The story of James Jones is a true “success story”. NBA champion as a player in 2012, 2013 with the Heat then in 2016 with the Cavs, still alongside LeBron James, the shooter then converted to a manager as soon as his retirement was announced, first endorsing the role of vice-president of basketball operations for the Suns in the summer of 2017 with the success that we know of him.
The rise of the Suns has been continuous since, and James Jones has had a lot to do with it, with the appointment of Monty Williams as head of the team, the recruitment of Chris Paul and supporting the trio formed with Devin Booker and Deandre Ayton of complementary elements.
The whole led Phoenix to the NBA Finals last season and he was logically elected leader of the year in 2021. On its way, the Arizona franchise prances at the head of the Western conference, James Jones has just be extended for several seasons as GM of the Suns with a contract whose duration and amount have not yet been disclosed.
“I feel lucky and extremely grateful to be part of this organization”, James Jones told The Undefeated. “It’s more than I could have ever dreamed of, to be part of a team like this, alongside some of the professionals across sports. And to have the success that we have, it’s so nice. When you get into this business, you never really know what it’s really going to be like.”
Nearly five years after his arrival, the Suns seem more than ever in a position to win the first NBA championship in franchise history.
“It’s our dream, but we know it’s a long road,” added James Jones. “More than anything, it helped us appreciate each day. That’s where our joy comes from, it’s that every day we have the chance to go on the field to fight, and try to build automatisms and this capacity to win a title. It doesn’t mean we’ll get there, but we know that if we do what we have to do, we’ll have a chance. And that’s all we can ask for.”
| Shots | Bounces | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | GM | Minimum | Shots | 3 points | LF | Off | Def | Early | pd | bp | Int | CT | party | Points |
| Devin Booker | 38 | 33.2 | 44.0 | 38.5 | 86.6 | 0.8 | 4.5 | 5.3 | 4.4 | 2.5 | 1.0 | 0.3 | 2.5 | 24.3 |
| Deandre Ayton | 28 | 29.9 | 63.7 | 25.0 | 71.3 | 2.8 | 7.8 | 10.6 | 1.5 | 1.7 | 0.8 | 0.8 | 2.2 | 16.8 |
| Chris Paul | 45 | 32.4 | 48.4 | 31.6 | 84.5 | 0.3 | 4.0 | 4.3 | 10.1 | 2.3 | 2.0 | 0.3 | 2.1 | 14.1 |
| Mikal Bridges | 45 | 34.0 | 51.0 | 38.0 | 85.7 | 1.0 | 3.1 | 4.1 | 2.0 | 0.8 | 1.3 | 0.4 | 1.9 | 12.2 |
| Cameron Johnson | 42 | 25.4 | 45.1 | 42.3 | 84.1 | 0.6 | 3.6 | 4.2 | 1.3 | 0.6 | 0.8 | 0.2 | 1.7 | 11.6 |
| Frank Kaminsky | 9 | 20.1 | 54.5 | 33.3 | 90.0 | 1.2 | 3.3 | 4.6 | 1.4 | 0.6 | 0.9 | 0.8 | 1.6 | 10.6 |
| Cameron Payne | 40 | 20.4 | 40.4 | 33.6 | 86.4 | 0.4 | 2.4 | 2.8 | 3.6 | 1.8 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 1.9 | 10.4 |
| Bismack Biyombo | 8 | 20.2 | 70.2 | 0.0 | 62.5 | 3.1 | 3.8 | 6.9 | 1.4 | 1.0 | 0.9 | 1.2 | 2.1 | 10.1 |
| Javale Mcgee | 41 | 16.3 | 65.4 | 25.0 | 67.4 | 2.3 | 4.7 | 7.0 | 0.6 | 1.5 | 0.3 | 0.9 | 2.6 | 10.1 |
| Jae Crowder | 39 | 28.1 | 40.8 | 36.1 | 80.4 | 0.3 | 4.5 | 4.9 | 1.4 | 0.9 | 1.3 | 0.5 | 2.4 | 9.3 |
| Landry Shamet | 41 | 20.1 | 37.5 | 35.5 | 84.3 | 0.2 | 1.7 | 2.0 | 1.5 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 1.2 | 7.5 |
| Jalen Smith | 22 | 13.9 | 46.0 | 23.3 | 82.9 | 2.2 | 3.3 | 5.5 | 0.2 | 0.8 | 0.2 | 0.6 | 1.7 | 6.6 |
| justin jackson | 3 | 7.8 | 71.4 | 60.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 1.7 | 2.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.7 | 4.3 |
| Elfrid Payton | 25 | 10.9 | 40.0 | 16.7 | 53.3 | 0.4 | 1.5 | 1.9 | 1.7 | 1.0 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 1.0 | 3.2 |
| Paris Bass | 2 | 3.7 | 33.3 | 0.0 | 100.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 3.0 |
| Abdel Nader | 14 | 10.4 | 34.3 | 28.6 | 60.0 | 0.3 | 1.6 | 1.9 | 0.5 | 0.8 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 1.4 | 2.4 |
| Ishmail Wainright | 19 | 6.5 | 33.3 | 22.7 | 50.0 | 0.7 | 0.6 | 1.3 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 1.2 | 1.7 |
| Chandler Hutchison | 6 | 3.7 | 50.0 | 0.0 | 100.0 | 0.0 | 0.8 | 0.8 | 0.3 | 0.7 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 0.7 |
| Emmanuel Terry | 3 | 6.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 2.7 | 2.3 | 5.0 | 0.7 | 1.7 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 1.3 | 0.0 |
| MJ Walker | 2 | 4.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 0.0 |
