The Suns Released Their Own Hard Knocks Style Look At The 2024 Draft And More NBA Teams Need To Follow Suit

Barry Gossage. Getty Images.

I'm not sure about anyone else, but I couldn't get enough of the Offseason Hard Knocks episodes with the Giants' front office. Frankly, I sneaky like it more than the normal Hard Knocks that follows the actual football. We've seen that a million times before and outside of a few viral moments, they're all pretty much the same. But the behind the scenes shit from the front office? Inject that directly into my veins. Contract negotiations, trades, draft work, I don't even give a shit about the Giants and I was locked in every week.

We say it all the time, but this is something that needs to exist in all sports. Now that it's become more of the norm I would imagine that's what happens, and it really doesn't matter what sport or league it is. Just give us as fans more of an inside look at how this stuff unfolds. For example, the Phoenix Suns just released what is basically the same exact shit as the Giant's front office Hard Knocks and guess what? It's awesome!

Again, I don't even really care about the Suns and I was locked in for that entire 4:44. The Suns took the Hard Knocks blueprint and nailed it. Clips of James Jones wheeling and dealing, the strategy behind their Draft Day approach, it was all tremendous. Every single one of us at one point or another has had the belief that we could run a professional sports team, only the reality ends up being the only chance we get is with our fantasy rosters or playing video games. To be able to do it in real life is the dream.

I also found it interesting that for an owner who seemed to be pretty involved in everything since he bought the team, Mat Ishbia sat back and let his basketball ops team do their thing. He didn't seem to meddle or force them to do something just because he wanted, he just sort of sat back and watched. As a Suns fan that would be music to my ears. Now it's a whole different discussion if James Jones knows what he's doing, but I will say he did just bring in Tyus Jones for the minimum so maybe there's hope for him moving forward. Landing the guys you want AND additional picks is about as good as you can get during the NBA Draft, so congrats to the Suns front office in that regard.

My hope is that the Suns also have something like this planned not just for the Draft, but every stage of the NBA season. Give us the behind the scenes of things like the NBA trade deadline and NBA free agency as well. Be the trailblazer that gets other teams' media departments on board with also making these types of videos/content. What's the harm? If anything it makes you more interested in the team/product. We already get the Shams/Woj bombs when this stuff happens, now it's time to show us what went into making them.

The Suns enter this season in a bit of a weird spot. There's no denying their roster has talent, but like we saw last year the big question is how often is that talent even going to be available? When they had their guys, the Suns seemed invincible at times. Once we got to the postseason, none of that really mattered. Given the fact that they basically punted on their future to form their superteam and KD isn't getting any younger, this is essentially their window to win. The problem of course is the West gets tougher and tougher each year and now teams like the Grizzlies are going to be back in the mix after their own season from hell, not to mention Wemby is coming for us all eventually. If Coach Bud can figure out how to get this team to defend you could tell me this is a top 4 seed in the West and a legit title contender. At the same time, it also wouldn't shock me if they ended up in the Play In despite winning close to 50 games. That's just the reality of the West right now.

But seriously, give us more footage/content like this Draft Day video. It always delivers.