Babby: We're trying to build a culture brick-by-brick

However, they've never won an NBA Championship, and they don't appear to be anywhere close to that elusive first title this season.

Still, it should come as no surprise that the culture around the organization is something that is important to President of Basketball Operations Lon Babby as he and the team moves into an uncertain future.

"What we're always striving for is 'elite' status, and that means the ability to regularly, legitimately compete for championships," Babby told Arizona Sports 620's Doug and Wolf Wednesday. "That doesn't mean you're going to win them every year, but that has to be our aspiration."

That's part of the reason the Suns have been reluctant to "tear it all down" as some have suggested, instead choosing to rebuild on the fly. The plan is to sign key free agents as well as have productive drafts.

"We've begun to take steps," Babby said. "Some of them are small -- creating an environment where we know that players will want to come here and doing things that makes this the most player-friendly environment it can be."

Babby also talked about maintaining flexibility so that the Suns can take advantage of opportunities when they present themselves.

That means, essentially, the team will not sign players to outlandish contracts just to say they spent their cap space. That was an issue last summer, and the contracts given out are not helping the team's salary situation.

"I don't want to create some expectation that we're going to spend all of our money in 2012 because we have it," Babby said, noting the cap space could be used for trades. "We've got to stay disciplined and make sure that we make the right decision."

No matter how they do it, at the end of the day it's all about making Phoenix a place where excellence can be achieved.

"What we're trying to do is build, brick-by-brick, a culture that reflects sustained success," Babby said.

Time will tell if those first bricks have already been laid.