How Many More Head Coaches Does McDonough get to hire?

[Puff]

I believe that it is guaranteed that Triano will get whacked either after the break or for sure after this season is over.

Do any of you really believe that McDonough is qualified to decide who our next head coach should be?

If so why?

Do you really trust that he is going to make good player personnel decisions this off season as well?

He and Sarver are the constants in this mess. Sarver is not going anywhere.

[darealjuice]

If by "whack" you mean not making an interim head coach our permanent head coach, then sure that's possible/probable.

You're literally insane if you think we're going to fire 2 head coaches before the end of a single season. I'm glad you're nowhere near our organization if that's your thought process. No coach is going to instill any new system that magically makes this team of kids competitive when there's like a month and a half left in the season. In fact, if you expect that to happen immediately with any head coach I've got some bad news for you.

[WeekapaugGroove]

No I do not believe McD should be allowed to hire another coach or make any more decisions for this franchise. He's had 5 years and he's failed in nearly every aspect of the job. To me it's a no brainer to fire him the day the season ends.

The real kiss of death for McD is outside of the obvious issues with roster construction and player acquisition through all avenues a GM is also responsible for hiring coaches and being the figurehead for both player and public perception of the team. He's failed so spectacularly in those other areas it's like he couldn't be worse if he tried.

The timing is right for a complete top down change this offseason. Get a new GM who can bring in his coach and can come in here with no ties to this current roster that can take an honest look at what they have and who they need to build with.

[ImNotMcDiSwear]

Not me is not leaving. Period.

One item to note is in a recent interview with (azcentral?), Sarver noted that he wished he had followed McD's plan to proceed with a youth movement sooner. This signals to me that McD might not have been down with the Chandler/Aldridge (feigned?) plan. I do not fully understand what happened on the B Knight day - it could have been that MIA was induced to give up two picks on the basis that we were shipping another out the door for Knight (the idea being that these picks aren't that valuable, as indicated by your counterparty). I do not know. But it's possible McD wasn't down with that approach, either, and just wanted to hoard all the picks.

I love our young prospects, and I love the idea of adding another this summer. This approach is the right one. I've been on board with McD every step of the way, and I see no reason why we should throw the captain of the ship overboard.

[suns91fan]

No I do not believe McD should be allowed to hire another coach or make any more decisions for this franchise. He's had 5 years and he's failed in nearly every aspect of the job. To me it's a no brainer to fire him the day the season ends.

At this point, one has to wonder if any reputable head coach would want to work with McD at all. Coaches here are changed on regular basis, while McD's job seems untouchable. Their line of thinking would probably be: "If things go south (which seems to happen rather often out there in Phoenix), i'll end up the scapegoat and not the GM. So why risk ruining my reputation?".

[darealjuice]

I think it's pretty funny how readily you guys are willing to put the hiring of a new GM back into the hands of Robert Sarver - the guy that sold first round draft picks like Deng and Rondo at the height of being competitive, cheaped MDA into being HC and GM, pushed Steve Kerr and Dan Majerle away, and brought us the Lon Babby era.

Your signature is also pretty funny Puff. I wonder if you'd be making this thread about MDA during the 03-04 season when we went 21-40 after he took over for Frank Jackson?

[WeekapaugGroove]

No I do not believe McD should be allowed to hire another coach or make any more decisions for this franchise. He's had 5 years and he's failed in nearly every aspect of the job. To me it's a no brainer to fire him the day the season ends.

At this point, one has to wonder if any reputable head coach would want to work with McD at all. Coaches here are changed on regular basis, while McD's job seems untouchable. Their line of thinking would probably be: "If things go south (which seems to happen rather often out there in Phoenix), i'll end up the scapegoat and not the GM. So why risk ruining my reputation?".

This is a valid concern. What I think could drive coaching candidates away is they will probably rightfully think McD is on the hot seat and another bad year gets him fired. So essentially one year into the job that coach might get a new boss who didn't hire him. That's not ideal.

[Puff]

If by "whack" you mean not making an interim head coach our permanent head coach, then sure that's possible/probable.

You're literally insane if you think we're going to fire 2 head coaches before the end of a single season. I'm glad you're nowhere near our organization if that's your thought process. No coach is going to instill any new system that magically makes this team of kids competitive when there's like a month and a half left in the season. In fact, if you expect that to happen immediately with any head coach I've got some bad news for you.

Whack = Fire

You are the insane person. This could happen with McDonough at the controls. He has a history of bad decisions.

McDonough has continually tried to cover his own ass after making ill founded decisions while shooting from the hip. Whenever there is an issue he does not try to work through it, he just gets rid of the player/coach. There are many of his former players contributing on rosters around the league.

I would not consider firing Triano at all. I would also offer him the chance to interview for the head coaching job next year, after I hired another GM. I really like him as coach, he deserves better. That does not mean that I am in love with him. If a better coach is available I would hire the better coach.

If you trust McDonough to make that decision, that is your choice not mine.

[WeekapaugGroove]

I think it's pretty funny how readily you guys are willing to put the hiring of a new GM back into the hands of Robert Sarver - the guy that sold first round draft picks like Deng and Rondo at the height of being competitive, cheaped MDA into being HC and GM, pushed Steve Kerr and Dan Majerle away, and brought us the Lon Babby era.

Your signature is also pretty funny Puff. I wonder if you'd be making this thread about MDA during the 03-04 season when we went 21-40 after he took over for Frank Jackson?

Oh yeah I **** hate Sarver and my dream scenario is him selling the team tomorrow but frankly I don't see it happening. So the next best thing is to hope he fall back assward into a good GM hire.

I will say for as negative as I am on McD I thought he was a good hire from a profile standpoint. A young guy from a good system in Boston. I was happy with the hire but I just take the honest view that it hasn't worked out.

[Puff]

I think it's pretty funny how readily you guys are willing to put the hiring of a new GM back into the hands of Robert Sarver - the guy that sold first round draft picks like Deng and Rondo at the height of being competitive, cheaped MDA into being HC and GM, pushed Steve Kerr and Dan Majerle away, and brought us the Lon Babby era.

Your signature is also pretty funny Puff. I wonder if you'd be making this thread about MDA during the 03-04 season when we went 21-40 after he took over for Frank Jackson?

I certainly do not trust Robert Sarver at all and I guess it could get worse.

Yes:

We should have hired Mike D'Antoni along with Daryl Morey.

Unfortunately Robert Sarver probably thinks he knows more than those two guys.

It is damn frustrating being a Suns fan these days.

[Puff]

No I do not believe McD should be allowed to hire another coach or make any more decisions for this franchise. He's had 5 years and he's failed in nearly every aspect of the job. To me it's a no brainer to fire him the day the season ends.

At this point, one has to wonder if any reputable head coach would want to work with McD at all. Coaches here are changed on regular basis, while McD's job seems untouchable. Their line of thinking would probably be: "If things go south (which seems to happen rather often out there in Phoenix), i'll end up the scapegoat and not the GM. So why risk ruining my reputation?".

Well said. That is what I was trying to say.

[RunDogGun]

No I do not believe McD should be allowed to hire another coach or make any more decisions for this franchise. He's had 5 years and he's failed in nearly every aspect of the job. To me it's a no brainer to fire him the day the season ends.

At this point, one has to wonder if any reputable head coach would want to work with McD at all. Coaches here are changed on regular basis, while McD's job seems untouchable. Their line of thinking would probably be: "If things go south (which seems to happen rather often out there in Phoenix), i'll end up the scapegoat and not the GM. So why risk ruining my reputation?".

Hornacek got a job pretty quickly, and was really the only coach hiring that wasn’t an assistant coach for us. So where is the data or word around the league that leaves one to come to that conclusion? I don’t see McD firing Triano. There is no need for that now.

[darealjuice]

Whack = Fire

You are the insane person. This could happen with McDonough at the controls. He has a history of bad decisions.

McDonough has continually tried to cover his own ass after making ill founded decisions while shooting from the hip. Whenever there is an issue he does not try to work through it, he just gets rid of the player/coach. There are many of his former players contributing on rosters around the league.

I would not consider firing Triano at all. I would also offer him the chance to interview for the head coaching job next year, after I hired another GM. I really like him as coach, he deserves better. That does not mean that I am in love with him. If a better coach is available I would hire the better coach.

If you trust McDonough to make that decision, that is your choice not mine.

What coach has McDonough made a mistake in firing? Earl Watson led us to the worst 3 game stretch in franchise history and Hornacek clearly lost the locker room, they both had to go. Brad Stevens was even our first choice if I remember correctly, but we struck out and settled on Horny. Watson should have never had the job, but that's McDonough's fault for listening to his players and not doing his due diligence.

I'm curious what former players you're talking about too. Is it IT, who brought drama to every franchise he's been on outside of the one that handed him the keys? The Morris brothers, who had their goons beat up a family friend in a parking lot for texting their mom? Or Dragic, who's getting to lead his own team on a treadmill right now and landed us 2 first round picks even though he publicly said he was leaving? Outside of Dragic, I can't really say I miss anyone from the post-Nash to pre-Tank era.

I'm not saying McDonough hasn't made plenty of mistakes or that he should feel safe with his job, but he's also put us in a substantially better situation than we were in when he took over. Not a lot of teams can say they have a 21 year old star player, a contributing 20 ppg player that's under 25 and on a great contract, 3 promising top 10 prospects, an upcoming likely top 5 pick, multiple first rounder picks in upcoming drafts, and a fairly clean cap going forward outside of Knight. All it takes is 1 star player wanting a move or 1 team signaling a rebuild by next trade deadline for us to come in with large expiring contracts and multiple first round picks and get out of the dumps while still having tons of room to grow.

With all his talk about taking the next step this offseason, I think it's him knowing this will be his last chance to hire a coach, end the tanking, and be more competitive next year. If we have another **** season like this after he publicly states we're going to take the next step, then I guarantee he's gone. I'm not excited about the prospect of giving Sarver the opportunity to bring in a new GM though, all it takes is one impatient offseason to change from very promising young team to getting stuck at the bottom of the playoffs like Portland.

[sunsbum]

McD's 4 year rebuild is coming into fruition and you think he's going to get fired? 4 years of rebuilding. Get your heads out of your butts dudes. This team is promising AF. Outside of getting some power FAs I can't name a team in recent history that's rebuilt as fast as we have. We're literally 1 player away from having a 10 year core. Whew lad. Ain't Goin nowhere and the suns HCing job will be sought after imo. We're only going to improve from here on out.not much of a risk.

[WeekapaugGroove]

Whack = Fire

You are the insane person. This could happen with McDonough at the controls. He has a history of bad decisions.

McDonough has continually tried to cover his own ass after making ill founded decisions while shooting from the hip. Whenever there is an issue he does not try to work through it, he just gets rid of the player/coach. There are many of his former players contributing on rosters around the league.

I would not consider firing Triano at all. I would also offer him the chance to interview for the head coaching job next year, after I hired another GM. I really like him as coach, he deserves better. That does not mean that I am in love with him. If a better coach is available I would hire the better coach.

If you trust McDonough to make that decision, that is your choice not mine.

What coach has McDonough made a mistake in firing? Earl Watson led us to the worst 3 game stretch in franchise history and Hornacek clearly lost the locker room, they both had to go. Brad Stevens was even our first choice if I remember correctly, but we struck out and settled on Horny. Watson should have never had the job, but that's McDonough's fault for listening to his players and not doing his due diligence.

I'm curious what former players you're talking about too. Is it IT, who brought drama to every franchise he's been on outside of the one that handed him the keys? The Morris brothers, who had their goons beat up a family friend in a parking lot for texting their mom? Or Dragic, who's getting to lead his own team on a treadmill right now and landed us 2 first round picks even though he publicly said he was leaving? Outside of Dragic, I can't really say I miss anyone from the post-Nash to pre-Tank era.

I'm not saying McDonough hasn't made plenty of mistakes or that he should feel safe with his job, but he's also put us in a substantially better situation than we were in when he took over. Not a lot of teams can say they have a 21 year old star player, a contributing 20 ppg player that's under 25 and on a great contract, 3 promising top 10 prospects, an upcoming likely top 5 pick, multiple first rounder picks in upcoming drafts, and a fairly clean cap going forward outside of Knight. All it takes is 1 star player wanting a move or 1 team signaling a rebuild by next trade deadline for us to come in with large expiring contracts and multiple first round picks and get out of the dumps while still having tons of room to grow.

With all his talk about taking the next step this offseason, I think it's him knowing this will be his last chance to hire a coach, end the tanking, and be more competitive next year. If we have another **** season like this after he publicly states we're going to take the next step, then I guarantee he's gone. I'm not excited about the prospect of giving Sarver the opportunity to bring in a new GM though, all it takes is one impatient offseason to change from very promising young team to getting stuck at the bottom of the playoffs like Portland.

His problem hasn't been firing coaches its that he's **** hired the wrong ones.

[darealjuice]

His problem hasn't been firing coaches its that he's **** hired the wrong ones.

He's hired 2 coaches. One of which was the runner up for COY his first year and has since found a job in one of the more desirable markets, and the other was a terrible hire at the request of his players. If McDonough had it his way we'd have Brad Stevens from day one, but unfortunately the Suns didn't/don't have the buying power for coaches that historic franchises like the Celtics do.

[bwgood77]

One more. Our players really need development, and to develop quickly because time is ticking. They seem to take two steps forward sometimes and then two steps, or 1 step back.

But despite last night's game, Jackson and Bender have gotten better. Warren has taken on a bigger load, but he needs to work on expanding his game in the off season and if he can't or doesn't, then he's a fine 6th man.

I have mixed feelings on McD but I'd want to make sure there is a good choice to replace him. Sarver is not an easy guy to work with. This is well documented and evident.

If he did get replaced it it would have to be a guy who's been around a solid GM and watched him work (like McD was).

The ironic thing is, one of the previous best candidates.....

Jeff Weltman, Raptors
Weltman nearly got the Phoenix job that went to Ryan McDonough and now gets mentioned with every opening. He's been in NBA front offices for two decades, including two long stints as an assistant GM (Denver and Milwaukee). He's now Masai Ujiri's No. 2 in Toronto, which is a great place to put the finishing touches on a resumé. Weltman is experienced, well-rounded and connected.

https://www.sbnation.com/2014/10/1/6877405/nba-general-manager-candidates-troy-weaver-okc-thunder

And of course, he ends up with the Magic...

Weltman event admitted that to some degree in his press conference following Thursday’s game. Part of the reason the Orlando Magic ultimately traded Elfrid Payton to the Phoenix Suns was their hesitance to commit long-term money to maintain the core.

That was the only move the Magic were able to make. Weltman continues to repeat his line the team will not make the changes fast, they will do it right. But undoubtedly the change is coming.

The Magic are truly prepared to move forward with Aaron Gordon as a part of the team’s future. But Payton no longer fit in the team’s plans. Those questions will arise again for Nikola Vucevic, Terrence Ross and Evan Fournier in the near future too.

The return for Payton was probably not what most hoped. As Weltman said in his press conference — which you can hear in its entirety on Friday’s episode of Locked On Magic (below) — the team really needed to consider creating financial flexibility.

With the odds increasing the Magic were not going to bring Payton back, moving him became the only option. So Orlando went out and got something for their young point guard.

https://orlandomagicdaily.com/2018/02/10/jeff-weltman-hopes-create-flexibility-orlando-magic-move/

The best prospect though, might be....

Troy Weaver, Thunder
Weaver has the distinction, perhaps, of being the best GM prospect who hasn't gotten his chance to run a team as of yet. He's interviewed for top jobs, and the Thunder have even gone so far as to decline permission for at least one team to interview him. Weaver is the guy who recruited Carmelo Anthony to Syracuse and purportedly led the internal charge to draft Russell Westbrook. Those are two big aces to have in your pocket.

Weaver has been in NBA front offices for more than a decade, and working for such a successful franchise that has already developed an NBA GM (Orlando's Rob Hennigan) means that his shot is surely right around the corner. Weaver's more of a scouting and relationships type, as his boss Sam Presti and others in the front office (first Hennigan and now the No. 3 guy on this list) focus on cap management. So a team hiring Weaver will want to ensure he can handle that all-important end or hire someone able to do so.

[kennydorglas]

McD was all over Brad Stevens.

Just hire Jay Wright, McD.

[Revived]

McD's 4 year rebuild is coming into fruition and you think he's going to get fired? 4 years of rebuilding. Get your heads out of your butts dudes. This team is promising AF. Outside of getting some power FAs I can't name a team in recent history that's rebuilt as fast as we have. We're literally 1 player away from having a 10 year core. Whew lad. Ain't Goin nowhere and the suns HCing job will be sought after imo. We're only going to improve from here on out.not much of a risk.

This is wishful thinking. The bolded is hilarious. If that was posted in the GB with neutral basketball fans, you would get killed for it and many would get a good laugh out of it at your expense as well.

The Suns are ripped daily in the national media and by fans everywhere. They talked about the Suns today on TNT and Reggie Miller laughed at the current state of the Suns franchise. Charles Barkley said he didn’t want to upset anyone when asked for his true feelings on the Suns. Rachel Nichols kills the Suns two-three times a month on her show.

If you went to the GB and asked which five teams have the most promising future, I think you’ll be hard pressed to find people who say Suns.

The Suns aren’t 1 player away from anything unless that player is LeBron James or Kevin Durant or someone on that tier. We have Booker as a cornerstone, great. We have Warren who has a no perimeter 3pt range in a league which is now all about spacing. Not to mention he’s also a below average rebounder and a god awful defender so the only thing Warren is actually good at is scoring from mid range and closer. Everything said about Warren applies to Jackson but at least he’s a rookie and is at least attempting 3s and plays with more heart and smarter on defense. Bender is just a conundrum that looks like he’s getting it one game and then awful the next. It’s gonna take him at least another years before he can play consistently well if he does ever get it. Chriss looks like he has no hope and could be the next Noah Vonleh type player that was a top 10 pick and gets bounced around the league. *Withholding any kind of opinion on Payton since he’s played all of two games here.

The rest of the roster is complete trash. He gave away the best trade asset this team has had in years in the Lakers pick for Brandon Knight.

Bottom line is that Ryan McDonough has helped make the Suns one of the three most dysfunctional front offices in the NBA with Sacramento and Orlando.

[Revived]

Whack = Fire

You are the insane person. This could happen with McDonough at the controls. He has a history of bad decisions.

McDonough has continually tried to cover his own ass after making ill founded decisions while shooting from the hip. Whenever there is an issue he does not try to work through it, he just gets rid of the player/coach. There are many of his former players contributing on rosters around the league.

I would not consider firing Triano at all. I would also offer him the chance to interview for the head coaching job next year, after I hired another GM. I really like him as coach, he deserves better. That does not mean that I am in love with him. If a better coach is available I would hire the better coach.

If you trust McDonough to make that decision, that is your choice not mine.

What coach has McDonough made a mistake in firing? Earl Watson led us to the worst 3 game stretch in franchise history and Hornacek clearly lost the locker room, they both had to go. Brad Stevens was even our first choice if I remember correctly, but we struck out and settled on Horny. Watson should have never had the job, but that's McDonough's fault for listening to his players and not doing his due diligence.

I'm curious what former players you're talking about too. Is it IT, who brought drama to every franchise he's been on outside of the one that handed him the keys? The Morris brothers, who had their goons beat up a family friend in a parking lot for texting their mom? Or Dragic, who's getting to lead his own team on a treadmill right now and landed us 2 first round picks even though he publicly said he was leaving? Outside of Dragic, I can't really say I miss anyone from the post-Nash to pre-Tank era.

I'm not saying McDonough hasn't made plenty of mistakes or that he should feel safe with his job, but he's also put us in a substantially better situation than we were in when he took over. Not a lot of teams can say they have a 21 year old star player, a contributing 20 ppg player that's under 25 and on a great contract, 3 promising top 10 prospects, an upcoming likely top 5 pick, multiple first rounder picks in upcoming drafts, and a fairly clean cap going forward outside of Knight. All it takes is 1 star player wanting a move or 1 team signaling a rebuild by next trade deadline for us to come in with large expiring contracts and multiple first round picks and get out of the dumps while still having tons of room to grow.

With all his talk about taking the next step this offseason, I think it's him knowing this will be his last chance to hire a coach, end the tanking, and be more competitive next year. If we have another **** season like this after he publicly states we're going to take the next step, then I guarantee he's gone. I'm not excited about the prospect of giving Sarver the opportunity to bring in a new GM though, all it takes is one impatient offseason to change from very promising young team to getting stuck at the bottom of the playoffs like Portland.

His problem hasn't been firing coaches its that he's **** hired the wrong ones.