James Jones: Phoenix Suns had ‘relatively quiet’ trade deadline
Feb 7, 2019, 4:08 PM | Updated: 11:13 pm
(Matt Layman/Arizona Sports)
(Matt Layman/Arizona Sports)
The Phoenix Suns did not make a move during Thursday’s NBA trade deadline madness, a change in a staple of former general manager Ryan McDonough.
The Suns did make a deal before the trade deadline, though, just not on the day of. The team traded for the Miami Heat’s Tyler Johnson on Wednesday in exchange for Ryan Anderson.
Co-interim general manager and vice president of basketball operations James Jones said it wasn’t a noisy Thursday afternoon.
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“It was relatively quiet,” he told 98.7 FM Arizona’s Sports Station’s Burns & Gambo after the deadline.
“For us it was quiet because we did our business yesterday.”
But that doesn’t mean the Suns weren’t putting in the work.
“We talked to every team in the league this week,” he said. “A lot of teams called with proposals just checking to see where we were with our guys but nothing materialized and that’s why our roster stayed the same. We value continuity.”
The Suns looked around on some deals but never arrived at one that they felt was good for them to greatly pursue.
“There wasn’t anything out there that really made sense,” Jones said. “A lot of teams operated with a sense of desperation — specifically at the point guard position. If you look at the guys that were available, they stayed put and if they were to move it’d be a crazy cost and we have so many holes.
“We have enough trouble just trying to find the right mix with our roster and we didn’t want to gamble on bringing someone in for 25 games and causing more dysfunction.”
The player the Suns did acquire was Johnson, who could potentially start on Friday night against the Golden State Warriors, Jones noted.
“Primarily, he’s a guy in his prime that fits a position of need for us and he’s had an opportunity to play some meaningful basketball,” he said. “He’s played in the playoffs, he’s carried the load.”
That includes a lot of reps at the point guard spot.
“He’ll play a lot,” Jones said of point guard minutes for Johnson. “We look at him like a ball-handler, a combo guard for sure.”
