Suns owner Mat Ishbia ’embarrassed’ by 2024-25 season
At a Phoenix Suns press conference, team owner Mat Ishbia said he’s setting standards for what he expects from all coaching hires going forward.
Reggie Miller couldn’t help but laugh at what fellow TNT NBA analyst Stan Van Gundy said about the Phoenix Suns during Friday’s Zoom media session April 18.
“It is probably the most attractive job on the market because you can get like $50 million and only have to coach one year,” said Van Gundy.
The Suns signed Mike Budenholzer on a five-year deal for $50-plus million and fired him after one season.
“It is really, really an attractive job because of how much you get paid. I mean, it’s unbelievable. Bud ended up making $600,000 a game as a coach.”
Miller called Van Gundy’s comments a “mic drop,” but the former NBA player and coach spoke more seriously about the state of the Suns.
“The first thing they got to do is to decide what kind of organization they want to be, what are their values and develop some sort of culture that will give you a chance to go forward and win,” Van Gundy said. “Right now, they are a long way from that.”
Suns team owner Mat Ishbia addressed that very point in Thursday’s end-of-season press conference, April 17, at the team’s practice facility.
“I want to put a team out there on the court that everyone is proud of and proud of is, has to have an identity, an identity that’s similar to Phoenix,” he said. “A little bit of grit, determination, some work ethic, some grind, some joy. We just haven’t had that. We did it a different way and it didn’t work. I will do a better job as the owner of setting the tone on the vision.”
Ishbia added the Suns will establish an identity and see it carried out through the front office, coaches, players and staff.
“That’s on me, that change is coming and it will be undeniable,” he said. “You will know the difference next year. There will be seasons in my next 40, 50 years with you guys that we lose more games than this, but we’ll feel much better about it because we’ll have an identity and we’ll play and we’ll compete and you’ll be like, they were fun to watch. The fans enjoyed it.”
Failing to make the playoffs for the first time since the 2019-20 season, Phoenix won just 36 games this season despite having three max players – Devin Booker, Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal – making a combined $150 million.
The Suns entered the season as the NBA’s first $400-million team and started 8-1 under Budenholzer, but they finished 10 games under .500.
“It’s hard to figure for me what happened,” Van Gundy said. “I can tell you what I saw. It was a team that didn’t guard anybody and didn’t make effort. They were good enough offensively to win.”
The Suns finished 27th in the NBA in defensive rating as three of their last nine losses were by at least 30 points.
“I am shocked how this year unfolded in real time because they got out of the gates quick,” Miller said. “We were like, OK, Coach Bud, new system. You’ve got two Olympians on your team (in Booker and Durant), two top 25 players on your team and then the bottom fell out.”
Van Gundy, a former NBA head coach, cited stability as a problem for the Suns, who will have their fourth head coach in four seasons under team owner Mat Ishbia.
“Stability is highly underrated in the NBA and I think Mat Ishbia testing the limits of that,” Van Gundy said. “I look at Devin Booker, who I think is a great player and you’re asking him to play in a different system for a different coach every single year. Devin wasn’t nearly as efficient this year offensively. Like, can we give that guy five years with the same coach and settle in, and the same teammates?”
Booker has had seven different head coaches in his 10 NBA seasons. He averaged 25.6 points and a career-high 7.1 assists in 75 games, the most he’s played since his second NBA season at 78, but shot 46.1% overall, 33.2% from 3.
The four-time All-Star hasn’t shot that low of a shooting percentage since his third NBA season at 43.2% and his 3-point shooting was its lowest since his fourth season at 32.6%.
Van Gundy referenced Phoenix being in the finals in 2021 with Mikal Bridges, Deandre Ayton, Cam Johnson, Chris Paul and Booker, calling them “a team on the rise.”
Then he referenced the allegations against Robert Sarver that led to an NBA investigation. The results led to Sarver being suspended for a year and fined $10 million for “workplace misconduct and organizational deficiencies.”
Ishbia wound up buying the Suns and WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury from Sarver for a record $4 billion during the 2022-23 season.
“The Sarver thing hits and Mat Ishbia wants to change coaches every couple of weeks,” Van Gundy said sarcastically.
Miller believes Monty Williams still would be the head coach and that 2021 finals core group still would be in Phoenix had not changed ownership.
“Think about this. They were two wins away from a chip,” said Miller as the Suns, with homecourt advantage, took a 2-0 lead in finals only to lose four in a row to the Bucks, who were coached by Budenholzer.
The Suns’ last three coaches have either won an NBA championship in Frank Vogel and Budenholzer or coached in one in Monty Williams and are beginning a search for who will be their fourth head coach in four seasons.
Ishbia said April 17 the Suns “got to get the next hire right” and vows they will.
“We’re going to look for someone that fits the vision of Phoenix Suns basketball organization,” Ishbia said.
Van Gundy questioned why the Suns fired Vogel after winning 49 games in Vogel’s one year in Phoenix last season. Minnesota swept Phoenix in the first round of the playoffs.
“Why are we changing?” he said. “Why aren’t we just building on that? I think when you change coaches, three straight years too, you are telling the players it’s not your fault. You’re not being held accountable. It’s this guy in this position, is the guy not getting the job done? To me, it’s a bad message to your team.”
Van Gundy said it’s essential for organizations to be unified from top to bottom to have success in the NBA.
“When you change coaches for three straight years, I don’t care who they hire,” Van Gundy said. “They could get Gregg Popovich to come over, the players know that organization is not going to stand behind the coach. That is not a unified organization. That is a tough situation.”
Miller talked about the idea of the Suns either trading Booker or Durant and land multiple draft picks and players in return.
Houston and Oklahoma City have both of those in abundance. Phoenix has had limited roster flexibility being over the second tax apron.
“I don’t know how you get out of this because they don’t have any collateral, they don’t have any assets,” Miller said. “(Suns general manager) James Jones, I think his hands are tied.”
Miller concluded the Suns would have to trade either Booker, the franchise’s all-time leading scorer, or Durant, one of the all-time greats and get “a boatload” of draft picks.
Just one problem.
“I think everyone is going to be stingy that way because they know they’re desperate,” Miller said. “They smell the desperation. I don’t know how they get out of this. I really don’t because it seems like Kevin Durant doesn’t want to be there anymore. If Kevin Durant doesn’t want to be anywhere, Kevin Durant is going to change area codes and zip codes. That’s just how it is.”
Have opinions about the current state of the Suns? Reach Suns Insider Duane Rankin at dmrankin@gannett.com or contact him at 480-810-5518. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, at @DuaneRankin.
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