Nothing against John Treloar. I'm sure he's a nice guy and all and it's perfectly understandable for new GM Lance Blanks to bring in his "own guys". But in a summer where the Suns had already replaced two staples of the front office -- Steve Kerr and David Griffin -- you would think that there might be some reservations about replacing former Director of Player Personnel Todd Quinter with an outsider who has absolutely zero NBA experience.
Treloar's ties to Blanks go back to his two years coaching the Erie Bayhawks, the D-league affiliate of the Cleveland Cavaliers. In this 2008 interview, Treloar listed Blanks as one of the guys who hired him.
Quinter has been with the Suns organization since 1986 and has worked his way up through the scouting ranks. Among other things he's done for the team, Todd's the guy mostly responsible for finding and "selling" Goran Dragic to the team.
Most importantly, he's a link to the past and when you are trying to preserve the culture of an organization as Lon Babby and Lance Blanks both said they wanted to do, then bringing in an outsider doesn't pass the initial smell test.
Word is Quinter will focus his experience on scouting current NBA players while his new boss, Treloar, will take over primary responsibility for scouting college players and draft preparation.
Treloar spent 11 years as an assistant coach at LSU and IU, along with a couple of years in the D-league and eight seasons in the CBA back in the early-to-mid 90s. I guess that's qualification to lead the scouting and draft preparations for an NBA team. I guess.
Robert Sarver said earlier in the summer that the team would add a position to put more focus on scouting NBA players (which is a great idea), but the way this was done sends a message to the fans: We're cleaning house.
The problem is the Suns aren't a house in need of cleaning.
This isn't the Clippers or Warriors we are talking about. The Phoenix Suns have been an extremely successful franchise (albeit no rings) and now they are moving forward with a front office team of Lon Babby, Lance Blanks and John Treloar who are all brand new in their positions.
Perhaps this will all work out for the best, but don't be surprised if there's some bumps in the road that get chalked up to the "learning process".
Suns fans have been through enough change and learning; patience and continuity is a staple of winning organizations.