Lon Babby: Suns looking to build for long-term

The Phoenix Suns are mired in last place of the Western Conference with a 17-36 record.

With the NBA trade deadline approaching after the All-Star Break, rumors involving the Phoenix Suns have been circulating.

Suns President of Basketball Operations Lon Babby told Arizona Sports 620’s Doug & Wolf Wednesday that while it’s his hope to improve the talent on his roster, the team won’t make a trade just for the sake of it.

“We’re not in the business of making other teams better,” Babby said. “We’ve got to make sure we’re careful about what we’re doing and continuing to husband our assets.”

Some players rumored to be on the trading block are Sebastian Telfair and Jared Dudley. While Babby won’t comment on any potential moves, he did say it would take a great package in return to get the Suns to move any of their coveted draft picks.

“The biggest assets we have right now really are our draft choices and it’s going to take an awful lot for us to surrender one of those draft choices,” Babby stated.
“As I’ve said before, I would never say it won’t happen but nothing small will get that done.”

Babby said the team has turned its attention to building for the long-term and while the Suns determine which players to bring into the fold, they’ll also have to decide the future of their interim head coach Lindsey Hunter.

“We’ve had some really good wins under his tenure. We’ve had some not so great games,” Babby said. “I think there is a beginning of a cultural change — more accountability, more discipline. He has a wonderful demeanor about him and he can be firm but not personal and I think that’s working well.”

Babby said the Suns will assess Hunter’s future at the end of the season as planned.

“We promised ourselves and we promised him that we’d just see where we are after 40 games,” Babby stated. “I think he’s doing everything he can within his power and I think it’s been largely positive. Obviously not perfect. We’ve had a couple of rough games, like the ones against Oklahoma City where that just indicates how far away we are.”

Babby sympathizes with Suns fans and realizes the adversity the team has faced this season is taking its toll on everyone but that management remains committed to righting the ship.

“We tried to avoid having a season like this,” Babby said. “We tried to be as compete as we could be. Now that we’re in this situation I think we have to embrace it and move forward. But the goals haven’t changed. The goal is to be elite, to build something that’s sustainable and to do it a brick at a time and that’s what we’re going to do.”

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