No doubt, David Aldridge of The Athletic is one of the best journalists to ever cover the NBA. Aldridge is such a popular figure in the sport that he even NBA2K Played as a sideline reporter in recent years.

Aldridge is also completely impartial and has always strived to provide a truly unbiased opinion on what is happening around the league. That is what makes a true journalist, a fact that is increasingly lost in this era of hot takes and social media aggregations.

That’s because Aldridge had the audacity to claim that the Suns had the 21st best offseason of any NBA team. Or, to put it another way, the ninth worst offseason this summer. Huh? Haven’t the Suns solved their two biggest problems at point guard and backup center in a big way?

Monte Morris was a nice addition, but bringing in Tyus Jones to replace him was just great. In fact, the franchise may have too many mouths to feed at that position now, with Devin Booker and Bradley Beal likely to play some minutes in the backcourt next season as well.

In the penalty box, the below-average Drew Eubanks from a year ago is gone and has been replaced by Mason Plumlee, who is still athletic at 34. But the Suns were not done yet and were able to sign two players, Ryan Dunn and Oso Ighodaro, who can take some of the load off Jusuf Nurkic.

That’s right, the front office even has the NBA Draft seriously in 2024. But they weren’t done there, because all of these moves were preceded by the hiring of a new head coach in the form of Mike Budenholzer. The experience with Frank Vogel was… strange, because although he was an ideal defensive specialist on paper, he just didn’t really make it in the Valley.

So not only are the Suns bringing back two gold medalists — plus a Bradley Beal they hope will be healthy from the start — but they’re also bringing in a new head coach who’s from Arizona and considers it a dream to be in the building. How could any of this be viewed negatively?

This is where we unfortunately have to agree with Aldridge – because while the Suns had an excellent offseason by their standards, everything is relative. For an organization in the second quarter, getting Jones is a minor miracle. Convincing Morris and Plumlee to take the minimum is a solid deal.

But it doesn’t move as much as the Philadelphia 76ers – who shot into the stands and convinced Paul George to sign – or even the San Antonio Spurs, who brought Chris Paul to Texas. The ranking still feels a bit low, the Suns have at least tried to fix their many deficiencies from last season, and they’ve done an admirable job of strengthening the roster.

Any roster with Booker and Durant has a chance, and the Suns have tried to rebuild the team around their talent. That has to be worth more than the league’s 21st most productive summer, but only time will tell if Aldridge was too harsh or if he got it just right.