"It's like Looney Tunes around here" - A Suns source reveals how chaotic the organization is under new owner Mat Ishbia

Brian in Mesa

Advocatus Diaboli
Super Moderator
Moderator
Supporting Member
Joined
May 13, 2002
Posts
72,355
Reaction score
23,614
Location
Killjoy Central
Here's some offseason reading for you guys.

"It's like Looney Tunes around here" - A Suns source reveals how chaotic the organization is under new owner Mat Ishbia

With a roster headlined by Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, and Bradley Beal, the Phoenix Suns were supposed to be championship contenders. Instead, they are the first team to be eliminated from the 2024 playoffs after getting swept by the No. 3-seeded Minnesota Timberwolves.

The Suns looked out of sorts on the court, and the chemistry among the Big 3 was nowhere to be found, particularly in high-pressure situations. It appears, though, that the dysfunction isn't exclusive to the players, as the organization has also had to deal with some chaos after a change in ownership.

"It's like Looney Tunes around here," a Suns source told Hoops Wire. "It's felt unstable since [Mat Ishbia] arrived. He's a good guy and everything, I think, but he's just very involved. Too involved. I know he played (college basketball at Michigan State), but I'd venture to say he has no idea what he's doing when it comes to basketball. Yet he's making a lot of the big decisions."
 

ASUCHRIS

ONE HEART BEAT!!!
Joined
Sep 2, 2002
Posts
16,360
Reaction score
14,383
Meddlesome owners are a gigantic problem. I appreciate his passion, but really hope that Ishbia learns from this season. This aint NBA 2k.
 

nashman

ASFN Icon
Joined
May 3, 2007
Posts
10,782
Reaction score
7,730
Location
Queen Creek, AZ
New excited owner not gonna read much into this. This offseason will say a lot let’s see what moves they make to try and fix this thing. If you just spent billions sure you would want to be involved, but he’s not a stupid guy so if he brings in the right people to run things it will be fine. JJ had options and built it incorrectly, ignoring a PG and length ultimately killed us. Vogel is just a moron and should 100% be shown the door imo!
 

Raindog

I didn't come here to be liked!
Joined
Apr 22, 2008
Posts
5,339
Reaction score
6,689
New excited owner not gonna read much into this. This offseason will say a lot let’s see what moves they make to try and fix this thing. If you just spent billions sure you would want to be involved, but he’s not a stupid guy so if he brings in the right people to run things it will be fine. JJ had options and built it incorrectly, ignoring a PG and length ultimately killed us. Vogel is just a moron and should 100% be shown the door imo!
I agree. It's too early to say anything bad about Ishbia. He was definitely an (over) eager beaver once he took over the team, but even with the failure of the Durant/Beal deals, at this point I can only fault him for trying TOO hard and screwing it up.

Time will tell if he is a competent owner and able to admit and adjust to mistakes. His next best move will be to try and finish cleaning up both his mistakes and whatever other messes were left over from Sarver.
 

Proximo

ASFN Icon
Joined
Mar 8, 2015
Posts
12,624
Reaction score
10,482
Here's some offseason reading for you guys.

"It's like Looney Tunes around here" - A Suns source reveals how chaotic the organization is under new owner Mat Ishbia

With a roster headlined by Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, and Bradley Beal, the Phoenix Suns were supposed to be championship contenders. Instead, they are the first team to be eliminated from the 2024 playoffs after getting swept by the No. 3-seeded Minnesota Timberwolves.

The Suns looked out of sorts on the court, and the chemistry among the Big 3 was nowhere to be found, particularly in high-pressure situations. It appears, though, that the dysfunction isn't exclusive to the players, as the organization has also had to deal with some chaos after a change in ownership.

"It's like Looney Tunes around here," a Suns source told Hoops Wire. "It's felt unstable since [Mat Ishbia] arrived. He's a good guy and everything, I think, but he's just very involved. Too involved. I know he played (college basketball at Michigan State), but I'd venture to say he has no idea what he's doing when it comes to basketball. Yet he's making a lot of the big decisions."
This article seems like total BS to me. Just a headline to grab clicks after our embarrassing sweep.

Nothing the team has done is crazy, the Durant trade, Beal trade, Ayton trade, and Royce trades all seemed half way reasonable at the time. Too much was given up in most of the deals but the targets somewhat made sense.
 

Covert Rain

Father smelt of elderberries!
Supporting Member
Joined
Jan 27, 2005
Posts
36,107
Reaction score
15,044
Location
Arizona
As long as he keeps spending I am good. He will learn to balance. Dude runs a multi billion dollar empire. I think he can figure it out.
 

taz02

All Star
Joined
May 8, 2007
Posts
933
Reaction score
458
Ishba walked into a mess, and we'll need some time to determine what kind of owner he is. If I purchased a business for a few billion bucks, you could bet I'd be in the middle of everything, at least for the first year or two.

There has to be a pretty big learning curve to owning an NBA team.
 

Mainstreet

Cruisin' Mainstreet
Supporting Member
Joined
Oct 19, 2003
Posts
116,428
Reaction score
56,507
Or maybe how about an owner who doesn't force trades and make roster decisions. No GM can do their job properly like that.

Like the Cardinals, we cannot control ownership.

What we can hope for is the Suns hire a good GM and Ishbia gives him the flexibility to make decisions, including hiring a new head coach that has a plan for the future.
 

JerkFace

(Formerly offset) i have a special purpose
Joined
May 13, 2002
Posts
3,743
Reaction score
2,334
Location
Surprise
The original Hoops Wire article had this paragraph which pretty much makes me disregard anything else the article has to say:

“All of the changes have taken place since owner Mat Ishbia bought the Suns from Robert Sarver in December 2022. One source told Hoops Wire that he believes Sarver was “forced out” as the result of “an ESPN hit piece”. “
 

Cheesebeef

ASFN IDOL
Supporting Member
Joined
Jan 2, 2003
Posts
91,099
Reaction score
67,765
The original Hoops Wire article had this paragraph which pretty much makes me disregard anything else the article has to say:

“All of the changes have taken place since owner Mat Ishbia bought the Suns from Robert Sarver in December 2022. One source told Hoops Wire that he believes Sarver was “forced out” as the result of “an ESPN hit piece”. “
Lol… that last sentence is hilariously bizarre. One source believes Sarver was forced out because of the ESPN hit piece?! NO WAY?!?!
 

Covert Rain

Father smelt of elderberries!
Supporting Member
Joined
Jan 27, 2005
Posts
36,107
Reaction score
15,044
Location
Arizona
The original Hoops Wire article had this paragraph which pretty much makes me disregard anything else the article has to say:

“All of the changes have taken place since owner Mat Ishbia bought the Suns from Robert Sarver in December 2022. One source told Hoops Wire that he believes Sarver was “forced out” as the result of “an ESPN hit piece”. “
After reading the stories from employees and all the HR complaints? That was no hit piece. That was an accountability piece. Good riddance.
 

Phrazbit

ASFN Icon
Joined
Oct 10, 2011
Posts
20,223
Reaction score
11,281
I think Ishbia is clearly in over his head when it comes the roster decisions he's meddling with, but it's comical to see the press piling on when last summer most of them were acting like getting Durant and Beal was a major coup.

I give Ishbia an A for effort... which is far more than I can give Sarver.
 

Staff online

Forum statistics

Threads
551,515
Posts
5,387,578
Members
6,310
Latest member
sundevils78
Top