Giannis Antetokounmpo Not Coming To Phoenix Suns But Brian Gregory Is?

Giannis Antetokounmpo Not Coming To Phoenix Suns But Brian Gregory Is?

It’s all Greek to me. Get that stuff out of here. It’s Southwest Bias. Welcome into another edition of Southwest Bias, brought to you by our friends at Branded Bills. Elevate your brand with the headwear and apparel from Branded Bills. Use that promo code BBPHNX at checkout and you’re going to save 20% off your first order. And did you know almost every word in the English language has a Greek origin? Yeah, I was a classics minor in college, so I know a little nerdy stuff about Greek and Roman culture, but every word does kind of have its origin in one of those two languages, either Greek or Latin. And you know, the word logic has its origin in Greek. And logic tells me that there’s a lot of talk on the internet right now that doesn’t make a lot of sense. Of course, I’m talking about Giannis Antumbo coming to the Phoenix Suns if he chooses to leave the Milwaukee Bucks after their flame out in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs. I get it. This time of year, we all want hope. We want something to cling on to like we’re, you know, we’re like we’re Rose from the Titanic watching Jack sink as we hold on to the door. We want something that makes us feel like we might be able to survive this as Suns fans. But Giannis ain’t the door to be clinging on to because he’s not coming to the desert. Well, he’ll come to the desert next year with whatever his new team is, but he ain’t gonna be wearing a Suns uniform because there’s zero reason why the Milwaukee Bucks, if they actually explore trading Giannis this off season, would ever trade him to the Suns. The Suns do not have the assets that the Milwaukee Bucks would want back in return. They’re going to want draft capital because with the Achilles injury to Dame, they’re no longer in the market to try to win. Now, if they’re trading Giannis, they’re going to want to rebuild. And the way that they’re going to want to do that is with young talent and with draft picks. And guess what? Kevin Durant, Bradley Beal, and the excuses for draft picks they have left in the cupboard are not going to be enough to land one of the premier players in the NBA. The Bucks are going to have more options than you can imagine for Giannis. the Lakers, Miami, Houston, all these teams that Suns fans have talked about wanting KD are going to want in on the Giannis sweep stakes before they take on a 37year-old Kevin Durant. And the Suns are not going to be able to match the kind of offers that say maybe Oklahoma City is interested in providing for Giannis. The Milwaukee Bucks are going to have so many more opportunities than trading Giannis to Phoenix. And you’ll say, “Oh, well, wait. What if what if Giannis has the Suns on a short list?” I’m sorry, it’s not going to happen. The value with Giannis is having a multipleyear contract still is going to be worth more to a team than the Suns can provide. And I get it. Some of you will say who know my history. Well, you kind of poo pooed on the KD trade, and I did, but that was different. The Suns had young talent. They had draft picks. They had what it would take to land a superstar. Some would argue they overpaid for Kevin Durant. But you can’t tell me that another team in this league won’t do the same for Giannis who’s younger than KD was when the Suns traded for him and has a higher ceiling at this point. You’re not going to get Giannis onto Tumbo. But enjoy all the photoshops of him in Sun’s jerseys. Enjoy the chatter. I get it. Like I said, we all want hope in the off season like this. We all want something to make us feel better. But even Matt Ishpia admitted that this team is no longer going to go star hunting. They are going to try to find guys that can fill out the roster that have some grit and grind to them. And Giannis is a star, not the kind of guy that they talked about. They’d very much be staying on the same path that they’ve gone down over the last few years. And you can argue whether or not that could still work out if you wound up with Giannis. But I just don’t see the Suns, even if they had the assets, trying to continue with that after losing multiple games this year where they wound up having no heart and no hustle. And Matt HBO was paying $400 million for that this year. You can’t tell me that he’s overly interested in trying to go down that road again. The Suns don’t have the assets. The Suns have stated they don’t have a desire to go down that path. The Phoenix Suns are not trading for Giannis. But I think they will get the kind of pieces in a KD trade that can help them build for the future while still trying to win in the present. It just may not be title talk over the next handful of years. And maybe, just maybe, if they play it right, they can find themselves digging out of the hole that started with the Kevin Durant trade. Most words have a origin in Greek and like I said logic is one of them and the logic doesn’t po point to Jana Santa Tumbo coming to Phoenix but the word therapy is actually Greek and maybe we all could use that as Suns fans right now but maybe that’s just my Southwest bias. On the other side of the break, I welcome in locked on Suns host Ben Garcia as we talk about more Phoenix Suns news and exactly what James Jones involvement in the head coaching search will be. Hey, it’s Espo back to tell you about my friends at Branded Bills. You can see the PHNX custom hat we have here on the table. I’m wearing a Branded Bills hat. I am a hat addict. I have about 60 of them at my house. And slowly but surely, they’re all becoming branded Bills because I have not worn a more comfortable hat, a better quality hat than branded Bills. And the best part, they’re local. They’re from Arizona. So, you’re helping a local company with every purchase you make. 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With the inner circle, you sign up, you’re going to save three cents off every gallon that you purchase. But the best part, your first five fillups, you’re going to save 25 cents. And then after you fill up for a while using Circle K, Inner Circle, you’re going to get to the ESPO level. You’re going to save 5 cents off every gallon. And you’re going to get great offers on snacks and drinks and all sorts of things at Circle K. Don’t forget that they’ve got their inner circle fuel days coming up on April 10th and April 24th. You’re going to save 40 cents per gallon and you still get your inner circle discount. Download the Circle K app. Join the inner circle for free. Terms, conditions apply at participating locations. Visit circlec.com for more details. really excited to welcome in Ben Garcia of Locked on Suns and the Ben Garcia show. Uh we’re talking a little Suns today obviously here on Southwest Bias. And Ben, I got to start with this and uh if you are on the other side of the fence from me on this, we may end this right after this question. Please tell me you don’t actually believe that Giannis could come to Phoenix. Giannis is coming to Phoenix. Come on, Espo. A trusted source told me on Twitter without Sorry, I had to do it. I told you what was going to happen if you uh if you said that he was coming here. I I just I I’m a man of my word. Just for everyone out there, I feel sad for the people who are that gullible. And I mean that nicely because like people just want to believe but like just take five seconds to think about something that crazy and be like, “Oh yeah, that makes no sense.” And just because someone put up a picture and then said a trusted source told them it’s not true. I don’t have any sources and I know it’s not true. I have some and you know but I I I just I never understand these sources are telling me right uh and it’s somebody but what bothered me the most about it in all these photoshops they were wearing he was wearing a jersey the Suns don’t wear anymore just take the extra step and put him in the actual jersey and maybe I’ll have a less of a a visceral reaction uh to it even though I know it’s not real like get the extra it’s the details Ben when you’re going going to lie to me on the internet. It’s the details. Make it look right if you’re going to lie. Bold of you to think that him, whoever put it out there. I don’t know. It could be a I guess it could be a woman behind those accounts. He he or her whoever did it took that photoshop from someone else. They don’t know how to Photoshop. They come on now. They they barely know how to tell a lie. They’re not putting together Photoshops to us. I’m I’m just glad it wasn’t AI because Suns was spelled right on it and and Giannis only had two hands. So, at least we knew it only had it only had five fingers and two hands. That’s the funny that’s just a tip out there for everyone. If you’re ever questioning if something is AI or not, look at their hands and see if they have more than five fingers because almost those little details, it always screws it up. Well, and look at the words, too, because inevitably something’s spelled wrong when it’s AI as well. But on the on the serious front when it comes to Giannis, how much do you think it’s going to mess up the KD market? I have my thoughts, but I want to hear yours first. I I I’m worried about it because Kevin Durant became the bell of the ball as soon as the Phoenix Suns season ended. And for that to be the case, everyone was going to be fighting over Kevin Durant. And that in turn was going to turn up the value. Now there’s another theory to this that could actually raise Kevin Durant’s stock which is this. And that is everyone that is going after uh Jiannis Kmpo and then ends up not getting that guy. Then they’re like, “Oh crap, we got to pivot.” Well, the only thing available is Kevin Durant. Pretty good consolation prize. Maybe we’ll the with the other teams that’ll be bidding as well that loss down on Jiannis on Dmpo that could also drive up a market to be able to tell people like hey man we struck out but a great consolation prize is Kevin Durant but just on its own man that sucks because if you’re the Houston Rockets or the Oklahoma City Thunder if they don’t win the championship or the Knicks for that matter always big fish hunting those teams are all going to turn their attention first to Giannis and then go over to the Kevin Durant camp and then you’re running the risk of thinking hopefully these these teams are still interested if they don’t get Giannis. So, I was starting to worry about what the package could be for Kevin Durant. And now I’m now I’m getting even more skeptical because maybe it gives someone else more leverage than maybe the Suns would have. But that’s where I would land on it for now. I actually think it’s a good thing. And you know, some people are going to think I’m crazy, but when you see the sticker shock that’s going to come with what Milwaukee wants for Giannis, right? What the Suns are going to ask for KD is going to feel more realistic at that point because I cannot imagine that the Bucks are going to let him go cheap. I know people are like, well, if Giannis wants to go somewhere, he has a contract that that’s significantly longer. I believe it’s three years left on that compared to Katie’s one. There’s not as much leverage in that situation as if he could walk away after next off season, right? So, I think the Bucks are going to ask for a huge amount because they’re going to have to enter rebuilding because Dame’s out for at least a year, right? May never play again. So, you’re not building for a championship. You don’t have like here in Phoenix a Devin Booker that you’re trying to build around. you’re starting from the bottom. So, you’re going to want young players, a probably a decent amount of that and a lot of picks to get there for Giannis. when you turn to the Suns for KD, maybe all of a sudden two, three picks and and a young guy and some salary filler starts to sound a hell of a lot more attractive because, you know, you’re like, “Hey, I’m getting KD, which is still pretty good for the next few years, playing the same position that I’d have Giannis at, and I’m still going to have assets to potentially make subsequent moves. So to me, I actually think this might help the Suns, especially if their asking price is as high as some of these reports have suggested where they are trying to recoup much of what they gave away uh to get Kevin Durant in the first place. I I think this could help. And I’m not trying to be polyianic. I just knowing the way this league works, I I think that price for Giannis is going to scare some people and make them think that KD is actually a value. The one thing that worries about worries me about your theory is I’m I’m more concerned about what the Suns could get back. And my guy Brendan Clean of Brendan Clean and I unlocked on Suns have have debated this back and forth of what the packages could be. And it keeps on coming back to the best package at least in our eyes is getting your own picks back and maybe a player or two from the Houston Rockets. And the team that really worries me about going and getting Giannis is the Rockets because along with the Thunder, man, they’ve got picks out the wazoo that they can send over to them and fairly decent picks. The Suns picks are very desirable if you’re a team like the Milwaukee Bucks. And they have a guy, I know they say Amend Thompson’s untouchable, but it’s Jiannis Kumbmpo. Those are the type of things that worry me. But here’s something as well to add to your point of what of why people might gravitate over to Kevin Durant instead of Giannis Ana Dumpo. Maybe you and I disagree here, but I’m going to throw it out to you anyways. Who’s the better player right now? Just right now, not five years from now, not 10 years from now, not contractwise, right now to win a championship. If you’re trying to add one more piece to your team, consider the the assets that you’re going to give up to. Who’s the better player? By a little, by a lot, Kevin Durant or Yiannis on Kmpo? Well, I mean, considering what you’re going to give up, I would say KD slightly. I think I think Giannis, if you’re looking long-term, there’s no there’s no debate because he’s only 30. There’s obviously some of the injury concerns with him, but you cannot deny how how high of a level KD has played the last two years. So, I don’t even feel like it’s a consolation prize. It’s just a how long of a runway do you want or do you have as a team, right? Like to me, if the Knicks go after Giannis and they lose out to okay, say C or Houston, right? The Knicks are now going to be uh you know, we know how they are. They’re going to be desperate, right? And they’re going to they’re going to offer a hell of a lot more for Kevin Durant. And all of a sudden, you know, are you getting OG Anobi and and who else are you getting? And what kind of draft compensation? And all of a sudden, are you building something around Devin Booker that can win now and put you in a better position to try to win uh and talk title a handful of years down the road? And so I think it’s interesting, but I’m assuming you’re going to say KD is the guy that’s the the better of the two right now. I mean, I don’t think it’s that hot of a take, Espo. I don’t like to be seen as a contrarian, but sometimes, maybe that’s just my personality. People go one way and I immediately think, well, what’s wrong with that way? If Giannis is better right now than KD, I have my reservations about that. Defensively, obviously, yes. But KD’s no schmuck even now defensively. But five feet around the rim, Giannis is unstoppable. Yes. Everything else offensively is Kevin Durant. And if you’re the Houston Rockets, you’re not looking to get better defensively. You’re fine defensively. You’re looking for a bucket getter. And yes, Giannis is is is a good obviously an elite level player. He’s one of the few superstars in the NBA. But would I rather give up Een and a Jabari Smith and one first round pick and a salary cap filler or I mean just an uproar of picks and players and just the whole farm for Yannis Dumbo. And this is where I would wonder if teams would look at the Suns as learning from other teams mistakes. The Suns gave up the farm for Kevin Durant. It didn’t work out. It’s not Kevin Durant’s fault. He was largely awesome here, but it didn’t work out. Same thing with Bradley Beal. They gave it up, it didn’t work out. The Nets did the same thing. Harden, KD, didn’t work out. So maybe if you’re one of these teams, you do gravitate a little bit more to the Kevin Durant thing and try to see if the Bucks will come to their senses. That again is using the Suns a little bit for leverage. But like right now, man, this is where, you know, I become a contrarian. I If you want to see Giannis a little bit better, fine. But like right now, not five years from now. Right now, I just think Kevin Durant’s better. I I I I ju I just think I just think that it’s close. It’s super close. It’s It’s razor thin. There’s There’s two things in the room, though, right? It’s Everybody thinks Father Time’s undefeated, and eventually he is. They look at LeBron as the outlier. So you go, okay, can Kevin Durant two, three, four years down the road still be this kind of guy if I’m giving up a huge amount? Where when you go Giannis 30, yeah, 34, 35, 36, he’ll still be that Greek freak in most of these people’s minds. So to them, I think that’s part of it. Uh, you know, that the the age factor comes comes into play. And then everybody thinks, “Oh, well, when I get when I get Giannis here, it’s going to fix everything.” Where we haven’t seen we’ve seen KD on the move right before. I think there’s I think there’s a little patina on uh on Giannis because he’s never left a team and this would be the first time and it’s oh well you know he’s going to come here he’s going to be that same guy where I think you know some people may take a second thought when it comes to KD because this is what what would this be the fifth team if I’m counting right that you know this would be the fifth right yeah Oklahoma State Phoenix Phoenix yeah it would be his fifth team Uh, I think that’s part of it. But I I got to, you know, I love you and Brendan. You’re my guys. But I got to ask, why is the sky falling over on Unlocked On Suns? Like we we hear a report, a little mention that uh that James Jones has been involved in uh in their preparation for their coaching search, right? And my question is, you got you guys got very uh concerned. I’ll say that. Oh, yeah. We were we the sky was falling the other day and and to me I’m just like he’s the only dude in the office. Of course there if if they’re starting prep work if if Ishbia wants some insight into guys that he might be interested in. James is going to be the guy that has to do that right now. Like right there’s nobody there’s nobody else uh at the moment. And we’ll get into the to the other rumor here in a second, but please walk me through like I’m I’m the president of the Fire James Jones fan club. I mean, I was the one saying it before anybody else and taking all the shrapnel online. So, this isn’t this isn’t me wanting to defend James Jones. It’s just I’m trying to understand. Help me out here. I’m I’m not the I’m nowhere near the president of the Fire James Jones fan club. I’m the president of anyone that had anything to do with the season, throw them out the door and don’t let the door hit them on the ass on the way out. That’s where I would land on that. I’m more of like the secretary of the Fire James Jones Club. Like I’m a couple of steps down. People are going to have to die to put me in charge. But like the problem is everything they said to us at the at the press conference, which me and Brandon were both in attendance at. Obviously your guy Gerald Brigay was there too. They’re telling us we’re going to do things differently. This is going to be a prolonged process. I know the research that James Jones and Matt Ishvia have uh been giving me when it comes to head coaches. Frank Vogle, they fired him and Mike Benoler, they fired him. Both one and done. I’m want off the ride. And not only that, let’s say James Jones is just doing leg work, right? Can you at least tell us if he’s going to have a job past July? because I don’t want anyone doing leg work who isn’t going to have a job past whatever June or July when the new league year starts. Call it busy work then. I mean I don’t I don’t know man but honestly like you are going to find that out what’s what’s going to happen in this front office. And I don’t know how we can say there isn’t change yet until we know what it is right and actually make that judgment. And I I I took it as a very throwaway thing because Stein had told told it to me as well on this program uh over the weekend and I just kind of took it as a throwaway. Yeah, of course he’s he’s manning it because he’s the guy in charge right now. There’s nobody else. So, sure. Okay, great. like but the the line and Stein and Fischer reiterated this was the Suns still aren’t going to make any kind of hire or move on the coaching front until after they’ve decided and made the changes in their front office. Like so if at that point we find out that James Jones is still in one of those seats and he’s leading the coaching search, yeah, go hog wild at that point about complaining about it. I’m I’m all in. I’ll join you. We’ll start the picket line. Uh but you know that that I just I I guess I read that a little bit different that situation a little bit different. Well, well, it’s also like the things that sometimes people react to on social media like they’re one minute clips. I’m just trying to drive you to the show. Just busting your job. No, I wish you wouldn’t. I wish you’d come after me harder. That’s why like whenever you’re like, “I love you, man.” I’m like, “No, tell me you dislike me and then tell me how bad my take is.” That’s the way I operate. But uh you’re you’re way nicer of a guy than I am. I just I have been defending Matt Ishbia. It feels like by myself just I think I never saw uh uh what’s that medieval show from years ago. It’s like Jon Snow with the with the with the sword. Game of Thrones. I don’t know why I know his name. I haven’t seen one episode. But that little meme, right? I’ve just been sitting there defending James Jones or defending Matt Ishbia. Little do I know he’s the one putting the knife in my back is the way I don’t love this process. You know, go ahead. I I’ll let you’re the guest. I’ll let you finish. Is I don’t I don’t like this process. I don’t like the idea of We’ll get to I’m sure in a second about who could potentially be the next hiring and all that, but it seems like sloppiness and laziness the way they’re going about their business. Ever since that press conference, I still don’t know why Josh Bartles and James Jones spoke because the question in the room that everyone wanted to ask was like, “Hey man, do you guys have a job still and they never told us?” So that that was dad sending the kid out saying you made this mess and now you’re going to get embarrassed and then I’ll decide what your punishment is. That’s 100% what that was. I can I can tell you that was that that was I’ve seen it before with parents. That’s exactly what that was. You made this mess. I’m not taking all this. You’re going out there and you’re apologizing. It’s going to be awkward and then I’ll punish you when we get back inside. Like, that’s what that press conference was. Right or wrong, that’s why they went out there. Uh, and I don’t know how we can judge this process because what we’ve heard is they they had interest in in, you know, in Bob Meyers. That’s what everybody wanted, right? Okay. And I get that there were dueling reports, but okay, that’s this whole this whole off season is going to be that it’s subtrafuge. Nobody gets the full story. That’s the thing that drives me nuts. People don’t get that. The full story never is handed to anybody. There are multiple sides to it. There’s agents. There’s the individuals involved. There’s ownership. There’s GMs. Like, there’s information coming from every which way. And the truth is somewhere in the middle. I think the Suns had interest in Bob Meyers and then caught wind that he probably wasn’t going to join them. So then it was Bob Meyers has interest in us because when you know I I just I feel like that was what was going on there. I got I’m I’m going to take you to task because you said you want that. I listened to your guys uh talking about Brian about Brian Gregory, right? And I’ll I’m I’m gonna talk to the people and break like 30 minutes ago. Yeah. I I do my research on this program before I talk in every expos every day. All right. So, now I know why you were you were a little behind. You had to make sure you caught the episode. I had I had to had to listen. And I got to tell you, why are we acting like Matt Ishbia is cheap. That was one of the worst takes I’ve ever heard from you two. That Matt Ishbia is on the cheap now. No, it’s not that. If it’s anything, it’s because he has familiarity with this guy and he seems like a guy that likes to run his business with people he knows. Go look at his his staff at UWM and it’s a lot of people that he’s known from different areas throughout his life. You can critique that and fine. I you know I I I understand that that Gregory is a guy that coached Matt Ishpia at you know MSU and and and I you can have your feelings about that however you want. I don’t I don’t have a problem because I’ve hired a lot of people that I have experience with because you trust them, right? And that’s part of it. And it wouldn’t shock me if Gregory, who’s only been there since last June, was hired with the idea that maybe this would be the eventual path and they wanted him in there to get an idea of what was going wrong so he could fix it. I don’t if if Matt Esp is guilty of anything, it’s of wanting to work with people he trusts, not being cheap. You can’t say a guy that literally just lit $400 million on fire is cheap. He’s just trying to make a decision he’s comfortable with whether you agree with it or not. And we don’t even know that that’s the decision he’s making yet. So maybe it didn’t come off clear enough because one thing that I think Brenn and I have both done is defend Ishbia for never going cheap. I don’t think Ishbia is a cheap person like at all. But I do think he could be going cheap with this hire and even as well going cheap with the potential head head coaching hire. And those are the types of things when you tell me because what are the qualifications here for the uh I I already forgot the guy’s name. Brian Gregory. Brian Gregory. And just so we’re clear, didn’t know the guy existed until 1:00 today. Just like putting the full transparency out there. I re I’m obviously a part of the organization. Did my research on everything like that, but this guy, what are his qualifications? He’s a he’s a it seems like he’s just a Matt Ishbia disciple. He’s someone that will do and follow what Matt Ishbia says when we’ve seen it doesn’t work. And like sure, let’s say you want to hire. Hold on. Hold on. He was he was Matt Ishbia’s coach, right? This isn’t this isn’t Josh Bartlestein who’s 32 34 32 when he came in 34 now. And I’m not even saying that that Josh is necessarily a yes man. But I’m the the point is this isn’t this isn’t some guy that’s that’s green. This is a guy that that’s been coaching longer than Matt Ishbia has been out of school, right? Like and he’s been a head coach with legitimately no success as a head coach. He won 300 games in the in in the college round. I’m not Look, I’m not saying this is the right hire. That’s that that that’s not my point. I just Look, we’ve seen them go big game hunting with the roster and fail miserably. I was starting to wonder and I talked about it on this show if they were going to go big game hunting in the front office and have the or head coach again and have the same exact problem that they’ve been having that you pay big for something and don’t get the results that that person has had in the past. I don’t mind trying something new, right? I don’t mind if your coach is is an assistant that you believe has the right philosophy or your front office person is somebody that you believe has the right philosophy. The the problem is it comes down to can they execute on it and we’re not going to know that. I don’t give a [ __ ] if they win the press conference anymore, right? I really don’t because I’ve seen them win the press conference and then you get, you know, you get blown out in a first round series. You don’t even make the play in. I don’t care about the press conference. You can bring all the waterworks you want about this guy knows this and is tied to this and he’s so happy to have his first chance. I don’t care. Go out and win basketball games. Put together a roster that makes sense and wins games. I don’t care about winning the press conference. And I feel like so many people are worried about that right now. Maybe he pays this guy $15 million a year and it’s not cheap. It just may be not the right choice. It may be stupid in the end. I don’t know. But really, I don’t care at this point. I need to see results with whoever it is. And I don’t care if it’s a flashy hire, uh, you know, or it’s the most boring hire ever if it if they win in the long run. Can we agree that this is probably not the right selection? He’s a guy. He has one year of NBA basketball experience in any It’s just with the Suns this season. He has one NCA tournament win, you know, aside from the 300 other wins in the regular season that are great. Uh he’s let go obviously from South Florida. He’s never coached any big organizations. Like my thing is, and God, I’m not rooting for this. Josh Bartlestein is more qualified on a resume than this guy. The one thing that was made that the one point that was made by you on social media that I thought was the only logical argument to hire this guy and my the next question would be okay there’s like 15 other guys that can do this and that’s not you that’s Ishbia was maybe the Suns are turning their identity more towards building towards the draft because this guy played a prominent role in the Suns draft strategy. That’s the only thing so far. But outside of And let me ask you this. How many people do you think the Suns have vetted or at least interviewed for this position? Uh my guess is they’ve done a lot of leg work and they may have even doing it in season. I’ve I’ve heard they’ve talked to talked to people. I I’m I haven’t verified multiple sources on it, but I’ve heard they’ve talked to people. Like I don’t think this is just a rash. We’re not talking to anybody. we’re just making this higher because it’s the convenient one. And my my other pro problem with it too is we don’t even know what the role is. Maybe he gets president of basketball operations and Matt Telum becomes GM and then all of a sudden maybe the vision makes a little more sense. I don’t know. Like we’re dealing with a lot of hypotheticals and how is it going to work, right? Because right now, James Jones, we’re not sure if he has a job. Like, and which is again brings back to the point of you shouldn’t be doing literally anything if we don’t know if you have a job outside of maybe stamping letters that need to go to the post office for the next day. This is a guy who was theoretically under James Jones, right? His role was under James Jones. They’re going to hire potentially someone to be president of basketball operations. We’re just speculating to now be James Jones’s boss. I I know all the names and stuff is just semantics at this point, but there is something to that which tells me you trust this guy more than you do James Jones. And if that’s and if that’s the case, once again, why the hell is James Jones still here? Hey, maybe the whole thing is telling you what you need to know about James Jones that maybe he won’t be. And maybe they’re trying to, you know, let a guy who I think has a great deal of pride, I mean, he he asks people to call him champ. I’ve heard it’s on his badge there, right? Maybe you’re just letting that guy save face and when his contract is up that he uh that he gets to walk away without saying he was fired. I mean, it could very easily be that simple. And that actually is not something that I think is is the worst thing in the world is doing solid by a guy in that way. So, you know what? I I don’t know. We’re going to find out. Where are you at on the state of the Suns? I know you have to end this really quickly, but are you bleak about the FE like everything we’ve heard right now? And I’ve been the one preaching of like it could be flipped around pretty quickly in terms of a competitive team, not a championship winning team, competitive with all the news that’s starting to percolate since that since that press conference. Are you still cool as a cucumber? This is we’re we’re fine. I mean, I wouldn’t say fine. I mean, you’ve backed yourself into a corner. You’re being forced to trade one of the greatest players of all time. You’re trying to find a solution, which very well may be buying out Bradley Beal. like you’re not fine, but there’s a path and it all hinges on if you trade Kevin Durant, what are you getting back for? And at that point, then I’ll be able to to tell you whether the house is on fire and we’re waiting for it to just burn down or if you know if the fire department got there fast enough and there’s just a little damage in the house and you got to rebuild some of it. I I I also just want to, you know, throw this out there as well with this is something that my, you know, co-host Brendan Clean and you saw this as well. Maybe the Suns are gearing up for a team where it’s not moving on from Kevin Durant. You know, in our episode today, Kevin or the the Suns allegedly have some interest and half the guys on this list, Jordan was uh a Cleveland Cavaliers assistant coach. He was over in Brooklyn with KD. Dave Bliss, him and KD go back. Roy, Royal Ivy, clearly Kevin Durant and him, former teammates, they go back. Maybe the Suns with some of the speculative names that we see on the coaching search are not gearing up for a tearown. They’re gearing up for a retool. How they’re going to do that, I don’t know. But I thought it was an interesting nugget that my co-host threw on our show today that uh is worth mentioning. Maybe this is not what we think. I I just I don’t I don’t buy any name I’ve heard because if they don’t know who’s running the show. I you know what I think any of this of oh the Suns could keep Kevin Durant or this guy has a it’s leverage to try to get more for Kevin Durant because you’ve lost all leverage. You torpedoed that at the trade deadline when all that came out. So, I think some of this is trying to recoup the value that you very well may have lost and cost yourself earlier in the year. He is Ben Garcia. You can catch him on Locked on Suns. You can catch him on the Ben Garcia show. You can catch him on all socials. He’s everywhere. He’s editing constantly. You can see it and you can catch me in his replies telling him that he’s wrong in some of it. Thanks, Ben, for joining me, man. Thanks, bro. Based on reports from our friend Mark Stein, NBA insider and member of DLLS, it may be coming to an end. That’s right. The Suns search for a new member of their front office. A restructuring of their front office may be almost upon us as reports have suggested that internal candidate Brian Gregory, who’s been part of the team’s draft strategy over the last year, may be somebody that gets promoted to a larger role within the front office. Now, Gregory doesn’t have a lot of internal and external experience in in front offices in the NBA. In fact, this is the first time he’s ever been part of an NBA front office or an NBA franchise. Previously, Gregory has been a coach in college basketball, an assistant coach with, you got it, Michigan State when Matt Ishbia was there as part of their championship team. So, he comes from the Tom Mizo tree. We something we know that Matt Ishbia likes. and since then he was a head coach at multiple division 1 schools and then joined the Suns in June of 2024 uh in their player personnel department. Now, a lot of people go, “You’re hiring a guy that was involved in the Suns draft? Haven’t they given up on drafts?” Let’s pump the brakes there for a second. He’s only been here since 2024. So, he was part of the draft evaluation for last year. Probably not a big part though since June, but I imagine he’s been part of them evaluating talent going into the 2025 draft. Now, I don’t know enough about Gregory as a person or anything beyond what the resume says, but the resume has to make you wonder, is this really the best hire? Maybe it is. Maybe this guy is a savant and never really knew that front office work was going to be what would be his talent. It’s looks like he was a pretty good coach. He won 300 games as a head coach in division one. But nothing to write home about. He wasn’t Tomo, but maybe he has talent in this. I don’t know. I’m not there daily, but from the outside looking in, it’s not a great look. The Suns were talking about change being needed, and most people assumed that would be change externally. somebody coming in to help fix the problem that they found themselves in. And to me, what this says is they’re going to have a new perspective, but how much is actually going to change? And it also makes me wonder, did they have interest in Bob Meyers, but kind of know that he wasn’t going to say yes? So, they hedged their bets when that report came out. somewhat suggesting that it was Bob Meyers who had more of the interest than they did. I mean, we’ve all been there when somebody rejects you in a breakup or when you ask him out and you kind of sort of make it look better than it really was. It’s human nature for self-preservation. But the fact that that name got out there isn’t good for perception because now if Brian Gregory was always kind of the guy you were looking at, but the name of Bob Myers got out there, it’s always going to pale in comparison. It’s not fair. It’s just the truth. And maybe Brian Gregory winds up being a huge member of this front office and a turnaround for this this Sun’s team. I mean, right now, we don’t even know that he’s actually going to be the hireer, but if he is, maybe that’s the case. And maybe it all turns out all right. But sitting here in May of 2025, it’s a weird look to go with a guy with no real front office experience outside of the last 11 months with the Suns to try to turn around what some feel is one of the worst and most dire situations in the NBA when it comes to cap restraints and trying to thread the needle of dealing a Kevin Durant and getting the return that you need while also finding a way to get rid of Bradley Beal’s contract. There’s going to be a lot that comes up over the next few weeks and the next few months with whatever this hire is and whatever the Suns do and we’re all going to have questions and critiques about it. I’m going to give Brian Gregory the opportunity if he’s the hireer to prove us all wrong, but I have my reservations. That’s another episode of Southwest Buys in the Books. Thanks to myself for producing it because we had nobody behind the Mac today. But if you want more of me, follow me at Espo on Twitter. You can follow the show at PHNX_ports. And until next time, aoy hoy.

Giannis Antetokounmpo to the Phoenix Suns is highly unlikely. From salary cap issues to lack of assets and front-office strategy, there are too many reasons this deal just doesn’t add up.

Plus, Espo talks about the potential of Brian Gregory being elevated to a key role in the Phoenix Suns front office and Locked On Suns Ben Garcia stops by to debate James Jones and more.

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