That fact, he told Arizona Sports 620's Doug and Wolf Friday, means the team has to attack roster construction a little differently than some of the competition.

"If you look at our salary structure it makes sense, if you look at our commitments going forward they're sensible and we have a lot of flexibility," he said. "A big part of this job and this business is managing the salary cap, those are the rules.

"We don't have the resources of the Lakers or the Knicks to make mistakes, so we've got to be very, very careful."

Which is why everything that has happened over the last month or so is somewhat by design. The Suns had been planning for this summer the last two seasons, making moves that were meant to give them an incredible amount of flexibility.

Still, for all the team could plan for, some things that transpired this summer were unexpected.

"I can't put my finger on it," Babby said when asked why Hill is no longer a Sun. "What I would say is I said at the beginning of the offseason that if Grant wanted to play and he didn't come back to Phoenix that I would personally be extremely disappointed.

"So I can say I am extremely disappointed that he's not back."

Babby admitted he does not have a clear understanding of why the process unfolded as it did, but thinks it was a combination of a few things, including the fact that the Clippers are a more competitive team at the moment.

"There are always financial implications to it, I suppose, and I think it's healthy," Babby said. "I think it's healthy for him to have an opportunity to play on a team that can really achieve this year probably at a level that we can't -- I mean, I hope we do -- but that you can't really expect us to."