Phoenix Suns president of basketball operations and general manager, James Jones, has an idea on what type of team he wants to build to compete for a championship next season.
“A team that shoots it, off-ball movement,” said Jones in an 1-on-1 interview with The Republic before introducing Frank Vogel as the new head coach Tuesday at the Footprint Center.
“A team that can rebound well and put pressure on the rim. I know that seems very generic, but those are the areas of the game that if you’re effective in those areas, you give yourself a really good chance at winning with just good players. If you can do that with great players like we have with Kevin (Durant), Devin (Booker), Deandre (Ayton) and Chris (Paul), you increase your odds and that’s all you want to do. You want to tilt the odds in your favor.”
The Suns talked with Chris Paul’s representatives Wednesday about options for his future that include the possibility of waiving him, sources informed The Republic on Wednesday.
What the Suns wind up doing with Paul as well as Deandre Ayton will go a long way toward Phoenix’s roster construction.
“If we can play that style of good, solid, well-rounded basketball, so that Devin and Kevin can score, I like our chances,” Jones added.
The Suns finished the regular season seventh in 3-point shooting percentage, 11th in rebounding, but 25th in points in the paint per game. In the postseason, the Suns ranked sixth in 3-point shooting out of 16 teams, but they’re 10th in points in the paint and tied for 12th in rebounding with the Clippers.
Paul is entering the third year of his four-year, $120-million deal that is partially guaranteed. The remaining $15 million of $30.8 million on Paul’s third year kicks in June 28.
The Suns can guarantee his money and keep him, but that would prevent them from making roster moves under the new collective bargaining agreement.
Teams that exceed the second salary cap apron of $17.5 million over the luxury tax line won’t be able to use their taxpayer mid-level exception, can’t sign buyout players during the season and can’t take back more money in trades. This is done in hopes to create more parity in the NBA.
With Durant due $46.4 million, Booker due $36 million, Deandre Ayton due $32.4 million and Paul due for $30.8 if the Suns fully guarantee him, that’s more than $145 million for the 2023-24 season on just four players.
The salary cap is projected at $134 million with a luxury tax threshold of $162 million.
So basically, if the Suns keep all four, they’re going to be limited in having roster flexibility and paying for serious talent to compete for a championship.
The Suns could look to make other trades to make it easier to keep Paul or they could trade him. The sooner they could inform Paul of their decision, the more time he can prepare for free agency this summer if they end up waiving him.
Paul’s final year is non-guaranteed.
The Suns could also trade Ayton and get valuable pieces in return. He had veto power over a trade this past season after Phoenix matched Indiana’s offer sheet to keep him as Ayton was a restricted free agent.
That veto power ends next month.
Jones also talked about possibly getting back into the draft while looking at roster construction. The Suns currently have just a second-round pick (52nd overall) in the June 22 draft.
“I want to do it all,” Jones said. “I think a lot of times people think there’s only one way to do it. Would love to get into the draft and find a player you can develop and get into free agency and acquire a player who can grow with you and get into the trade market and trade for a player that can help you. You want to touch it on all levels and that’s the exciting part and it’s the necessary part if you want to have sustained success.”
The Suns have seven players under contract in Landry Shamet, Cameron Payne, Ish Wainright, Booker, Durant, Paul and Ayton that have salaries adding up to more than $164 million to put them over the projected luxury tax threshold. The Suns have a club option on Wainright with a June 29 deadline.
“That part is exciting to be focused on checking all three boxes,” Jones continued. “That’s what we want to do and that’s what we’ll have to do if we want to not just win, but continue to win.”
Vogel said during his press conference that the Suns are “committed to bringing in championship-level talent” and that he’ll have a “scrappy” team.
“My conversations with James have been really positive,” Vogel said Tuesday. “I’ve got a great deal of respect for him, his knowledge, his experience, his selflessness. He’s really committed to doing whatever the coach needs to build a champion. That’s all very attractive.”
Phoenix’s season ended in the Western Conference semifinals as Denver eliminated them in six games. The no. 1-seeded Nuggets won Game 6 over the fourth-seeded Suns by 25 points at Footprint Center.
“We had a chance, we just came up short,” said Jones as the Suns-Nuggets series was tied 2-2 after Phoenix won Game 3 and 4 at home. “Making the trade midseason is always difficult. It’s disruptive. Disrupts your timing, chemistry and Kevin spraining his ankle, it slowed us down.”
The Suns traded Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson, Jae Crowder, four first-round draft picks and a pick swap to Brooklyn for TJ Warren and Durant right before Feb. 9 trade deadline.
Durant made his Suns debut March 1 at Charlotte. Phoenix won its first three games with Durant in the lineup, but he twisted his left ankle in pregame warmups before what would have been his home debut on March 8 against Oklahoma City.
The two-time finals MVP missed 10 games with a left ankle sprain.
Durant returned on March 29 against Minnesota and played five more games in the regular season that Phoenix won. The Suns took four in a row over the short-handed Clippers in round one to win the series in five, but they fell to the Nuggets in the conference semifinals.
“We started to build some momentum, but we set out last year with the goal of winning a title and we came up short. It’s not the outcome we wanted and it’s not the outcome we’re seeking. We’ve just got to figure out how to retool, improve, tweak some things and give it another shot.”
Denver swept the Lakers in the conference finals in making its first trip to the NBA Finals. The Nuggets take a 2-1 series lead over the eighth-seeded Heat going into Friday’s Game 4 in Miami.
Phoenix remains the only team to beat Denver twice in the postseason. The Nuggets won their opening round series over the Timberwolves in five games.
Have an opinion about the current state of the Suns? Reach Suns Insider Duane Rankin at [email protected] or contact him at 480-787-1240. Follow him on Twitter at @DuaneRankin.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Suns GM prioritizing shooting, rebounding, attacking rim on future roster