Phoenix Suns GM Brian Gregory reflects on 2025 NBA Draft

Phoenix Suns GM Brian Gregory reflects on 2025 NBA Draft

phoenix Suns were real busy remaking the roster and joining us on the program right now their general manager Brian Gregory bg how are you today
i’m doing great guys thanks for having me on
all right so are you like are you sitting on a a beach in the Bahamas right now celebrating you with the Ashford Castle in Ireland i mean what do you do after having such a great week get back to work uh we still got a lot of stuff to do um excited about what happened over the last 72 hours but you know now we start getting ready we bring our draft picks in this weekend they got some stuff they got to get done uh and then we start getting ready for our uh summer league training camp that will start in the week and then we’re off to Vegas and played some games and start building things up so we’re ready to go by next fall so a lot of things going on but uh we’re excited about where we’re at right now and and some of the moves that we’ve been able to make as a team well we’ll find you some vacation time somewhere don’t you worry look you took you took over an overpaid underachieving team that didn’t have any heart and passion that was vastly underachieving uh and you had a very few movable assets and in a matter of five days you turned that into a younger bigger more athletic team that the fans right now are very excited about what was Talk about your vision of remaking this roster well you know I I I think you hit a lot of key points that that kind of acted as our foundation you know moving forward um you know all you have to do is is watch where the game has got to at this particular point and and you know having that perspective of the game you look at it and you say you know length athletic ability uh the energy the effort level the um pressure on defense the pressure that you have to put on the rim offensively the protection you have to have the rim on the rim defensively uh the ability to you know have a little deeper bench and and be able to rotate guys in there to play at the pace with the cutting and the movement that you want um we just took a long hard look at ourselves and and you know as a as a as a front office came up with okay this is some of the things that we need to get done um and fortunately because of all the situations we had an opportunity to do it and I think this was a a great first step i think you have to constantly be evolving um and trying to and you know again I can go on for hours the best thing that you know I learned during the the coaching process looking for our head coach um was how forwardinking Jordan is and what’s next you know what’s next on the horizon in the league sure
and I think our job is is to give him the tools resources and then build a team around what’s what’s happening now and what’s going to happen in the next three to four years
all right let’s talk a little bit about the draft you drafted the Duke Center come on Malawatch we’re all shocked that he was there at 10 earlier in the day you had agreed to make the trade for Mark Williams you’ve got a little bit of a log gym now with four centers when you add in Nick and Oso what are your plans at center and would you still have made the Williams trade had you known that you were going to draft a Duke kid well as as you know I can’t talk about any of the trades i can only talk about our draft picks and um when you have someone um of Kamand’s uh talent level character level work ethic the background of playing at Duke for John Shire the success that they had um there was there was no question that if he was on the board he was our top prospect heading into the draft um and prospect number two and three behind him were pretty darn good too so we were excited about being able to bring him in um you know we felt that um one of our uh keys that we needed to address was our ability to protect the rim defensively to be able to execute different ball screen coverages some more aggressive some where we were forced difficult twos by our opponents and so that versatility on that defensive uh center position on those ball screens was very critical um you know his he’s got great hands so his ability to catch and finish around the basket was critical um and then you know I’m going to be honest when you when you when you you you do your intel work and you talk to the people around him and you look at his journey to where he’s at right now um he has been wellprepared and well challenged to face and exceed whatever expectations we put on him i I just think he’s one of those guys that is scratching the surface and the some of the you know life challenges that he’s faced really puts him in a great position even as a 19year-old to be ready to just explode in terms of his potential and the impact he can make on this franchise
i was uh blown away by by what you guys were able to do to put yourself in a position to get Rashir Fleming and I know you were looking to try to maybe move up in the first round you know try to get to the end of the first round 29,30 or whatever to see if you could get him weren’t able to do it three trades in the second round before the draft even started i’ve been covering this league for a long time all right i’ve never seen anything like that where a team was moving you It was like a chess game what you guys were doing to put yourself in a position to get Fleming i’m really impressed to be honest with you because I’ve never seen anything like that tell me about your vision from the from getting up at 5 in the morning to being able to get yourself in a position to go from the end of the second round to the first pick in the second round well Gamble I mean it it it started at whatever 9:00 at night the night before um we were able to look on the on the board in terms of in the second round there was three or four guys that we had really targeted as first round guys um we sat down Arande Telerero and myself and Josh Bartlestein and and Matt Ishbia and Matt Telum and we went through our our evaluation forms that we have put together from our scouting group that did just an unbelievable job and we said “Okay Rasher Fleming is the guy.” We looked at our roster we looked at our future we looked at our current state and we said you know this guy you know is not only talented and not only brings a lot of stuff to the table that’s important to us um but that versatile forward that even can go a small ball five if necessary um you know could be available how do we do it and then we started the pieces that next morning making the calls trying to put together a a an opportunity to get him at the same time uh you know without depleting future assets you know I mean I think that’s one of the best things you know at the end of this thing our our future assets are basically at the same point as they were two weeks ago which was critical for us uh so that movement and that shifting and adjusting uh you know again I I’m going to be honest with you that this is this was a total team effort i from you know this was my first time kind of more in in in charge or overseeing that that draft room we had so many good people working in there as I said with with Josh and with Matt Telum and with his group with the analytic group all those things have to come into play you know you’re you’re checking on who’s going to give you a higher net ranking who’s going to you know what’s the rebounding rate all these different things come into play and you got to have everybody on the same page and I thought that was maybe to me the most impressive part of what we did brian I don’t want to ask you about specific players in trades or trades in general i just want to ask you about your roster as it stands right now as Gambo alluded to you’ve got a lot of centers and you’ve got a lot of two guards or smaller wings there seems to be some rebalancing still to get done so with that in mind how active do you expect to be on the trade market over these next couple of weeks well I I I think you’re always looking to improve your team you’re always looking to put your your current players uh in in better positions to be successful um so you know again with with the roster um development I think there’s you know opportunities there for you know uh some additional pieces to come in on on a free agent side um and then obviously always looking at you know in possible trades and as I as I always say you know I I’m never going to talk specifically or anything like that but I think what’s happened is over the last few weeks you’ve seen that we we have a pretty good game plan in place and the other thing that you have to do is um you can’t force stuff you know what I mean like you you may want it and you may think think it’s the best move but if it doesn’t give you exactly what you’re looking for if it puts you in a diff difficult position down the road then you got to have some patience too you know what I mean and and I think we’re we’re going to show that we’re going to be very organized in everything that we do we’re going to be very intentional in everything that we do um cuz we want to get this thing right you know as I I say time and time again we we got to put our players in the right you know right position we got to give coach and his staff um the opportunity to uh have a team that can compete and more importantly have a team that can continue to to grow you heard me talk about the pathway to success in the development phase is going to be critical right um and and at the same time you have to make sure that with with this community that is you know longing for a team that that plays with that intensity and plays hard and plays with the grit and toughness that we want to play with that that that’s always on top of mind for us that that’s what we’re trying to create
all right leave me with this Brian as uh as we let you go you you turned a soon to be 37year-old Kevin Durant and what was the 2031 uh 2031 pick from a few months ago into Jaylen Green Dylan Brooks Williams Malawatch Fleming Brea you still have a first you still have a second in your opinion could it have gone any better well I I’ll talk about our draft we We were very very pleased when you talk about uh you know ending it with even even a a guy who I think has a great chance uh to play in this league one day uh undrafted two-way in CJ Huntley Kobe Beret out of out of Kentucky even though I’m claiming the Dayton Flyers for him uh Ray Sean Fleming Ray Sher Fleming uh come on Malaw I mean we’re we we are very very excited we are pleased and and and as I said I’m even more proud of the group that put that whole thing together so we’re in a good place we’re not exactly where we need to be we need to keep getting better every day all right Brian appreciate the time congratulations on what was a a hectic and crazy and very successful 5day stint with you from the trade to the two days of the draft uh and on remaking the Suns roster into the image that you guys wanted congratulations on that and I’m sure we’ll talk again soon
thanks for having me on guys appreciate you
you got it thanks Brian that’s Brian Gregory the general manager of your Phoenix Suns thanks for watching Burns and Gambo click to see more from the guys and hit the button in the middle to subscribe so you never miss a video from Arizona Sports

Phoenix Suns GM Brian Gregory joined Burns & Gambo to reflect on the 2025 NBA Draft and explained what the team might do next.

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