Lon Babby’s New Role Opens Way For Ryan McDonough

The recent news out of the Phoenix Suns organization (via e-mail press release) has Lon Babby moving on from his role as president of basketball operations to become a senior advisor for the team, starting on August 1, 2015. This move bumps current Suns general manager Ryan McDonough up to Babby’s former role, which can only be considered a positive thing.

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Babby has been with the Suns since 2010, a period of time that has coincided with the amount of time it’s been since the Suns have made the playoffs. It was under Babby’s watch that the Lance Blanks experiment fell flat on it’s face, the Lindsey Hunter era happened and the team traded Steve Nash (honorable mention to the acquisition of Michael Beasley).

We can’t put all the blame on Babby, as managing partner Robert Sarver is also responsible for the dealings of the last five years, but it’s hard to ignore the downfall of the first three years (without McDonough) and the turnaround and hope that have been reinstated since McDonough joined the fold. To be fair, Babby was part of the decision to hire McDonough.

Babby will still remain with the team in a limited role, which Sarver talked about:

"“Lon has served the Suns well for the last five years. I am pleased that he will remain with the Suns and continue to bring his expertise and value to the organization.”"

Although it seems like more of a demotion than anything else, Babby seemed rather happy with his new role, as he acknowledged that it was him that asked to reduce his workload:

"“I am grateful that Robert has accommodated my wish to reduce my work load, while remaining a vital part of the Suns organization. At this stage of my career, I welcome the flexibility that comes with this new role, a flexibility that will enable me to do other things that are important to me both personally and in the community. I feel particularly confident in making this transition because of the quality of leadership in place within the organization.”"

Now, it’s McDonough’s show. He’s already been a huge factor in the Suns turnaround, as in his first year he and rookie head coach Jeff Hornacek took the Suns from a paltry 25 wins up to 48 — the largest jump in the league.

As the president of basketball operations and the general manager, there’s nothing standing in the way of McDonough turning this team into what he wants. With less proverbial “cooks in the kitchen,” ideally there will be less internal conflict and one less link in the chain. It’s a personal preference, but I see that as a major positive.

The Suns hold the No. 13 pick in the 2015 NBA Draft and have a huge decision to make with restricted free agent Brandon Knight. Babby will be part of those dealings — as they’ll both be dealt with before August 1st.

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