After an unimpressive regular season, the Phoenix were cruelly eliminated from the playoffs despite being one of the highest paid teams in the league. Suns plan to keep three stars: Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and Bradley Beal.
Frank Vogel won't coach them.
Vogel was named the scapegoat and was fired by the Suns on Thursday after one season at the helm.
“As I stated in the May 1st press conference, team leadership and ownership, including myself and Josh Bartelstein, will review our entire basketball operation to determine what changes need to be made. “We're going to do that,” said James Jones, Suns president of basketball operations and general manager. statement.
“After carefully reviewing the season, we have come to the conclusion that our team needs another head coach. We are grateful for Frank's hard work and dedication as we strive to win a championship. Last season was far below our expectations. We continue to evaluate our operations and make the necessary changes to achieve our championship-level goals. We're all going to take responsibility and it's my job to work with Josh and the ownership to build a championship team.”
Jones and owner Matt Ishbia handed Vogel a roster with three big names but little depth or quality defenders. He was the only one of the big three to miss most of the season due to injury, and he only played with them in 41 games. Depth and lack of time to develop a sense of cohesion hurt them in the playoffs, as they faced deep teams. Timberwolves defense. Minnesota swept the Suns out of the playoffs.
Vogel has had his share of missteps this season, and there seemed to be a rift between him and his players at times, but he's also done an admirable job given the limitations of what he was given. Vogel was hired as a defensive coach, and he did a good job moving this roster to a position just above league average (13th) — you can't turn Jusuf Nurkic into Rudy Gobert in the paint. . The team was excited as the season came to an end, but the ending turned ugly as they ran into a Minnesota team that exploited their weaknesses.
If Durant or Booker had pushed to keep Vogel, this firing wouldn't have happened.
Whoever takes over next will be the team's third coach in three years. New owner Ishbia disagreed with Monty Williams and let him go, moving to Vogel.
Mike Budenholzer 'will play a key role' in search for new head coach ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reports.. Coach Bud is a defense-first coach, so that makes sense, but that's part of the reason they hired Coach Vogel. If the Trail Blazers and Chauncey Billups end up parting ways (as rumors suggest, that could be the case), that would be another team name to keep an eye on.
Whoever takes over as the next head coach will have much the same lineup that Vogel coached this season. There will be some tweaks and *Ishbia knocks on tree* health improvements, but how useful that will be in the very deep west is a question.
