Monday, the Phoenix Suns have published very interesting and revealing content from their activity 2024 NBA Draft PreviewThey presented us with an “Inside the War Room” that allowed us to follow live the conversations that took place on draft day, before each choice.
In the video, we got to see the split-second communication that takes place between James Jones and Josh Bartelstein, the NBA and other team executives. We also saw James Jones highlight the benefit of having the Draft split into two days.
Some of the main lessons I learned from this:
Interpersonal communication
Urgency is the key adjective for me. From James Jones to all the existing parts and the conciseness of the communication, there was a ton of understanding of the targets, as well as how they could potentially go about getting them in addition to more second-round picks.
Budenholzer’s comment
“I’m good with Dunn,” makes me believe that Budenholzer was already very optimistic about him (as communicated by Shams Charania) and confirms that they were focused on completing a task.
He also talks about Budenholzer’s plot based on Dunn’s college film.
Josh Bartelstein
“We wanted Ryan Dunn. So to get Ryan Dunn at No. 28, when we were also targeting him at No. 22, and to get those picks, it’s a win-win.”
Being patient and getting the desired choice plus compensation speaks volumes about the work they have put in before the NBA Project and their ability to react in real time.
Ishbia to Jones
The last quickie that really intrigued me was when it came to the deal to draft Oso Ighodaro, Bartelstein asked Ishbia what he wanted by signing off on the deal, and then Ishbia went straight to Jones to do his job, and talked to me.
Ishbia insisted that he had to be an involved owner, but he also insisted a lot that people had to do their job in all of this. His immediate move to Jones to sign the deal was a direct example of not only saying that, but doing it in accordance with that.
Overall, this is a grand slam in terms of content, especially considering the late August schedule, with minimal news in the weeks leading up to training camp and media day.
There were a lot more fun things to glean from the Suns war room, what caught your eye about it all?
