The Suns didn’t look far to find a new General Manager to lead the club back to greatness, as they recently decided to promote Brian Gregory, who had been working as the organization’s vice president. This means that James Jones will transition to a role as senior advisor, the team announced this Thursday.
The Phoenix club also decided to bring up Oronde Taliaferro to assistant general manager, while adding new basketball operations responsibilities to Chief Innovation Officer Paul Rivers. After two decades as an NCAA coach, Gregory will now have a chance at redirecting the Arizona team after a poor season.
“Brian has been a valuable member of our front office, playing an integral role in drafting and developing our young players,” owner Mat Ishbia expressed in a statement. “I am excited for him to step in to the role of general manager. He is a brilliant basketball mind, and he will transform and elevate our team.”
As for Jones, who led the Suns as general manager for six years now, earned the executive of the year award for the 2020-21 campaign. James had rejoined the Arizona franchise in 2017 after playing two seasons as a player, only to lead them as GM to four-straight playoff runs.
“James’ contributions have been instrumental to our organization, and we appreciate everything he has done for the Suns on and off the court,” Ishbia assured, while announcing Gregory’s promotion. “We are grateful to continue to have his experience and insight.”
After ending this season in the Western Conference’s 11th spot with a 36-46 mark, Phoenix are expected to make great change this summer. They first started by firing coach Mike Budenholzer on April 14 and now proceeded to restructure their basketball operations.
“I want to put a team out there on the court that everyone is proud of,” the team owner insisted during their end-of-season conference. “It has to have an identity — an identity similar to Phoenix. Some grit, some determination, some work ethic, some grind, some joy. We just haven’t had that.”
