The Phoenix Suns held a media conference call on Thursday with head coach Monty Williams and general manager James Jones to talk about the suspended NBA season, offering insight on this new reality for their players.
It’s been over a month since the NBA abruptly suspended its season amidst concerns over novel coronavirus, and for a non-playoff team like the Phoenix Suns, there’s even more uncertainty hanging in the air over what comes next.
On Thursday, the Suns held a half-hour media conference call with head coach Monty Williams and general manager James Jones to answer questions about how they’re holding up in quarantine, what life is like for the players in this time of unrest and what everyone’s mindset is as the inevitable question — when and how will the NBA return? — remains a mystery.
While Williams, Jones and the league at large all seem to be on the same page that public health and wellness are the No. 1 priority right now, it’s only natural to wonder if the Suns — and the rest of the non-playoff teams — have already played their final game of the 2019-20 campaign.
Since this is the first we’ve heard from an NBA team in an official capacity in about five weeks, here’s a look at five quick takeaways from the conference call.
5. Suns would play out rest of season (if there is one) at Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum
This was announced a few weeks ago, but it bears repeating given the current state of things: With renovations to Talking Stick Resort Arena originally scheduled for the summer, if the Suns somehow get to play out some of their remaining regular-season games, they would do so at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum, a.k.a. the “Madhouse on McDowell.”
Located on the Arizona State Fairgrounds, the Memorial Coliseum was the home of the Suns from the team’s inception in 1968 until 1992, when they moved downtown to America West Arena (later called US Airways Center and then eventually, Talking Stick Resort Arena).
“It’s a special place for this city and for the time being, as we make these adjustments, I think it’d be a cool opportunity for us to reach back in time and kind of see how it used to be,” Williams said.
While the venue holds about 4,000 fewer people, the Madhouse would be a nostalgic, historic way to close out the first season Suns fans have felt okay about in a decade. Fingers crossed that miraculously comes to fruition.
“I don’t think there’d be a better story or visual than us having a chance to play at McDowell, finish this season strong and then ride the success that we would have at the end of this season into our new home, a transformed Talking Stick,” Jones said. “I think our players will enjoy having a taste of that history, of that past and also that future within a short period of time.”
4. Injury updates on Cameron Johnson, Frank Kaminsky and Kelly Oubre Jr.
Cameron Johnson (mono), Frank Kaminsky (patella stress fracture) and Kelly Oubre Jr. (meniscus tear) have all recovered, according to Jones. The Suns rookie is fully recovered, but the tricky part for Kaminsky and Oubre is not being able to undergo the rehab process that normally comes after dealing with injuries.
“Cam is different, because with mono, it really was just something he had to get over and needed to rest to let his immune system calm down,” Jones said. “Kelly and Frank, those two guys are through their healing process, but they haven’t had a chance to do the sport rehabilitation that would get them closer to playing. So they’re kind of stuck, kind of pressed the pause button on their recovery because they can’t get on the court, which is the most important step in any athlete’s recovery.”
Jones was optimistic they could play again if the season resumes, but given the current state of things, that “pause button” probably won’t be hitting “play” anytime soon.
3. Williams wants to play Devin Booker at PG more
With so much more free time on his hands, Monty Williams said he’s been taking deep dives into film and analytics to gain a better understanding of his team, which is natural for any coach in the NBA right now, but especially for one in charge of a young group that’s had guys in and out of the lineup all season.
Williams said the potency of lineups with Mikal Bridges at the 4 stood out, even mentioning how the Ricky Rubio–Devin Booker-Kelly Oubre-Mikal Bridges-Deandre Ayton lineup has outscored opponents by 92 points in 226 minutes together, but the biggest gem he’s unearthed is his desire to explore playing Booker at the point guard spot more often.
“I think he’s at a point in his career where he’s just making the right plays consistently,” Williams said. “So my thought is, put the ball in his hands for 10-12 minutes (or maybe more) a game and see how that impacts our team.”
Booker is no James Harden, but “Point Book” has been effective with floor-spacing personnel around him, given the young guard’s ability to pass out of double-teams when opposing defenses hone in on shutting him down. Giving Booker the ball from the point of attack allows him to make defenses pay for giving him too much attention, enabling him as both a scorer and a playmaker.
Adding Rubio was meant to take the burden off Booker to do everything as he’s been forced to do in years past, but in small doses like the 10-12 minutes Williams is talking about, it’s probably a better option than the Jevon Carter–Elie Okobo–Ty Jerome trio Phoenix has been rolling out at the backup 1-spot.
2. Basketball/staying in shape isn’t the focus right now
“It should be easy for these guys to stay in shape! They’re millionaires with basketball courts and gyms at home, it should be no problem for them to jump back into playing when the time comes, right?”
Wrong.
This period of quarantine has thrown life completely out of whack for a lot of people, but that’s especially true for NBA players who were used to playing basketball every single day. Now there’s uncertainty over the NBA returning at all, especially for teams who are currently out of the playoff picture like Phoenix.
And no, most of these guys don’t have in-door basketball courts or private workout facilities just because they make a lot of money.
Jones and Monty have been in contact with the Suns players on a daily basis through texting and sometimes calling, but for the most part, the conversations have rarely been about basketball.
“All of our communications are personal,” Jones said. “They’re just about how our guys are doing as citizens, because this is a very trying time. It’s something that we’ve never seen as a league, something we haven’t seen as a society in America, and I think everyone’s processing it.”
A weekly video chat gives Williams the chance to see his players in person, but even then, Phoenix isn’t pressing its players with homework or a workout regimen.
“It’s the one time a week where I get to see everybody and see how long the beards are getting and the haircuts are nonexistent right now, so we kinda make fun of each other in that regard,” he said. “But as much as we wanna talk about basketball and our program and looking at different numbers and film that we all digested from this past season, as we check on each other and check on our players, we also want to be sensitive to the environment that we all live in now.”
Jones mentioned that several Suns players have asked for film packages and various other basketball-related information to keep their minds sharp during this time off.
“The first thing we wanted to do was give these guys some time to process what happened,” he said. “If you’re on the outside, if you’re not an actual player, if you’re not playing the game, you aren’t as tied emotionally to that rhythm of playing every day. It was such an abrupt end, so the first week or two, we just allowed our guys to kind of process what’s happened.
“Slowly, I would say 7-8 days, we started to see the text messages, guys asking, ‘Hey can get a film package, film study? Can I get analytics packages? Can I get playbooks?’ So at their own pace, they’ve all re-engaged and it’s allowed them to watch a lot of NBA basketball, a lot of old games, watching our games. So we tried to give them whatever they need to manage this without overburdening them.”
The entire league seems acutely aware that there are bigger problems to worry about right now, so for the time being, Phoenix is letting its guys adjust to this new reality before prematurely worrying about regular-season games that may never come.
1. The regular season feels over for non-playoff teams
By that same token, it was somewhat telling that both Williams and Jones spoke about the season as if it’s already over, and it isn’t hard to understand why with a simple glance at the calendar. Their projected timelines for a return to basketball showed exactly why the non-playoff teams may already be done playing this year.
“We just have to trust the information that we get,” Williams said. “Having been out so long, we don’t want to put any of our guys in a position where they hurt themselves or hurt their futures.”
Williams deferred to his players and the training staff as far as estimating how long it would take teams to get back in game shape following this hiatus, but Jones offered a more direct timeline that showcased why the NBA will be hard-pressed to not just jump right into the playoffs:
“Those are ongoing conversations, but I would guess … like, everyone can assume that it’s not gonna be a couple of weeks,” he said. “It’ll probably take multiple weeks, maybe somewhere like five, six or seven weeks. We don’t know, but I think the most important thing for us to be able to do is to get our guys back in the building for at least two weeks to just assess where they are as a league. It’s kind of difficult to project how much time it would take to get back up to full speed, because no one’s ever done it like this.”
Unlike in years past with a lockout situation, players have largely been able to play basketball or even go outdoors to stay in shape. Perhaps because of the extensive timeline it would take for all 30 teams to get back in shape, Jones seemed resigned to the fact that the Suns’ season may be over already when asked what a return to NBA basketball would even look like.
“We have to make sure that we do it the right way. We won’t forsake health or wellness to play, but this is what we do,” he said. “However we come back, I know everyone’s on board with doing whatever’s best for the game. So if that format is straight to the playoffs, if that format is regular season games, condensed schedules — I’m pretty sure we’ll look at it all, but at the end of the day, it’ll be the right situation for our league and for society.”
Jones and Williams aren’t at the top of the food chain when it comes to the NBA brass’ decision-making and thought process, but James said the league has done an excellent job staying in touch with its GMs and coaches, not only to communicate on a professional level, but to check in on their personal well-being too.
There just hasn’t been much to report on the professional front, so if everyone’s being kept in the loop and there’s still not a concrete idea of when basketball might return, it’s safe to start prematurely declaring the 2019-20 season over for the current lottery squads.