Suns To Take 'Hard Look' At Coaching Change; James Jones Expected To Remain As GM

[RealGM Wiretap]

The Phoenix Suns are expected to take a "hard look" at a full coaching change for the second straight offseason, sources told Shams Charania and Doug Haller of The Athletic.

The Suns will, at the very least, make changes to Frank Vogel's staff.

The Suns were swept by the Timberwolves in the first round.

Vogel said before Game 4 that he has the "full support" of Mat Ishbia.

James Jones is expected to remain as the general manager next season. 

Via Shams Charania & Doug Haller/The Athletic

[Rek]

Lakers trade away all of their proven depth for Westbrook and then proceeded to scapegoat Vogel.

Phoenix basically repeats this by dumping whatever value they had left on their roster for Beal - captain glass. Apparently it's time to scapegoat Vogel again.

[Biff]

Lakers trade away all of their proven depth for Westbrook and then proceeded to scapegoat Vogel.

Phoenix basically repeats this by dumping whatever value they had left on their roster for Beal - captain glass. Apparently it's time to scapegoat Vogel again.

Your team is welcome to rehire him after we fire him. My guess is your tune would be different after another year of him coaching your team. He was not the reason you guys won during the bubble.

[Rek]

Lakers trade away all of their proven depth for Westbrook and then proceeded to scapegoat Vogel.

Phoenix basically repeats this by dumping whatever value they had left on their roster for Beal - captain glass. Apparently it's time to scapegoat Vogel again.

Your team is welcome to rehire him after we fire him. My guess is your tune would be different after another year of him coaching your team. He was not the reason you guys won during the bubble.

My tune is steady as a rock. and yes, I'd gladly take Vogel back in a heartbeat.

Ham is bar none the worst coach in the league.

[danfantastk32]

Lakers trade away all of their proven depth for Westbrook and then proceeded to scapegoat Vogel.

Phoenix basically repeats this by dumping whatever value they had left on their roster for Beal - captain glass. Apparently it's time to scapegoat Vogel again.

Your team is welcome to rehire him after we fire him. My guess is your tune would be different after another year of him coaching your team. He was not the reason you guys won during the bubble.

My tune is steady as a rock. and yes, I'd gladly take Vogel back in a heartbeat.

Ham is bar none the worst coach in the league.

I'd take Vogel back too. He's better than Ham, IMO. That said....both the Lakers and Suns are flawed teams. Mediocre at best. Anyone who thinks coaching changes will take either team to the promised land, is sadly mistaken.

[TheCage4]

When teams like the Suns and Lakers trade away their depth for one player in return, they cannot be surprised that they end up not going the distance.

[JKiddy]

This was always going to fail. But, we expected PHX to get a few wins or maybe win one round.

What is the true difference? This franchise is much worse off than BK now. It’s not even close after this off season unless they deal KD and Beal for youth.

[Kidknick!]

Two future HOF players, and a third All Star and it's the coach's fault?
Come on, this was a sloppily constructed roster put together by a new owner with a "Win Now" vision.

KD's history alone trying to make/join superteams after GS should have been a huge red flag. Phx should have learned from what Brooklyn tried to do. They didn't, they need to look themselves in the mirror before scapegoating the coach.

[dubbmotta]

GM should be fired, he created an LA fitness team. Bunch of shooters, no true point and lack of defense. Book is not a point guard!!

[boomershadow]

GM should be fired, he created an LA fitness team. Bunch of shooters, no true point and lack of defense. Book is not a point guard!!

After hiring a defense first coach. Not somebody who could run a historically dominant offense, which is what they'd need.

[Cookin Baskets]

No true point guard,no depth and no defensive bigs who can clean up on the boards. I think they **** up giving up on Bridges and Ayton.

[Pickled Prunes]

No true point guard,no depth and no defensive bigs who can clean up on the boards. I think they **** up giving up on Bridges and Ayton.

As a POR fan, I can tell you that the Ayton trade worked out great for PHX. Nurkic in 2024 gave PHX more REB, AST, BLK and STL than Ayton did in 2023... and he did it in 3 fewer minutes and at half the cost. Ayton would not have changed this series in the slightest. Well, he might have been pouting due to lack of FGA's, but other than that. Ayton had to go.

In general, they undervalued what they had in Bridges, CP3's leadership and Booker as their #1. I'm not saying they don't trade Bridges or CP3, but the result of those trades was an incomplete roster.

[Pickled Prunes]

This was always going to fail. But, we expected PHX to get a few wins or maybe win one round.

What is the true difference? This franchise is much worse off than BK now. It’s not even close after this off season unless they deal KD and Beal for youth.

They will have to give up assets to move Beal... and they don't have any remaining assets. In all honesty, their best bet would be to move KD, Booker and anything else not tied down. Keep Beal as their highly decorated tank commander. By the final year of his contract they may be ready to win again.

[beefymajesto]

Doomed from the beginning, if Beal was more than a stat filler on a bad team Washington would of at least made a little noise. He's literally done nothing since wall. This is a front office that seems to just follow media hype. Roster has to make sense, the beal trade never did.

[purpleswordfish]

Aside from Vogel being abrasive with front offices or in the locker room - which to my knowledge hasn't really been well-documented - it's hard to understand why the dude keeps getting put in situations where his job security is always in question. He was fine in Orlando, the teams he had played hard, but were kinda rough. Lakers won a championship with him, so he couldn't be that bad. Phoenix created one of the most top-heavy rosters ever and those top guys missed a lot of games. Then, when they did play together, they didn't gel.

Honestly, it sounds like a GM and ownership making the one change they can actually make with this team: coaching. That roster as it sits right now is as good as it'll ever be unless they decide to absolutely blow it up and rebuild. They have little to no flexibility, even less after the deals to keep their own players. It's not on Vogel. He wasn't out there playing garbage defense and getting hurt all season.

[puja21]

Lakers trade away all of their proven depth for Westbrook and then proceeded to scapegoat Vogel.

Phoenix basically repeats this by dumping whatever value they had left on their roster for Beal - captain glass. Apparently it's time to scapegoat Vogel again.

Your team is welcome to rehire him after we fire him. My guess is your tune would be different after another year of him coaching your team. He was not the reason you guys won during the bubble.

Right or wrong, spoken EXACTLY like you'd expect from a fan who just got swept after a roster thrown together around ill fitting stars

We saw it when Miami lost to Dallas -- people calling for Riley to "come back down to coaching." Ironically, Spo is probably the one coach more fanbases call "best currently in the league" of any candidate

Happened to Brett Brown after the Horford max contract in Philly and maxing Tobias rather than Butler -- bring in Doc to fix anything and don't get any closer to the conf Finals, even with Harden (Simmons missed the entire postseason of Brown's last year)

Saw it when Doc was handed Leonard and George, but lost in 7 games to Joker -- Ty Lue hasn't reached a Finals either.

Heck, we saw it with KD when he force Brooklyn to clean house of Nash after the sweep by Boston.

[puja21]

Doomed from the beginning, if Beal was more than a stat filler on a bad team Washington would of at least made a little noise. He's literally done nothing since wall. This is a front office that seems to just follow media hype. Roster has to make sense, the beal trade never did.

Is anyone surprised?

Matt Ishbia is currently facing both class action civil lawsuits and fraud/racketeering charges for violations related to a rivalry with Dan Gilbert that ONLY he imagines.

The irrational confidence/arrogance reminds me a bit of Prokhorov's tenure with Brooklyn, when he guaranteed a championship within 5 years, vowed to get married if they won, and bragged that the Nets losing $144M was "not a big deal"

Good luck to the Suns cleaning up this mess. Hopefully, for their sake both KD and Booker demand trades so they are forced to recoup picks and do a holistic/home grown build and see it through.

[YourGM99]

The GM with approval from the owner carries out his vision and hires a coach and draft, signs, and trades for players that fits his vision. I said that to say, how does the GM keep his job if he hired the coach and assembled the roster…

[ccvle]

The GM with approval from the owner carries out his vision and hires a coach and draft, signs, and trades for players that fits his vision. I said that to say, how does the GM keep his job if he hired the coach and assembled the roster…

Firing the coach limits the damage. If you fire the gm, you pretty much admit the whole team is badly constructed, including the coach. It is hard to get anything good in return for KD or Bradley. So logical, the only option left Is change coach to see if that helps.

[Lalouie]

FO fell into the trap of collecting scorers

ain't no one's fault but FO