Even before he ascended to the top of the Phoenix Suns’ front office, and even before he was named 2021 NBA Executive of the Year this past week, former Miami Heat forward James Jones respected the enduring success of his hometown team.
Because of that and because of his role in the Suns’ front office in 2018, the Suns find themselves in contention for a spot in the NBA Finals.
No, this part of the Jones story has nothing to do with the Miami native and University of Miami product signing Jae Crowder away from the Heat last offseason, or even showing the type of faith in Chris Paul that the Heat lacked when the All-Star point guard previously was available.
No, this is about Jones at the 2018 NBA draft being so confident that a down cycle could never be presumed from the franchise that allowed him to share in 2012 and ’13 NBA titles that he used his emerging influence to help engineer what now is transpiring with the Suns.
It was at that 2018 draft when Jones, then vice president of basketball operations with the Suns, worked with then-GM Ryan McDonough on a deal that would allow Phoenix to trade up for No. 10 pick Mikal Bridges, as in the versatile forward out of Villanova who has been so instrumental in the Suns’ playoff success.
The cost of that swap of draft positions was the Heat’s unprotected 2021 first-round choice, which the Suns previously had acquired for Goran Dragic.
Understand, at the time nothing was guaranteed about the Heat’s future.
Except that Jones had lived the Heat culture, had faith that Pat Riley, Andy Elisburg, Nick Arison, Micky Arison and coach Erik Spoelstra would build back up to something far better by the 2021 draft. So off went that unprotected 2021 pick to the Philadelphia 76ers in exchange for Bridges. And, just like that, a bridge to the Suns’ future was created.
So why so willing to take such a chance? As Jones explained to the Sun Sentinel during 2018 summer league, it was the faith in the Heat front office fostered during his six seasons with the team.
“I think, more than anything, you just look at the history of the Miami Heat and what they’ve done, what Pat has done, Micky, Andy and more importantly Spo,” Jones said. “Spo is a tremendous coach. He always gets the most out of his players, and he’s always competitive and he’s always in the mix.
“So as long as Spo is there and the Miami Heat organization stays intact, which you expect, with Nick and the rest of the guys in the front office, you expect them to compete. For us, we’re trying to grow right now. We weren’t trying to bet on Miami’s inability to be competitive.”
The faith proved prescient. By the end of last season, the Heat were back in the NBA Finals, where Jones had been with the team from 2011 to 2014. This season there was a No. 6 seed in the Eastern Conference, leaving that discarded 2021 first-round pick at No. 18 overall, a selection that since has cycled to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
For teams such as the Thunder, Cleveland Cavaliers and Houston Rockets, unprotected first-round picks in recent years largely have been treated as invaluable, nonnegotiable assets.
But in the 2018 offseason, even as the Heat were coming off a first-round playoff ouster, Jones and the Suns’ front office saw better days for themselves, and, yes, for the Heat . . . with arguably no future from that equation brighter than Bridges’.
“I mean they’re a championship organization and understanding that, I know it personally, they’re going to try to win every game,” Jones said of the Heat. “They’re going to try to get better every day and that’s the way they operate. And if that’s the mentality, you know they’ll have consistent success.”
