The Suns are a totally normal NBA team doing totally normal things

Magnificent Phoenix Suns franchise owner Robert Sarver decided to fire his general manager, Ryan McDonough, nine days before the beginning of the regular season, which is a totally normal thing for NBA teams to do. What better time than after an incredibly important, destiny-shaping offseason to lose faith in the decision-maker and make a switch. It reminds me of when this same innovative franchise fired their head coach three games into a season. So many misguided leaders put the horse before the cart. Sarver dares to ask: what if you turn the horse upside down and set the cart on fire?

Thus ends McDonough’s odd five-year tenure, which began when he inherited a roster destined for a tank job, which was in reality a magically good team, which he then ruined by signing a third starting-level point guard, only to eventually tank anyways. Phoenix was just starting to roll out of the trenches. Apparently McDonough popped his head out of the tank a little early.

The silver lining is that three-time NBA champion James Jones, who has won three NBA championships, is now at the controls of the Suns, hopefully while wearing his three NBA championship rings. Now he just needs to find a point guard.

Unless you’re one of those beautiful early birds or Eastern Hemispherians who reads this before 9 a.m. ET, SBNation.com’s NBA season preview is out! If you are one of those early birds or Eastern Hemispherians, don’t despair! Just check out SBNation.com/NBA after 9 a.m. ET to see our preview.

Spoiler alert: I wrote about LeBron.

On national TV:
Bucks vs. Thunder, 8 p.m. ET, NBA TV
Nuggets vs. Clippers, 10:30 p.m. ET, NBA TV

Selections from League Pass:
Shanghai Sharks vs. Rockets, 8 p.m. ET

The Raptors are betting big that they can make Kawhi Leonard fall in love, writes Seerat Sohi.

Paul Flannery talks to Dan Klores about his epic project Love: A Basketball Story. Can’t wait to dig into it.

Dejounte Murray tore his ACL. What a bummer! Kevin Pelton on what it means for the Spurs and the playoff race. You know what it means? PATTY TIME.

Wait ... is Michael Carter-Williams actually legitimately good in his role for the Rockets?

Jimmy Butler reportedly hung out with a few teammates in LA last week. So weird.

I wrote about the awful spot the Kangz are in.

Pitt basketball’s Mac Miller tribute video is really great.

Nice mixtape cover, Rick Carlisle.

Take a dang bow, David Aldridge. Hall of Famer.

Duke picked up their first top-20 recruit for 2019: Wendell Moore.

Potential 2019 all-star Khris Middleton (catch the fever) says there’s a whole new vibe about Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Bucks this season. These dudes are going to make me make a prediction I regret, aren’t they?

The Mavericks fired a team photographer who faced allegations of sexual harassment but escaped justice prior to, or during, that big independent investigation. The employee had reportedly been a good friend of Mark Cuban who joined the team soon after Cuban took over in the late ‘90s. He allegedly propositioned female co-workers and shared candid courtside photos of team dancers and other women around the office. Adam Silver had a good explanation as to why the employee wasn’t named in the initial Mavs investigation report: the investigators declined to call out anyone who had only anonymous allegations against them. That doesn’t totally explain why the employee wasn’t investigated further at all. The investigators were reportedly asking Mavericks employees about him by name unprompted during their inquiry! And now they fire him when his name hits the press? The fact Cuban is being really defensive about this particular instance is rather worrisome. New management under Cynthia Marshall deserves some level of deference and faith, but Cuban absolutely does not.

Really cool initiative to support girls’ youth sports.

Be excellent to each other.