Former NBA Agent Lon Babby has been the president of basketball operations for the Phoenix Suns since 2010. In his time the Suns have not reached the playoffs once. While that can’t exactly be fully blamed on him and his decisions, there has to be some sort of changes.
Babby will be stepping down but will stay with the team as a senior advisor.
Following from an official Suns press release.
The Phoenix Suns have announced today that President of Basketball Operations Lon Babby will be transitioning to the position of Senior Advisor as of August 1, 2015. At that time Ryan McDonough will lead the Basketball Operations Department from his position as General Manager with continued support from Assistant General Managers Pat Connelly and Trevor Bukstein. All three individuals will take on increasing responsibilities within the organization and are signed to multiyear contracts.
As Senior Advisor, Babby will provide strategic counsel and input to the Basketball Operations Department as well as to the entire Suns organization. He will continue to play an active role in contract negotiations and salary cap management. Babby will continue to be based in Phoenix and as part of his new role will spend at least 50 percent of his time working on Suns matters.
“I am grateful that Robert has accommodated my wish to reduce my work load, while remaining a vital part of the Suns organization. At this stage of my career, I welcome the flexibility that comes with this new role, a flexibility that will enable me to do other things that are important to me both personally and in the community. I feel particularly confident in making this transition because of the quality of leadership in place within the organization,” said Babby.
Over his time he’s overseen the team not exactly do too much. He’s been around for the sign and trade of Isaiah Thomas just to trade him midway through the season. Goran Dragic roasted the Suns front office for the handling of his trade. They even signed Michael Beasley to a 3-year, $18 million contract which ended with Beasley ultimately being waived by the team.
Babby hired Ryan McDonagh as the general manage in 2013. In time as the GM for the last 2 seasons has overseen some of those earlier trades but also worked a deal to bring in Eric Bledsoe and hired coach Jeff Hornacek. The team has improved over the last 2 seasons and hopefully they will continue to be a young and exciting team going forward.
