2024-25 Season Discussion and Speculation Part V

[thamadkant]

The Frank vs Ghost rants are fun... I skim read through both, TLDR for most of it. But it's the thought that fans are still passionate when the Team Owner himself is the one lighting the garbage bin of a team on fire.

Every move is to cut corners and hope for best case.

The suns are unlikely to make smart decisions this off season.

The fact is, Ishiba is about to pay another coach over 50M to fire him joining the previous one who is still getting millions from the Suns... but hey, it's his money.

But proof is in the pudding. The Suns FO is horrible.

[thamadkant]

So for those who are smart enough to not put up with garbage from a franchise, who are you guys supporting while Suns go through hell for the next several years?

Personally, I want Wemby to set records but ultimately hope Nuggets or Thunder or Rockets get better quick to ensure Lakers don't win another ring in that timeframe. Basically, any team that can prevent Lakers winning I will be rooting for.

[BobbieL]

So for those who are smart enough to not put up with garbage from a franchise, who are you guys supporting while Suns go through hell for the next several years?

Personally, I want Wemby to set records but ultimately hope Nuggets or Thunder or Rockets get better quick to ensure Lakers don't win another ring in that timeframe. Basically, any team that can prevent Lakers winning I will be rooting for.

Thunder or Rockets

But kind of want the Rockets to lose so they feel compelled to make a major trade

[Ghost of Kleine]

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[Ghost of Kleine]

Read on Twitter

[BobbieL]

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So the Suns are going to keep Booker because "he truly loves it here"

Maybe they get a decent player or two for Durant

They stretch Beal to get another "Royce O'neale type"
and fill in the rest with players like Plumlee, Bates-Diop, Monte Morris, Tyus Jones, Yuta Watanabe, Drew Eubanks

I am not believing the hype Gambo will try to spew

[Ghost of Kleine]

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[BobbieL]

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Traded for Durant and overpaid

Traded Durant, Coumara and a Nurkic , Little (gone), somebody else right who is gone, Allen

Traded Nurkic AND 2026 unprotected FRP for two scrubs they are going to waive

What a terrible 24 months

[Ghost of Kleine]

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Who could become the next Phoenix Suns head coach?
Apr 14, 2025, 5:35 PM
BY DAVID VEENSTRA
ArizonaSports.com editor

The Phoenix Suns will be looking for their third head coach in as many seasons after firing Mike Budenholzer on Monday.

Although the oddsmakers list the recently fired Michael Malone and Taylor Jenkins as the most-likely candidates, Arizona Sports’ John Gambadoro reported those two names will likely not be under consideration.

Here are 10 potential candidates the Suns could instead hire as their next head coach:

Jared Dudley
Jared Dudley is one of the most likely candidates the Suns could hire. The 39-year-old has served as an assistant for the Dallas Mavericks since 2021 after a 14-season NBA career that included two stints in Phoenix (2008-13 and 2016-18). Of the 904 NBA games Dudley played in, 468 of those came in a Phoenix Suns uniform.Albeit as an assistant, Dudley also has experience coaching in the 2024 NBA Finals and subsequently served as Dallas’ Summer League head coach after the finals.

Willie Green
Willie Green, 43, is another emerging candidate the Suns could hire. NBA insider Marc Stein reported links between Green and the Suns have been surfacing, due to Green’s existing relationships with fellow Michigan native Mat Ishbia and Suns guard Devin Booker. After a 12-year NBA playing career, Green was hired by the Golden State Warriors as an assistant coach in 2016. He won championships with the Warriors in 2018 and 2019 before he was hired as an assistant coach by the Suns in 2019. Green then served as an assistant during the team’s run to the 2021 NBA Finals.

Two days after the Suns lost in the finals, the New Orleans Pelicans hired Green to become their head coach. Green holds a 148-180 (.451) head-coaching record over four seasons with the Pelicans, and has twice reached the playoffs, losing in the first round both times. The Pelicans fired basketball operations chief David Griffin on Monday, creating uncertainty for the future of the Pelicans and Green.


Sam Cassell
Sam Cassell, 55, has spent a decade and a half as an NBA assistant and has seen success. He most recently won an NBA championship with the Boston Celtics last season. Cassell has served as an assistant for the Washington Wizards (2009-14), Los Angeles Clippers (2014-20), Philadelphia 76ers (2020-23) and the Celtics (2023-present). Despite a 15-year playing career that featured three NBA titles, the NBA veteran played just 22 games for the Suns in 1996 before being traded alongside Michael Finley for Jason Kidd.

Dan Hurley
Dan Hurley was considered a leading candidate for the Los Angeles Lakers’ job last summer before the team went with JJ Reddick. Hurley, 52, inked a six-year, $32.1 million deal with Connecticut after winning the 2023 national title, so it would take a sizeable offer to take him out of Storrs. Hurley is 165-69 (.705) in seven seasons as the UConn head coach and has won two of the past three national championships. His older brother, Bobby, is the current head coach at Arizona State.

Steve Nash
Could a homecoming for Steve Nash be in the cards? The 51-year-old Nash has been out of a job since the Brooklyn Nets and Nash parted ways in 2022, just seven games into his third season at the helm. Nash went 94-67 (.584) in Brooklyn and made the playoffs twice, losing in the conference finals and the first round, respectively. A winner of back-to-back MVP awards in 2005-06, Nash was an eight-time All-Star during his playing career, with six of those selections coming during his time with Phoenix. Having spent a decade in a Suns uniform, Nash’s understanding of the organization makes him at least a possible candidate.

Chris Quinn
Chris Quinn has worked as an assistant under Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra since 2014. The 41-year-old is known for his embodiment of “Heat Culture” after also playing three seasons with the franchise. The coach that often gets compared to having a similar style to Spoelstra does not have any head-coaching experience but interviewed with the Indiana Pacers in 2020 and with the Washington Wizards in 2021.

David Fizdale
David Fizdale, 50, holds prior head-coaching experience with the Memphis Grizzlies (2016-17) and New York Knicks (2018-19). He later joined the Lakers’ staff under Frank Vogel for 2021-22. Once that staff was fired, Fizdale spent the 2022-23 season as an associate general manager for the Utah Jazz and returned to assistant coaching duties with Phoenix, working with Vogel in 2023-24 and Budenholzer in 2024-25. He also has a long-standing relationship with Suns' president of basketball operations and general manager James Jones from his time as an assistant coach of the Heat in 2008-16. Jones played for Miami from 2008-14. Fizdale and the Heat won championships in 2012 and 2013 under Spoelstra. Fizdale also interviewed for the Suns’ head coaching vacancy prior to the 2018-19 season before Igor Kokoskov was ultimately hired.

Jarrett Jack
Jarrett Jack, 41, is currently an assistant with the Detroit Pistons and also served as a Suns assistant under Monty Williams from 2021-23. Despite Detroit firing Williams after last season, the Pistons kept Jack, and he helped the Pistons to their first playoff appearance since 2019. Jack does not hold any head-coaching experience, but his prior time as an assistant in Phoenix could give him consideration.

Becky Hammon
Becky Hammon interviewed for the Portland Trail Blazers head coaching job in 2021 before Portland ultimately hired Chauncey Billups. Sean Highkin reported Monday Billups was going to be the Suns’ top target in their coaching search; however, Billups signed a multi-year extension with Portland on Sunday. Before the Suns hired Budenholzer, reports suggested Billups would have had support from the Suns’ players, according to Yahoo Sports’ Jake Fischer. But with Billups off the table and with the Phoenix Mercury’s hiring of Nate Tibbetts in 2023, owner Ishbia proved he is not afraid to go outside of the box. Hammon, 48, would be the first female head coach in NBA history, but she did serve eight seasons as an assistant under Gregg Popovich in San Antonio. After Popovich was ejected in the second quarter of a 2020 game, Hammon became the first female acting head coach in NBA history. She was later hired by the WNBA’s Las Vegas Aces to be their head coach and won championships in her first two seasons. Hammon holds an 87-29 (.750) record in three seasons with the Aces.

Vincent Collet
Another outside-of-the-box pick, Vincent Collet is the most unlikely candidate on the list. Collet, 68, one of the best international coaches in the sport, coached Victor Wembanyama with both Metropolitans 92 and the French national team. He served as the head coach of the French national team from 2009-2024 and helped France to two straight Olympic silver medals. In addition, he has won two bronze medals at the World Cup and a gold at EuroBasket 2013. After the Paris Games, he stepped down from his position as head coach of the French national team and became a “special advisor.”

[Ghost of Kleine]

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[Ghost of Kleine]

Read on Twitter

[Slim Charless]

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So the Suns are going to keep Booker because "he truly loves it here"

Maybe they get a decent player or two for Durant

They stretch Beal to get another "Royce O'neale type"
and fill in the rest with players like Plumlee, Bates-Diop, Monte Morris, Tyus Jones, Yuta Watanabe, Drew Eubanks

I am not believing the hype Gambo will try to spew

Gambo translation:

Don't blame the owner who made these dumb moves and ignore the fact that he killed the future of the team to the point we have to trade the franchise star to recover from it. Instead focus on how much that same dumb owner wants to win and will FOR SURE get it right this time. Keep paying for those tickets.

PS: Totally not getting fed this stuff by the front office in hopes that they'll occasionally throw me a bone in regards to up-coming news. Totally not doing that right now. Really. I'm serious.

[garrick]

Read on Twitter

So the Suns are going to keep Booker because "he truly loves it here"

Maybe they get a decent player or two for Durant

They stretch Beal to get another "Royce O'neale type"
and fill in the rest with players like Plumlee, Bates-Diop, Monte Morris, Tyus Jones, Yuta Watanabe, Drew Eubanks

I am not believing the hype Gambo will try to spew

Gambo translation:

Don't blame the owner who made these dumb moves and ignore the fact that he killed the future of the team to the point we have to trade the franchise star to recover from it. Instead focus on how much that same dumb owner wants to win and will FOR SURE get it right this time. Keep paying for those tickets.

PS: Totally not getting fed this stuff by the front office in hopes that they'll occasionally throw me a bone in regards to up-coming news. Totally not doing that right now. Really. I'm serious.

Exactly the rot starts at the head and until Ishbia changes or is removed somehow expect the same circus show for the foreseeable future.

Book needs to go too because he hasn't shown any humility for his failures and seems to not want to take a big part of the blame of losing the season with his uninspired play this season but Ishbia has already stated that Book isn't going anywhere.

We will continue to try to build around Book when it is very much clear that Book is not the kind of player you can build around and we would be better off trading him and getting draft capital back so we can build a competitive team again and not try to retool an aging and undersized roster.

[thamadkant]

Gambo is a not for the fans but a corporate mouth sold to money or access.

He should be throwing the Suns ownership and FO under the bus with criticism...

Instead he is parroting Ishiba's talking points to share holders.


Best thing to do is switch off. Be a casual... of another team and don't give this team a dime until they show they deserve it.

[Revived]

PS: Totally not getting fed this stuff by the front office in hopes that they'll occasionally throw me a bone in regards to up-coming news. Totally not doing that right now. Really. I'm serious.

Exactly. Gambo is on the Ishbia payroll. Ishbia keeps up with media and twitter about what they say about him and all. He’s trying to change his image.

Poor Sabestar is doing it for free here! Pay the man Ishbia! He’s working harder at it than Gambo!

[Saberestar]

PS: Totally not getting fed this stuff by the front office in hopes that they'll occasionally throw me a bone in regards to up-coming news. Totally not doing that right now. Really. I'm serious.

Exactly. Gambo is on the Ishbia payroll. Ishbia keeps up with media and twitter about what they say about him and all. He’s trying to change his image.

Poor Sabestar is doing it for free here! Pay the man Ishbia! He’s working harder at it than Gambo!

Don't worry about me. I already receive my checks from the organization every 1st of every month in my account religiously.

[SunsRback4Good]

PS: Totally not getting fed this stuff by the front office in hopes that they'll occasionally throw me a bone in regards to up-coming news. Totally not doing that right now. Really. I'm serious.

Exactly. Gambo is on the Ishbia payroll. Ishbia keeps up with media and twitter about what they say about him and all. He’s trying to change his image.

Poor Sabestar is doing it for free here! Pay the man Ishbia! He’s working harder at it than Gambo!

Don't worry about me. I already receive my checks from the organization every 1st of every month in my account religiously.

[bullsaficianado]

The coach is not the problem. Jones needs to be fired and replaced. It's a bad look to have fired 3 coaches in three straight years. Suns make the Lakers look normal.

[Ryu]

So for those who are smart enough to not put up with garbage from a franchise, who are you guys supporting while Suns go through hell for the next several years?

Personally, I want Wemby to set records but ultimately hope Nuggets or Thunder or Rockets get better quick to ensure Lakers don't win another ring in that timeframe. Basically, any team that can prevent Lakers winning I will be rooting for.

No one. I couldnt care less for Rockets, Thunder etc and only team I wouldnt be against are Denver Nuggets, only because Jokić who is my fellow countryman and generally an all time great.

I forgot about the East, Knicks are my second team so there you go.

[sunsbum]

2 championship coaches:lol: