close
close
Sun's next coach could be with a current NBA playoff team

Sun's next coach could be with a current NBA playoff team

by

The Phoenix Suns did not want to land a new head coach on April 14th on April 14.

It was planned to first address the front office and then hire her third coach in three seasons among team owners Mat Ishbia, who had released Frank Vogel and Bodenholzer after one season.

James Jones, General Manager of Suns, started the interview process during previous coaching search inquiries with zoom calls to candidates. Then the finalists met with the billionaire Ishbia in Michigan, where he lives as CEO of United Wholesale Mortgage.

Jones remains General Manager with a contract that is supposed to expire this summer.

NBA head coach consistently say what an honor and privilege is to have a position that can only say 32 people to start a season, but there is also something to say for stability.

The Suns have set up a win-or-else memorial under Ishbia. Froaching three coaches in three seasons confirms this. Monty Williams was released after Phoenix had fallen against the later NBA champion Denver in the second round of the NBA Playoffs 2022-23.

Williams trained Phoenix for the final 2021 and with the best 64 victories with franchise regulations and won the NBA coach of the year in the 2021-22 season before being fired in the following season.

Ishbia promises to do this attitude correctly, but the person who is hired must recognize that the story has shown that the expectations in Phoenix can lead to dismissal.

The Suns committed Budenholzer on May 11, 2024, just two days after they announced that Vogel was released. The two sides agreed with a five-year contract for $ 50 in between.

Very fast turnaround, but there was a longer process that made this attitude that was considered great at that time. The Suns started with 8: 1 under Bodenholzer, but they only won 28 more games to end 36: 46, and missed the playoffs for the first time since 2019-20.

This time a more thorough process is expected. The Suns could have potential candidates for current playoff teams such as assistants Chris Quinn with Miami Heat, Jeff van Gundy with the Los Angeles Clippers, Jerry Stackhouse of the Golden State Warriors, Lloyd Pierce from the Indiana Pacers and Johnnie Bryant from the Cleveland Cavaliers from Los Angeles.

The heat path of the Cavs, 3-0, in their playoff series in the first round, while the Warriors on the Houston Rockets rose 2-1. These series are continued every Monday, April 28th.

The Clippers are bound 2-2 with the Denver Nuggets, while the Pacers have a 3-1 advantage compared to Milwaukee. Game 5s are Tuesday, April 29, for both series.

Part of the hiring process includes waiting for Playoff teams to complete their seasons before applying for permission to interview candidates for their coaching teams.

The Suns did not have to wait to rent birds or ground wood.

These two boys were idle last season. Vogel was sitting in the 2022-23 season after the Lakers had fired him, and Bodenholzer did not train 2023-24 after Milwaukee let him go.

The assistants of Dallas Mavericks Jared Dudley, a former player for the Suns, and Sean Sweeney are as future NBA head coach on the radar. The Detroit Piston's aimed at Sweeney to replace Monty Williams and asked for an interview after Dallas had run for the final in 2024.

They also looked at Minnesota Timberwolves Assistant Micah Nori. The T-wolves reached the conference final before they lost against the MAVs.

Detroit finally stopped JB Bickerstaff, which the Cavs lost in the second round against the later NBA champion 2023-24 Boston Celtics.

Bickerstaff is a finalist for the NBA coach of the year this season together with Kenny Atkinson, who replaced him in Cleveland to end a one-month search, and Ime Udoka from the Houston Rockets.

Atkinson was an assistant in Golden State when Cleveland hired him after a four-year run (2016-20) as head coach of Brooklyn Nets.

So Phoenix could follow a waiting-and-lake approach with candidates who train in the off-season to see who may be available when your season ends.

It worked for Cleveland and Detroit. The Cavaliers are number 1 in the east, while the pistons returned to the playoffs for the first time since the 2018-19 season.

Do you have opinions about the current state of the sun? Reach Suns Insider Duane Rankin at dmrankin@gannett.com or contact him at 480-810-5518. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, with him @Duanerankin.

Support local journalism: Subscribe to Azcentral.com today.

Leave a Comment