Mike Budenholzer finally made an adjustment and the Suns actually benefited.
Last night against the Chicago Bulls, Phoenix Suns head coach Mike Budenholzer made a change. He finally did something I haven’t just been banging the drum for…I’ve been leading the entire damn marching band. Like Professor Harold Hill strutting through River City with seventy-six trombones blaring behind me, I’ve been pleading for the Suns to abandon the Tyus Jones experiment as a starter.
It wasn’t a change I believed would happen, not after Budenholzer’s pregame comments. Everything pointed to more of the same, the stubborn commitment to a formula that clearly wasn’t working.
“He organizes us,” Bud said of Tyus. “He brings leadership, stability. He’s a point guard. He’s that guy that’s looking to get everybody involved. Has a comfort level with that spot. He’s been good.”
On thoughts of putting Bradley Beal back in starting lineup for Tyus Jones since Devin Booker has essentially been a point guard: “We’re always looking at different combinations Brad has been playing that backup point guard role and Brad and Devin together and even Grayson… pic.twitter.com/7NuuC3LYXq
— Duane Rankin (@DuaneRankin) February 22, 2025
But somehow, against all odds, he finally pulled the trigger.
For the first time this season, Tyus Jones was not in the starting lineup. Booker and Beal, who the Bright Side community believed would provide the Suns the best option for winning moving forward, was the starting backcourt. The duo responded, combing for 54 points on 20-of-29 shooting.
“We’re always kind of looking and trying to figure out the best combinations, the best groups,” Coach Bud said after the 121-117 victory. “We keep trying and we keep mixing it up. Sometimes there’s injuries, but he’s [Bradley Beal] been good. We wanted to try it and look at it and feel that’s going to give us our best chance and he responded well. He’s been really great for a while now.”
Having Jones as the point guard, after seeing the season-long trends play out before us no longer made sense. Not in the short term, where it shrinks our defensive size. Not in the long term, because let’s be honest, he’s not coming back next season.
You know who will be here next season, whether you like it or not? Bradley Beal. Barring some seismic shift in the Suns’ plans — or Beal’s own future in the NBA — he’s not going anywhere. So embrace it. Because the issue was never Beal the player.
Beal the player hustles. He shows emotion. He brings a sense of connection and personality that this team has sorely lacked for the past two seasons. The Suns have plenty of problems, but Beal’s mindset and approach aren’t among them. His injury history? Different story. His contract? That’s where the frustration lies.
That deal is the lock on the Durant/Booker window, the financial straightjacket that limits how Phoenix can build around them. But at this point, it is what it is. Beal will be here next year. Booker and Durant? That’s less certain. Tyus Jones? He’s played just well enough to secure a nice contract somewhere else, and I doubt that’s in Phoenix.
So credit to Budenholzer for finally making the move, for pulling the trigger on a lineup that gives us a glimpse of what Beal and Booker as a backcourt duo could be. We should see more of it tonight in Toronto.
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