James Jones, a president who only aims for the NBA title

James Jones gave his first press briefing as the new president of the Suns. If he did not evade any subject, such as the painful heel of Chris Paul or the situation around Jae Crowder, he above all mentioned his change of status, he who was still playing in the NBA five years ago before quickly succeeding in his retraining in Phoenix.

This passage from GM to president will thus allow him to free himself from daily tasks to gain height and focus on the direction he wants to give to his franchise in the long term.

“When you have the responsibilities that I have as GM, it’s usually about managing the day-to-day, and every year you get caught up in a whirlwind. You have to manage every aspect of the day, from what the guys eat to packages being delivered to the front door” , he explained. “My new status requires me to step away from some of these things, delegate some of these responsibilities and give my team the opportunity to grow. Because in this job, you are generally very comfortable in what you do well and the only way to improve is to surpass yourself. So it’s an opportunity to push myself beyond what’s happening on the field with the Suns, and to take an interest in what’s happening in all areas around the Suns and the Mercury. »

Humble and determined

The former NBA champion assured that the objective of this takeover was nothing personal but was rather guided by a collective objective: “the NBA title”, the only one that matters to him. His appointment was therefore not accompanied by additional stress, but simply confirmed his deepest wish, that of bringing back to Phoenix the first championship title in its history.

“There’s more of a sense of excitement just because there’s a process going on that will eventually come to a conclusion and that conclusion will benefit all of us, and we’re excited to see it come to fruition.” It’s a matter of timing. That’s the nature of a season in basketball. There is a beginning, there is an end. At some point it will end, but until then we are focused on winning games and remaining one of the best franchises in the NBA.”

As Monty Williams jokingly slipped, James Jones, for example, now has the freedom to get rid of his coach whenever he sees fit. But the new strongman of the franchise is aware of his power and intends to put it at the service of a single goal.

“I don’t take it lightly because there are only 30 positions like that in the NBA and there are millions, billions of people, who love the game as much as I do. I’m humbled and determined to do a great job so we can keep moving forward.” he thus concluded.