Phoenix Suns Media Day: A Family Affair, McDonough Interview
The Phoenix Suns Media Day was held on (and around) the Annexus practice court at US Airways Center earlier today and I had the pleasure of attending, representing HoopsHabit.com. There was a real sense of jubilation, excitement and hope in the building — something that the Suns may not have had in year’s past. Here are some highlights, including a one-on-one interview with general manager Ryan McDonough.
A FAMILY AFFAIR
It was made official by the Suns this morning that Zoran Dragic has officially been cleared by the NBA and has joined the Suns. While he’s playing a position (shooting guard) that’s a source of strength for the franchise, there’s no question that Zoran will have an opportunity to see some playing time. McDonough mentioned how he’s been watching Dragic since he was playing U-18 ball and how even then he was enamored with Zoran’s style.
McDonough specifically pointed to Zoran’s willingness to get on the floor and do the dirty work that some of the other players weren’t as willing to do. That will certainly fit in with the Suns, who have P.J. Tucker, Zoran’s brother Goran and Eric Bledsoe as gritty players who will do whatever it takes, regardless of the toll it takes on their bodies. He was also very impressed with the FIBA World Cup performance:
"Anyone who watches international basketball knows that the Slovenian team was beat up. For Zoran and Goran to lead that team to finish seventh was very impressive."
Zoran talked about growing up and how he and Goran used to play a ton of 1-on-1. Then, when Zoran went to play professionally in Europe with Goran going to the NBA, they weren’t able to do so anymore. Regardless, Zoran talked about their familiarity from playing together on the Slovenian National team.
The team’s other set of brothers had themselves quite a day as well, as Marcus Morris and Markieff Morris both agreed to extensions to their contracts. Being able to keep the brothers off the open market could certainly turn out to be a coup for the franchise, with Markieff blossoming into a potential star and Marcus proving himself worthy of a rotation spot.
When asked if the brothers were willing to accept offers from other teams or were willing to split up, Marcus answered with a succint tone:
"If we were willing to split up, we wouldn’t have signed here."
STABILITY FOR THE FUTURE
The question of the summer was “will he (Bledsoe) or won’t he be extended?” That took a while to answer, but once Bledsoe put pen to paper, it solidified the Suns and their core for the next five seasons. As their best perimeter defender and one of their best offensive players, it was of utmost importance that the Suns get something worked out.
Bledsoe is admittedly a “man of few words” and didn’t elaborate on how difficult it was to go through the summer with a sense of insecurity, in not knowing how his future would play out. Eric joked that he did “what he knows best — worked out” all summer, with echoes in his head of coach Jeff Hornacek telling him to run.
The only question left to be answered for this club (aside from who’s going to defend the rim) appears to be centered around Goran Dragic and his future. He’s under contract at $7.5 million this season, which is a remarkable discount, considering Bledsoe just received $14 million while putting up similar stats. Dragic has a player option next season for $7.5 million which almost certainly would be turned down. Be sure that the Suns are aware of that and will be working to get Dragic extended sooner rather than later.
ONE ON ONE WITH MCDONOUGH
I had a chance to sit down with the Suns general manager for a HoopsHabit exclusive to talk about the offseason, the change in expectations, any roster changes and how negotiations affect personal relationships. Here’s how it went down.
Michael Dunlap (HoopsHabit Editor-in-Chief): With a new set of expectations, do you approach the season differently and have you adjusted any personal timelines or goals?
Ryan McDonough (Suns GM): The goal is always to win as many games as we can. I don’t think that we’ve necessarily moved up the timelines, but certainly new expectations creates new challenges for us.
MD: Do you think it will be more difficult making the jump to becoming a playoff team/championship contender than it was starting from scratch and getting to here?
RM: It’s going to be different, for sure. With a relative blank slate we can make moves more easily and can shape the team differently. Now that we’ve got our core in place it becomes more about filling in the blanks, keeping our eyes open for the best opportunities.
MD: Is the roster set or are you still looking to add another big?
RM: We’ve got 15 guaranteed contracts at this point, so we don’t have space to add someone else, but you never know. Last season we made a trade right before the season began, so we can’t rule anything out.
MD: Switching gears a bit, does it make a difference who a player’s agent is as far as whether you’re willing to engage them in negotiations?
RM: We try not to let that affect our decisions at all, but this is a people business. Certainly if we’ve had positive dealings in the past it might make things a little bit easier, but we’re not going to let it deter us.
MD: So then the negotiations with Bledsoe this summer didn’t affect your relationship with his agent at all?
RM: That’s one thing that Lon (Babby) is so great at — since he used to be an agent, he knows the ins-and-outs of both sides of negotiations. Because of that he’s been able to see the insides of pretty much every team and we’ve tried to take the best practices from each of those teams to use here. You’re dealing with people, so there’s definitely a personal side of things, but that’s not going to affect our negotiations.
MD: Thanks so much for your time and best of luck this season.
RM: You too. Nice talking with you again.