The Phoenix Suns terminated head coach Frank Vogel just after one season. Fans saw it coming after Shams Charania reported that Kevin Durant was displeased, being “relegated to a corner”. Allegedly, Vogel preferred to center his offense around Bradley Beal and Devin Booker. Since the 50-year-old failed to maximize KD and build a cohesive two-way unit, the franchise decided to look in a different direction.
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Former NBA player Eddie Johnson believes that their head coaching exploration should be a breeze. On ‘Sirius XM NBA Radio’, he expressed that the Suns will have a lot of options at their disposal as “coaches want this job because they think they would change it, that they can fix it.” The former Suns guard added,
“So it’s going to be a line of coaches that want this job. Nobody is running from this. To have three dudes like that they know can get numbers, but now they gotta figure out a way to how to make it easy to go get that numbers every night, Oh yes, they are lining up for this.”
"Nobody's running from this"
With Frank Vogel out as Suns Head Coach, @Jumpshot8 thinks this job is a hot commodity. pic.twitter.com/r6KTwkf5Lb
— SiriusXM NBA Radio (@SiriusXMNBA) May 9, 2024
The Suns’ color commentator pointed out that there are coaches who have the “antidote” to the Suns’ Big Three woes. Therefore, the squad’s head-coaching hunt can potentially reach someone who will give the assurance of bringing their superstars in sync. As of now, Mike Budenholzer has appeared as the primary candidate.
Suns find Mike Budenholzer’s championship experience enticing
Budenholzer was one of Gregg Popovich’s assistant coaches from 1996 to 2013 and helped the Spurs win four championships. In 2013, the Atlanta Hawks gave him the head coaching position and he led them to first seed just in his second season. He was also named ‘Coach of the Year’ in 2015, for his remarkable turnaround.
However, he was fired in 2018 as the Hawks couldn’t get the desired results in the subsequent seasons. Then, the Bucks hired him as the HC, and the decision paid off as he led Giannis Antetokounmpo and Co. to a championship in 2021.
He enabled the Bucks to be a top-three seed for multiple seasons before he was let go in 2023, following a first-round exit. Seeing his prolific record, the Suns could be moving toward him for the next season, as per Shams Charania.
The Phoenix Suns plan to hire Bucks champion Mike Budenholzer as their head coach on deal expected to approach eight figures per year, league sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium. The Holbrook, Ariz., native will be tasked with optimizing Devin Booker, Kevin Durant, Bradley Beal. pic.twitter.com/eWFMedRNA2
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) May 10, 2024
Apart from Budenholzer, the Suns are looking at Terry Stotts, Scott Brooks, Ty Lue, David Aldeman, and JJ Redick. Among these choices, Lue is the only one with championship experience and has been hailed for the way he handled LeBron James.
Moreover, apart from HC, the team has other issues to resolve, the most glaring being the lack of a floor general. They also need somebody to replace Jusuf Nurkic, preferably on the defensive end. They must address these concerns as soon as they find a new HC.
While Lue can emerge as an enticing option for the superstar-heavy roster if the Clippers let go of his services after a first-round exit, Budenholzer’s name is most heard. Meanwhile, Redick looks like an unlikely candidate since the 37-year-old may be more suited for a young team like the Charlotte Hornets rather than a squad full of veteran superstars.
