The Official 2025 Offseason Thread Part 1

[BobbieL]

Retained as CEO. I know people don't like JJ but I feel like the last adult just left his position with the Suns with JJ being shafted into a role with no real responsibility or power. Now the new GM and CEO are both Michigan connections of Ishbia.

Like imagine buying a company and wanting to be the best but you only hire from a small, geographically based group of candidates. You're not getting the best and brightest, despite your wallet allowing you to go national or international if you wanted

Gambo already said there were 5 other potential candidates.

Ishbia is not hiring anyone that doesn't fit the new team identity.

Are they token candidates or serious candidates though? Like was Myers one of those token candidates they considered but it was not a serious one. The fact that we brought in Gregory officially last year after being an advisor when Ishbia bought the team tells me that he was already thought of very highly by Ishbia and probably had a significant leg up on the competition having been in the fold already.

I don't want to judge him solely because he's a Michigan connection but it's just not a good look when his resume doesn't really speak for itself

I was hoping for better but Ishbia is into the crony nepotism stuff. At his mortgage company - he has ex teammates on staff.

I knew Bob Myers was too good to be true

Just have to hope they prove me wrong but once I see what they do with KD and Beal, we will know

[Ghost of Kleine]

Who is this Benji Gregory guy?

He's a fellow Michigan alum/ buddy of Ishbia that was an assistant coach for Michigan state during Ishbias' time there. He's also been a coach at South Florida, Georgia Tech and Dayton.

It's been reported that he's been a strong voice in our recent draft acquisitions since Ishbia came on board as owner. Ishbia added Grwgory to our front office on June 10th of 2024. Coincidently, right prior to the 24 draft that he was a significant voice in our draft process that saw us land BOTH Oso Ighodaro and Ryan Dunn.

(AI Overview)

Brian Gregory had a significant voice in the drafting process for the Phoenix Suns, particularly in the 2024 draft, where he was instrumental in the selections of Ryan Dunn and Oso Ighodaro. He also has a strong relationship with Suns owner Mat Ishbia, as they both have ties to Michigan State. Gregory has been with the Suns since last June, and is now being promoted to General Manager.

It would have made sense to make him something like the head of player development since he might actually be good at that but being a GM of an NBA team with zero experience does not inspire confidence that he can make good trades or knows how to actually build a decent roster.

I would be more positive if the Suns were assembling young talent but with our lack of picks we are going to be taking our fair share of old vets unless we decide to blow it all up and do a full rebuild.

Just an incredibly Ishbia like move surrounding himself with his Michigan buddies over experienced NBA executives.

Ishbia has a type, his Michigan buddies and positional " yes men" that'll allow him to play GM from behind the scenes but also not challenge his authority or demand autonomy either due to lack of experience and being underqualified! But also serve as an insulator from accountability taking blame for / from his(Ishbias') mistakes.

Jones was basically this for Sarver and also Ishbia as a new owner too. Now Gregory will take over as Ishbias' new trust Michigan connection " YES MAN"!!!

But at least Gregory is apparently somewhat good as a draft evaluator.

[Ghost of Kleine]

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[Ghost of Kleine]

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[Ghost of Kleine]

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Wait! What?? Overpay for Mitchell mentioned?
Could it be that maybe his value isn't actually a young prospect and two 1sts after all??

[Ghost of Kleine]

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[Ghost of Kleine]

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[KdoubleDees23]

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Wait! What?? Overpay for Mitchell mentioned?
Could it be that maybe his value isn't actually a young prospect and two 1sts after all??

Williams is trash. He wouldn’t have made a difference in this series

Luka let 16 ppg happen by whining and not playing defense ! Blame Luka , not the what if we got williams

[Ghost of Kleine]

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[dcoop]

This board has become so toxic.

All the hate for everyone on the team….

I am wondering if half the people here are actually suns fans. So quick to turn on everything.

Then you got BobbieL who just repeats the same thing over and over.

Ishbia has not been great so far I agree. The guys is trying to build a better team though. So many people think they know what is going on and we literally know 5% of what is actually going on.

Also we didn’t miss out on Meyers. He doesn’t want to leave the job he has.

[Sunsdeuce]

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Chris Paul would be a terrible coach. I’m sorry but it’s a stupid idea. Being a successful coach is both IQ, ability to bring the best out of every player and lastly earn the trust of your players. Paul would NEVER get the trust of the players.

[Ghost of Kleine]

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Shhhhh! Nobody mention this to Fishi...lol
Also that ( per Bourget) Gregory was actually hired as a talent/ draft consultant in 2023 prior to that draft too and had long standing Dayton connections. I believe that was the same college that Camara played at prior to his being drafted.

[Ghost of Kleine]

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Wait! What?? Overpay for Mitchell mentioned?
Could it be that maybe his value isn't actually a young prospect and two 1sts after all??

Williams is trash. He wouldn’t have made a difference in this series

Luka let 16 ppg happen by whining and not playing defense ! Blame Luka , not the what if we got williams

I'd say his durability concerns and mobility issues along with his inability to shoot/ space the floor in today's NBA would diminish his percieved trade value. And hence my position that his trade value obviously wouldn't at all be a young prospect and two firsts.

My premise of a package of Allen ( for their 3 PT shooting needs) for M Williams and their two 25' 2nds is obviously equitable value due to those concerns. Williams is basically a longer, Lankier, less durable version of Nik Richards.

[lilfishi22]

Gambo already said there were 5 other potential candidates.

Ishbia is not hiring anyone that doesn't fit the new team identity.

Are they token candidates or serious candidates though? Like was Myers one of those token candidates they considered but it was not a serious one. The fact that we brought in Gregory officially last year after being an advisor when Ishbia bought the team tells me that he was already thought of very highly by Ishbia and probably had a significant leg up on the competition having been in the fold already.

I don't want to judge him solely because he's a Michigan connection but it's just not a good look when his resume doesn't really speak for itself

I was hoping for better but Ishbia is into the crony nepotism stuff. At his mortgage company - he has ex teammates on staff.

I knew Bob Myers was too good to be true

Just have to hope they prove me wrong but once I see what they do with KD and Beal, we will know

I don't know anything about UWM and the mortgage market in the US but his company seems to be extremely successful and that's in spite of having ex team mates on staff. Having people you were previously connected with on staff isn't always a bad thing but coincidentally to my comment about not being a good look, the Empire of the Suns just came out with an episode mentioning the optics don't look great. It doesn't mean it can't be a successfully partnership but just on the surface without knowing a ton about Gregory or the other candidates being considered, on the surface it doesn't look great

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-optics-dont-look-great-around-the-suns-promotion/id1220110404?i=1000705788801

[lilfishi22]

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Shhhhh! Nobody mention this to Fishi...lol
Also that ( per Bourget) Gregory was actually hired as a talent/ draft consultant in 2023 prior to that draft too and had long standing Dayton connections. I believe that was the same college that Camara played at prior to his being drafted.

Literally says Gregory was a key part of the selection. Not that he was the one who made the call.

After two decades as an NCAA head coach, Gregory worked closely with Suns officials in the front office over the past two years, was a key part of the selections of 2024 draft picks Ryan Dunn and Oso Ighodaro, and he now assumes a more prominent, day-to-day position.

But if you want to suggest Jones wasn't a key decision maker as GM then I can once again I can suggest Jones wasn't a key decision maker in all the bad moves we've made and selectively give him credit for the good ones.

[Frank Lee]

Who cares about ‘optics’

Just another senseless podcast launched into the echo chamber of mass media. Too many mouthpieces and too little news.

[Frank Lee]

And the bottom line with no show Jones is he didn’t do enough when it needed to be done. Squandering Chowder and by passing Halliburton were very impactful moments. Those were the equivalent of grounding into a bases loaded tie game double play. We were right there. I’ll take addition by subtraction with this hire.

[Fo-Real]

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Damn, someone mentioned that a week ago. (IT WAS MEEEEEEE!!!!)

[lilfishi22]

And the bottom line with no show Jones is he didn’t do enough when it needed to be done. Squandering Chowder and by passing Halliburton were very impactful moments. Those were the equivalent of grounding into a bases loaded tie game double play. We were right there. I’ll take addition by subtraction with this hire.

I think the concern is that it's just subtraction by subtraction

[dremill24]

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Damn, someone mentioned that a week ago. (IT WAS MEEEEEEE!!!!)

Just for a dose of reality...this is a post from some Devin Booker Stan account, which references a "report" from a fake Chris Haynes fan account. Just sayin