In an interview on XTRA 910 captured here, Rick Welts gets into more detail about a number of things including his departure and future. But a couple of items stuck out in the interview regarding working with Robert Sarver, David Stern, and most importantly, his opinion on the future of the Phoenix Suns. And while we are all scraping the bowl, looking for any kind of Suns specific news, here's just a little bit more, with yours truly attempting to grasp as much content as possible in this chunk of the interview:
- More on why he's leaving the Suns:
"...I’ve only developed only one skill in my 36 years in this business, and that’s having a great sense of when it’s time to leave a job. Now is the right time..."
I was irrationally skeptical about his departure and certainly unhappy about another change in the Suns front office. But this sounds legit to me. And let's face it, Welts has some huge honesty points going for him right now, so why doubt the guy, why blame Bob Sarv? (other than because it's fun)... Says Welts:
"...if there’s a good guy in this story, he’s (Sarver) a good guy in this story..."
Sarver is a great guy, he was supportive when Welts "came out," and he handled the departure professionally and all that.
But:
"...I would absolutely confirm on a scale of 1 to 10 he (Sarver) is not an easy guy everyday to work for. I will tell you that the guy that I worked for before him, David Stern for 17 years, is off-the-charts in difficulty to work for. So Robert is a piece of cake, okay?"
Rick forgot to give Bob a number in the 1-10 scale. But it isn't surprising to hear that Sarver isn't a peach. But what NBA owner is? Sterling? Buss? Cuban?
- Now down to brass tacks....Welts would "buy stock in the Suns?" Why?
"...because of what’s been invested in the infrastructure on the basketball side...I’m a big believer in the people we’ve brought in, and we’ve made big investments in everything that is possible to invest in in building the infrastructure to be a successful basketball organization."
- OK, so when are the Suns going to be playoff caliber again?
"Whether that’s one year, two years, three years, I’m not sure. But it’s going to happen, and I think when it does, this is going to be a team that’s going to be right in the thick of things and competing for a championship again."
Well, better than nothing, no? And with all of the doom and gloom, question marks, and concerns, there's at least one former suit that thinks things are headed in the right direction, at least upstairs. We'll see what the new brain trust does about the men on the court who dictate the wins and losses.