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In this pandemic era of group zoom interviews qualifying as media availability, the opportunities for one-on-one exclusive interviews and in-depth features are rare. While someone like me — a blogger who’s always done the media scrums for quotes — has only lightly suffered in this new world, the true full-time professionals have had a difficult time doing their thing. They have always gotten their exclusive feature stories by walking the halls of the arenas, pulling players and front office personnel aside, gathering content no one else was around to hear.
So when I come across a Ringer article that contains a mountain of fresh quotes from Phoenix Suns players, GM James Jones and coach Monty Williams that I’ve never heard before, I applaud Kevin O’Connor for getting it done.
Oh, and his story on the resurgence of the Suns franchise is excellent. Better than excellent, even. Stupendous, maybe?
Jones talks about replacing mercenaries with team-first players. Williams and Jones talk about the unique building process for Deandre Ayton. Jae Crowder talks about choosing a Suns team ready to go for it all, and the special bond between Mikal Bridges and Cam Johnson. Ayton talks about hitting rock bottom. There’s so much more...
Please read Kevin O’Connor’s story... and thank me later: Here Come The Suns
KOC has been one of the few national media who saw the Suns coming before they started winning a ton of games. He featured Mikal Bridges’ defense in a video here, and talked about the Bright Now Suns last fall and The Phoenix Suns are here to stay that came out last August.