As the Phoenix Suns Vice President of Basketball Operations, Miami basketball alum James Jones will play a big role in their decision who to draft with the top pick in the NBA draft.
Jones quickly moved into a front office role after retiring from the NBA following the 2016-17 season. He played in the NBA finals in each of his final seven seasons in the league. The first four came with the Heat and the final three with the Cleveland Cavaliers. Jones won titles with the Heat in 2012 and 13 and with the Cavs in 2016.
He had his best season in the NBA with Phoenix his third year in the league. Jones averaged 9.3 and 3..4 rebounds in 2005-06.
Before he played in the NBA, Jones played four years with the Miami basketball program from 1999-2000 through 2002-03. He started all but one game in his last three seasons in college. Jones averaged 11.1 points per game and five rebounds as a Miami Hurricane.
The 12-year NBA veteran spent the first two years of his career with the Indiana Pacers and also spent a year in Portland.
After making history with Lebron James by playing in seven straight NBA finals he now gets a chance at a different kind of history. He joined Arizona Sports station 98.7 to discuss what the Suns are planning to do with the pick.
Jones spoke about the Suns making history, what they are looking for in the draft, the NBA’s trend of going positionless and the core of players the Suns currently have.
"“I think we’re different than a lot of teams that traditionally have the No. 1 pick. Very few teams have players the caliber of Josh Jackson and Devin Booker. All these guys are tremendously talented at a time where versatile big guys are at a premium.”"
The Suns seem to be leaning towards a center or power forward. He spoke in general about the importance of big men being versatile in this era and specifically discussed Arizona Center Deandre Ayton.
The other intriguing prospect the Suns could decide to select at the top of the draft is Slovenian wing Luca Doncic. Doncic is projected to be similar to Philadelphia 76ers forward ben Simmons.
Doncic was on the Slovenian National team that won the European championship last summer. That team was coached by new Suns coach Igor Kokoskov. Jones said the Suns’ executives plan to talk to him to get his perspective on Doncic.
"“A coach’s perspective helps,…When you sit upstairs, and you sit kind of out in space and you analyze things, sometimes you can lose track of who the player is and what the player can become. Coaches like Igor have a great sense, a great feel for that.”"
Jones gave credit to the Suns fan base. They have lost out on Kareem Abdul Jabbar when he was known as Lew Alcondor and was coming out or college. They also lost the first draft lottery in 1985. The Knicks used the top pick on Patrick Ewing.
Phoenix has not had a winning record since 2014 or made the playoffs since 2010. The 2010 playoffs was also the last time the sums won q playoff series. They lost in the western conference finals to the lakers.
"They’ve been so dedicated, they’ve been consistent, they’ve been amazing when it comes to supporting this team through the ups and downs,” he said. “They deserve to be on top at least for one night, especially on the draft lottery. The Suns are on top again.”"
Next: UM Alum James Jones named Phoenix Suns VP of Operations
Devon Reed who is a 2017 Miami graduate is currently on the Suns’ roster. In 21 games he averaged 3.0 PPG and 1.9 RPG. There have been some projections that Lonnie walker could join him in Phoenix.