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The Phoenix Suns held an end-of-season press conference on Thursday, April 17, but none of the players were available to speak, including the Suns' Big 3 of Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and Bradley Beal.
The team's owner Mat Ishbia, CEO Josh Bartelstein and general manager James Jones addressed what went wrong, Durant's future with the Suns, adjustments this offseason and more. This came after the Suns fired coach Mike Budenholzer on Monday in the wake of the Suns' 11th-place Western Conference finish, a 36-46 record and missing the postseason for the first time since 2019-20.
Here are some key takeaways:
“First off, embarrassing season. Disappointed. Awful. I watch every game like all of you guys do. No one’s proud of it. No one’s happy with it, from me to the front office to the coaches to the players to the marketing executives to the security guards. Everyone’s disappointed, embarrassed and it was a failure,'' Ishbia said.
"We struggled. We didn’t do a enough good job and we gotta do stuff differently and change to be better. So there’s no running from that. Obviously, I’m very disappointed. … It wasn’t fun to watch our team lose and not compete at the level that we all expected. I’m here for it and I’m here to be accountable, just like our players, coaches, front office."
"As the owner, my job is to make those changes and do things differently because what we just tried and did the last 2½ years has not been as successful as we hoped. A lot of people would've seen the things we did and said, just like a lot of people picked us to be the third-best chance to win the NBA championship this year. So a lot of people thought it worked. We thought it would work. It didn’t work. There’s a lot of things people thought that a couple years ago when we made the Kevin Durant trade … Smart people can think it makes sense and then looking back, it's like, it didn’t and it didn't work."
Ishbia: "The biggest change that I will talk about is on me, which is I have to do a better job of setting the identity of the Phoenix Suns. ... An identity that's similar to Phoenix with some little bit of grit, some determination, some work ethic, some grind, some joy, and so we just haven't had that. We did it a different way and it didn't work. So I will do a better job as the owner to set the tone on the vision. Just like other organizations, you can talk about the Steelers, you kind of know what they mean when you talk about the Pittsburgh Steelers, or even my old team Michigan State basketball. You kind of know what you're gonna get when you talk about Michigan State basketball. What is Phoenix Suns basketball? It will be undeniable. You will know the difference next year."
"Don't want to have the highest paid team that doesn't make the playoffs. That's embarrassing and disappointing, right? So spending is not something that the front office is like, 'Oh, Mat said we can't do this because of money.' We want to win. I'm a fan. Money's not going to be an obstacle but at the same time I'm not foolish. I don't expect to stay the highest payroll in the NBA next year and I don't expect us to not make the playoffs next year. I'm aware of all the aprons, the first apron, the second apron and all the rules tied to all those things and we're definitely going to make adjustments, but it's not to spend less money.''
Ishbia: "We gotta set it first up front with the leadership, and it starts with me and we will do that. And then we will get the right front office structure with scouts and players and then they're gonna know what to look for in the draft and we're gonna find the right coach. It will be a process. So you're not gonna see a coach hired in the next week or two."
General manager James Jones: "The major thing is just defensively. Having more of a focus on building a strong defensive system to support those guys. All three of them, Kevin, Devin and Brad carry a heavy offensive load. When you get three offensive players, it requires more movement. If we were asking them to give more efforts, defensively you have to be solid and have a deep defensive bench."
Jones: "The fact that we aren't where we want to be from a winning perspective means that we have to look at everything. But a lot of the changes that we'll make have to be in the interest of the team and we evaluate all those things. Look, Kevin had a tremendous season. Devin, Brad, those guys did great things individually. Right now, we're just trying to figure out how to collectively move this team forward."
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Suns executives discuss Kevin Durant trade mistake, finding identity
Continue reading...
The team's owner Mat Ishbia, CEO Josh Bartelstein and general manager James Jones addressed what went wrong, Durant's future with the Suns, adjustments this offseason and more. This came after the Suns fired coach Mike Budenholzer on Monday in the wake of the Suns' 11th-place Western Conference finish, a 36-46 record and missing the postseason for the first time since 2019-20.
Here are some key takeaways:
Ishbia holds himself accountable
“First off, embarrassing season. Disappointed. Awful. I watch every game like all of you guys do. No one’s proud of it. No one’s happy with it, from me to the front office to the coaches to the players to the marketing executives to the security guards. Everyone’s disappointed, embarrassed and it was a failure,'' Ishbia said.
"We struggled. We didn’t do a enough good job and we gotta do stuff differently and change to be better. So there’s no running from that. Obviously, I’m very disappointed. … It wasn’t fun to watch our team lose and not compete at the level that we all expected. I’m here for it and I’m here to be accountable, just like our players, coaches, front office."
Ishbia on Durant trade
"As the owner, my job is to make those changes and do things differently because what we just tried and did the last 2½ years has not been as successful as we hoped. A lot of people would've seen the things we did and said, just like a lot of people picked us to be the third-best chance to win the NBA championship this year. So a lot of people thought it worked. We thought it would work. It didn’t work. There’s a lot of things people thought that a couple years ago when we made the Kevin Durant trade … Smart people can think it makes sense and then looking back, it's like, it didn’t and it didn't work."
Changing team identity
Ishbia: "The biggest change that I will talk about is on me, which is I have to do a better job of setting the identity of the Phoenix Suns. ... An identity that's similar to Phoenix with some little bit of grit, some determination, some work ethic, some grind, some joy, and so we just haven't had that. We did it a different way and it didn't work. So I will do a better job as the owner to set the tone on the vision. Just like other organizations, you can talk about the Steelers, you kind of know what they mean when you talk about the Pittsburgh Steelers, or even my old team Michigan State basketball. You kind of know what you're gonna get when you talk about Michigan State basketball. What is Phoenix Suns basketball? It will be undeniable. You will know the difference next year."
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Ishbia on team payroll
"Don't want to have the highest paid team that doesn't make the playoffs. That's embarrassing and disappointing, right? So spending is not something that the front office is like, 'Oh, Mat said we can't do this because of money.' We want to win. I'm a fan. Money's not going to be an obstacle but at the same time I'm not foolish. I don't expect to stay the highest payroll in the NBA next year and I don't expect us to not make the playoffs next year. I'm aware of all the aprons, the first apron, the second apron and all the rules tied to all those things and we're definitely going to make adjustments, but it's not to spend less money.''
Timeline for hiring new coach
Ishbia: "We gotta set it first up front with the leadership, and it starts with me and we will do that. And then we will get the right front office structure with scouts and players and then they're gonna know what to look for in the draft and we're gonna find the right coach. It will be a process. So you're not gonna see a coach hired in the next week or two."
GM on roster going forward
General manager James Jones: "The major thing is just defensively. Having more of a focus on building a strong defensive system to support those guys. All three of them, Kevin, Devin and Brad carry a heavy offensive load. When you get three offensive players, it requires more movement. If we were asking them to give more efforts, defensively you have to be solid and have a deep defensive bench."
On Kevin Durant's future
Jones: "The fact that we aren't where we want to be from a winning perspective means that we have to look at everything. But a lot of the changes that we'll make have to be in the interest of the team and we evaluate all those things. Look, Kevin had a tremendous season. Devin, Brad, those guys did great things individually. Right now, we're just trying to figure out how to collectively move this team forward."
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Suns executives discuss Kevin Durant trade mistake, finding identity
Continue reading...
