it’s Minor League Baseball oh our our pitching staff only has three four guys ready right now but they’re relatively young so we like this guy in AA we think he’ll be ready for for the majors opening day next year so this year’s a little bit of an in between but we’re kind of counting that guy as part of our rotation we might buy a dude an arm at the deadline to get us that fourth guy for the playoffs in the meantime but we’re not going to sign him to you know this is how it goes the g- league can be that but you have to want it to be that and I’m not sure the Suns do so with that being said what’s the best case scenario here is this really going to be a Difference Maker big picture get into that coming up next first Today’s Show brought to you by better help better help is changing the game making therapy more accessible to you we all carry around different stressors big and small therapy is a safe space to get those things off your chest instead of bottling them up and figure out how to work through whatever is weighing you down therapy is huge doesn’t have to be something massive or traumatic or distinct or this scary thing it can just be hey I’m dealing with this I’m worried about this I want to talk to somebody who’s not part of my life about my life and just feel a little better it can be that simple if you’re thinking of starting therapy give better help a try it’s entirely online flexible convenient and suited to your schedule all you got to do to get started is fill out a brief questionnaire get matched with the licensed therapist who suits you and switch therapists anytime to find the right person for no additional charge get it off your chest with betterhelp visit betterhelp.com lockon NBA today to get 10% off your first month and try it out for yourself that’s betterhelp hp.com locked on NBA all right let’s close out the show the last ingredient here that I think you really have to understand is salary cap right like we can dream up all day hey sign Royce O’Neal to a huge contract or you know you extend Grayson Allen and it creates these new trade chips for you and what’s Yousef nurkic’s value and freezing picks when does this pick become available those all matter the Suns just hired a new cap Guru from Brooklyn fired the guy in Trevor buckstein who had held that role for them for longer than I even know and those those will be important to nail as well you got to get the trades and the cap stuff right but the easiest way to the easiest way to back fill when you’re old and you’re expensive is developing Talent not stealing it away from other teams or hoping you get lucky I know the Denver Nuggets are not the best example here given that they just lost two but that was their approach last summer and I think most people around the league media and otherwise seemed to feel like it was the smartest way to go Calvin boot their general manager said hey we get the second apron we get why the league wants to create parody we’re fine with not winning three championships a in a row if it means over the next you know eight years of Nicole jokic’s career before he retires we win two or three you know that’s how the smart teams are thinking about it and they went out and they traded back and they traded future picks for now picks and all this stuff they had three rookies on this year’s team I believe as well as Christian Brown and pton Watson who they drafted last year who looked pretty promising that’s four five guys where even if you only hit on two or three of them one or two of them can go a bit a long way when you have cavius calwell Pope for free agency and Michael Porter Jr on you know kind of people’s trade trade watch list here I mentioned the Wolves they went all in with the Rudy gobe trade they gave Carl Anthony towns a supermax and then they said hey we got to be smart about this Nas Reed was an undrafted free agent Jaden McDaniels was a late first round pick Nel Alexander Walker was a believe a second round pick who they got on his third team those three guys are making a huge impact this stuff matters the g-league franchise is not going to be the only difference between finding those guys and not finding those guys but as I’ve said now multiple times it can be a big help think about Jaylen Smith the Suns go all in trade for Chris Paul suddenly Jaylen Smith doesn’t really have a role for a team that wants to compete right now then the season he gets Co the season goes way better than expected and the suns are kind of Off to the Races the Suns wanted him to kind of be their power power forward of the future but cam Johnson’s playing great they get Jay Crowder on a mid-level exception deal that really really helped them value contract where’s Jaylen Smith supposed to fit in so he doesn’t really play his rookie year they put him in that g-league showcase with the Clippers team doesn’t play a lot there and it already sort of felt like it was over misses his whole rookie season as far as an opportunity to to improve finally gets to the Pacers and look he hasn’t been in their postseason rotation I don’t feel like he maybe ever was going to be some kind of difference making NBA rotation big but he at least reached closer to that potential once he got a real opportunity to grow and improve and and F and fit a roll the Pacers got him and they were able to pay him and they’re not up against it but Boston with Sam Hower great example Luke cornette great example bucks they didn’t have those guys they were in the sun’s position Clippers there’s a reason they’re holding on to Bones Highland and Amir coffee is a great example of a guy the Suns have not had those players and it’s going to hurt them even more if they can if they cannot find a way to discover and develop those players I gave you my list of minimum free agents my top 10 the other day people on Twitter are laughing and crying and just oh my goding at the level of Talent on that list and I get it hoping that the difference between a first round sweep and a championship is like a new head coach one trade and then like getting sandrew Mamu Mamu KES V yeah that’s a tough sell I’m not here to tell you otherwise but what if I said two years from now the suns were able to draft a sign an undrafted free agent this year have him play in Tempe next year and be ready to be a contributor at age 24 23 whatever the season after next great and that didn’t really cost you anything you know again to go back to the Thunder it also is not just the fact that you have these players and you’re able to develop them while you’re also trying to win games it’s their I don’t always like to talk about players and athletes this way but they’re cheap they’re cheap from a team building standpoint you’re getting cost controlled players right that was part of the the thing with so many Philly guys during the process is they were able to trade some of those dudes to other teams because they were so affordable and therefore their contract was so valuable that they kept the machine going because they would find these guys flash talent and then trade them Thunder have kind of done the same thing but you look at the Thunder roster Aaron Wiggins who I didn’t mention before who went through their g- league program Isaiah Joe who I did mention Lou Dort those guys have been at you know2 $3 million and then even their next contract often times like they come up for an extension earlier if they come via the second round or undrafted just based on how the rules work and they’re usually restricted at that time so it adds up it adds up with the Personnel the talent you’re able to field on your roster and it adds up in terms of the money you’re able to safe step one was getting the team step two is harder again Staffing identifying it and incorporating it into your long-term Vision we’ll get into this more with Stephen pjon to end the week we’re going to talk about James Jones the moves the Suns have made in the front office they fired two people they hired one kind of feels like this is James Jones last chance here find difference makers through the Avenues you have and do better with the roster or you’re done luckily for him this is a great resource they’ve all just got to embrace it and use it that’ll wrap us up for the day hit follow or subscribe if you haven’t already be coming every dayer throughout the rest of the offseason catch Stephen and I talking James Jones off season front office and more on tomorrow’s episode more next week and Beyond enjoy your Thursday I’ll catch you guys next time

The Phoenix Suns punted on player development for too long, but the NBA G League Valley Suns give them a new chance to nail it.

Brendon Kleen of @justbasketballfans breaks down how the Suns can add depth on the margins and make their players better by making the G League a part of their vision.

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