2022-23 Season Discussion and Speculation 4 - Trade season continues - No player trade restrictions

[Ghost of Kleine]

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Dallas fans ...................ENJOY!!!

[Waylay13]

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Dallas fans ...................ENJOY!!!

This is why I say "Just say no to idiots"

[TeamTragic]

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Dallas fans ...................ENJOY!!!

The Kyrie saga has already restarted before he even plays a single game for the Mavericks.

[sunsfan1o1]

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Dallas fans ...................ENJOY!!!

Funny thing is that when it happened Mark Cuban came out and said he was offended because he's jewish.
I don't think Kyrie and Luka fit regardless.
But I also don't think any superstar fits with Luka. It's why he'll never win a championship playing the way he does.

[lilfishi22]

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Dallas fans ...................ENJOY!!!

The Kyrie saga has already restarted before he even plays a single game for the Mavericks.

And you wanted to give up 3FRP's for this idiot?

[Saberestar]

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[Sunlight]

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Dallas fans ...................ENJOY!!!

What a tragic news.

[Ghost of Kleine]

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Dallas fans ...................ENJOY!!!

The Kyrie saga has already restarted before he even plays a single game for the Mavericks.

And you wanted to give up 3FRP's for this idiot?

I never did...lol! I wanted (and still prefer) Russell because the timberwolves seemed out on him, and needed or were seeking a change because of previously stated reasons. That was my premised Paul/Crowder for Russell/ Prince/ Minott/ draft assets package.

[Ghost of Kleine]

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[lilfishi22]

The Kyrie saga has already restarted before he even plays a single game for the Mavericks.

And you wanted to give up 3FRP's for this idiot?

I never did...lol! I wanted (and still prefer) Russell because the timberwolves seemed out on him, and needed or were seeking a change because of previously stated reasons. That was my premised Paul/Crowder for Russell/ Prince/ Minott/ draft assets package.

Was talking about TeamTragic who blasted JJ for not doing what he needed to do to get Kyrie to the Suns

[NinjaBro]

Good you are around, wanted to ask a Raps fan, but didnt bother enough to go to your board.
Whats the plan there? I understand trying to get rid of FVV and GTJ. Both short and trigger happy, not able to properly run offense while being overpaid and wanting more soon, and the age thing. If you go ahead with that and its a rebuild I understand trying to get Siakam out for the most. But then why the rumours about OG? Him and Barnes are the same age, and the wing core of a contender... Or if you trade OG, then why the rumours about Siakam? Tear it all down and build around Barnes and whatever you get? That seems a little overboard...

OG wants out. He denies it but it's 100% leaked by his agents Klutch and most likely true. What it comes down to is he wants a bigger role. He won't get that here with Siakam and FVV and now with Barnes, the writing is on the wall. Earlier in the season when Siakam was out with a shoulder surgery Nurse had OG handle the ball more and he was averaging 20+ pts per game. He clearly wants that role again as he feels he's more than the player he's shown in Toronto. I don't blame him in a way. He has the toughest assignment every night guarding the opposing teams best offensive player. He shuts down Luka, Brunson, Harden, only to see FVV and Trent take all the shots. Must be infuriating as a player. Masai doesn't want to trade him but if the reports are true then a trade has to be explored before we lose him for nothing which would be a disaster.

Teams are asking for Siakam. By all accounts he's happy in toronto. He's gotten better and better every single season and currently having his best year averaging 25/8/6. Adds to his game every year and is always a menace on defense, very coachable. Masai won't trade him unless he gets an offer that will blow his titties away.

That's good insight. In terms of wanting a bigger role, do you think he's thinking #2 option? "#1" option (like Jerami Grant wanted) or like sort of 2-3 depending on the line up?

OG can never be a #1, on a contending team anyways. He doesn't have the handles and the first step. Isn't fluid enough and is kind of awkward when he dribbles possibly due to his large frame. Again this is all speculation that he wants a bigger role because he never specifically said it in public. Just from his body of work and the leaks it seems entirely plausible and most likely true. For example, Nick Nurse wrote in his coaching book that he published that OG was complaining about FVV because FVV would routinely take the ball off him and kept demanding the ball. He kept running to Nurse that FVV was doing it every game even after Nurse spoke to FVV lol. Why Nurse aired that out is beyond me lol.

[BobbieL]

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Miami: Dario + Payne

Utah: Duncan Robinson + FRP from Miami

Suns: Vandy, Beas, Olynyk, Clarkson - take your pick

[lilfishi22]

OG wants out. He denies it but it's 100% leaked by his agents Klutch and most likely true. What it comes down to is he wants a bigger role. He won't get that here with Siakam and FVV and now with Barnes, the writing is on the wall. Earlier in the season when Siakam was out with a shoulder surgery Nurse had OG handle the ball more and he was averaging 20+ pts per game. He clearly wants that role again as he feels he's more than the player he's shown in Toronto. I don't blame him in a way. He has the toughest assignment every night guarding the opposing teams best offensive player. He shuts down Luka, Brunson, Harden, only to see FVV and Trent take all the shots. Must be infuriating as a player. Masai doesn't want to trade him but if the reports are true then a trade has to be explored before we lose him for nothing which would be a disaster.

Teams are asking for Siakam. By all accounts he's happy in toronto. He's gotten better and better every single season and currently having his best year averaging 25/8/6. Adds to his game every year and is always a menace on defense, very coachable. Masai won't trade him unless he gets an offer that will blow his titties away.

That's good insight. In terms of wanting a bigger role, do you think he's thinking #2 option? "#1" option (like Jerami Grant wanted) or like sort of 2-3 depending on the line up?

OG can never be a #1, on a contending team anyways. He doesn't have the handles and the first step. Isn't fluid enough and is kind of awkward when he dribbles possibly due to his large frame. Again this is all speculation that he wants a bigger role because he never specifically said it in public. Just from his body of work and the leaks it seems entirely plausible and most likely true. For example, Nick Nurse wrote in his coaching book that he published that OG was complaining about FVV because FVV would routinely take the ball off him and kept demanding the ball. He kept running to Nurse that FVV was doing it every game even after Nurse spoke to FVV lol. Why Nurse aired that out is beyond me lol.

That feels like something you *might* briefly mention after you're done coaching and a few years removed from anything basketball related. To air that out when you're still coaching the two guys seems...odd to the say least.

[matt131]

This is what I’m talking about. Nice

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?s=20&t=jkRtrkxYxMXE0QYdoUmKhw

Article below:

Spoiler:

Mat Ishbia understands his “superpower.” It’s maximizing his day. Everyone gets 24 hours. He’s determined to get more out of them than everyone else.

“You can’t have more hours than I do, so therefore if I use them better than you, I’m going to win,” Ishbia told The Athletic.

On Tuesday, the NBA finalized Ishbia’s bid to buy the Phoenix Suns and Phoenix Mercury. Per reports, Ishbia and older brother Justin purchased a 57 percent controlling stake in the organizations for $2.28 billion. It makes the 43-year-old, energetic Ishbia the NBA’s youngest governor. It also presents a challenge.

A former walk-on basketball player under coach Tom Izzo at Michigan State, Ishbia is chairman, president and CEO of United Wholesale Mortgage Holdings Corp. He is a hands-on executive, who’s on UWM’s massive campus at 4:30 a.m., sending messages to company leaders before sunrise.

But since agreeing to purchase the Suns, Ishbia has realized something. This doesn’t work. He has watched every Suns game. Home contests, which usually start at 9 p.m. in Michigan, keep him up until midnight. This pushes back his office arrival the next morning. “I’ve got to figure out the schedule part,” Ishbia said, smiling. “I don’t sleep much.”

UWM bills itself as the nation’s largest mortgage lender. Ishbia’s father started the company in 1986, bringing on his son shortly after Ishbia’s college basketball career ended. Ishbia started at the bottom, one of 12 employees, learning every facet. He calls this “being in the weeds,” the driving force behind UWM’s growth. Today, the company employs more than 7,000 people and has a basketball gym, doctor’s office, hair salon and arcade within its offices.

“I don’t think there’s anything that happens in this complex that he doesn’t know about,” said Charlie Bell, an account executive and one of several former Michigan State players working at UWM.

Ishbia plans to take the same hands-on approach to the NBA, which might be good for the Suns. It’s been a rocky stretch for Arizona’s original major sports franchise. In September, the league suspended then-governor Robert Sarver for one year, and fined him $10 million, following completion of an investigation into allegations he fostered a toxic and hostile work environment. After at least one major sponsor threatened to not renew its partnership with the Phoenix organizations, Sarver agreed to sell.

The basketball product is in decent shape. Despite suffering a slew of injuries, the Suns (29-26) entered Tuesday tied for fifth in the Western Conference. With star guard Devin Booker set to return from a groin injury, the Suns could become dangerous, especially if general manager James Jones improves the roster before Thursday’s trade deadline.

“Phoenix … can be and will be an elite NBA franchise,” Ishbia said.

In an expected move, Suns president and CEO Jason Rowley resigned on Monday, but a massive overhaul may not unfold soon. Ishbia said he first wants to learn how the organization operates. His thoughts on…

The appeal of Phoenix: “First off, the fans love the Suns. I want to be in a place where they’re excited and exhilarated about winning and being part of something. … Also, it’s a destination. Players want to go there. This is not like, I won’t mention cities, but I live in Detroit, right. It’s freezing here. People want to be there. The tax situation is good. It checks all the boxes.”

The trade deadline: “I understand what fans are looking for. And, trust me, I’m looking for the same thing. I realize that we have a great team, great players, great organization. We have the ability to win now. And we’re going to do everything we can to put the best team on the court.”

Potential financial hurdles: “The luxury tax is not one of the first things on my mind. (Per Spotrac, the Suns have a luxury-tax bill of roughly $35 million this season.) … We’re focusing on winning and not money. Money follows success.”

Changing the culture: “We’re going to try and do it as quick as possible, but it takes time. … First thing I’m going to do is take 90 days listening and learning from people. I’m not going to make mass changes. I’m going to come in and listen and learn, find out who people are, set the culture and the tone. And it starts with me at the top.”

Basketball is a big part of Ishbia’s life. The first chapter of his book, “Running the Corporate Offense: Lessons in Effective Leadership from the Bench to the Board Room,” is titled “Basketball Guides Me.” Every month, UWM posts “3Points” videos that begin with Ishbia turning and sinking a 3-pointer in the company gym. He has indoor and outdoor basketball courts at his Michigan home.

Most of this stemmed from Ishbia’s time at Michigan State. From 1998 to 2002, Ishbia played on three Final Four teams, including the 2000 national champion squad. He spent his last college year as a student assistant. At the time, teammates thought Ishbia would spend the rest of his life in coaching.

Ishbia did too.

Before the 2001 national semifinals, the Minneapolis Star Tribune ran a feature about the “final four” players of the men’s Final Four — that is, the four players least likely to play. Ishbia represented Michigan State. Accompanying the story was a bio box that listed Ishbia’s height (5-10), weight (165), hometown (Birmingham, Mich.) and season highs in points (two) and minutes (four). It also listed Ishbia’s top skill: his impersonation of Izzo.

While most agree the Izzo impression was solid, Ishbia made a more direct valuable contribution to the Spartans. Like most walk-on point guards, he ran the scout team, pushing All-American Mateen Cleaves and others in practice. Unlike most walk-on point guards, he developed into a leader.

“Mat was a phenomenal walk-on,” said former Michigan State assistant coach Stan Heath, today the head coach at Eastern Michigan. “High energy, great effort, just great for your practices all the time. And a great teammate.”

Ishbia’s mother, Joanne, was a school teacher. His father, Jeff, was an attorney who owned several businesses. Mat remembers his dad coming home, spending time with family and then returning to work. Those actions set a tone.

“And then when I played for Izzo, I saw that level times X,” Ishbia said. “This guy’s watching film at 2 a.m., and he’s back in the office at 7.”

Ishbia approached basketball with similar intensity, but it took teammates time to understand his intention.

“He came in, he didn’t back down from nobody,” said Bell, a 2000-01 All-Big Ten selection. “He’s the same way today, but back then it was just talking trash and it was like, ‘Little man, get out of my face. I don’t have time for this.’ But practices were his games, and he came in every day and treated them as such.”

The Detroit Free Press once reported that Ishbia got into a fight with 6-9 forward Adam Wolfe during a physical practice.

“One hundred percent true,” said Wolfe, chief legal officer and corporate secretary at UWM. “I set a high ball screen on him. Basically, he came off that screen and he felt that it was a cheap screen. I won’t give full details, but there were more than words involved.”

Ishbia absorbed everything. Best of all, he wasn’t afraid to speak up. In the 2000 national championship game against Florida, the Spartans lost Cleaves for a stretch in the second half because of an ankle injury. After the Gators hit a 3-pointer to pull within 55-49, Ishbia told the coaching staff the Spartans should run “double backdoor special,” a play that would free up forward A.J. Granger at the top of the key.

Izzo ran it. Bell dumped the ball to forward Andre Hutson on the left elbow and rushed to set a screen for Granger on the right. Granger popped out, took a pass from Hutson and buried a 3.

On the bench Ishbia jumped in celebration. Assistant coach Brian Gregory gave the walk-on a high-five.

“Yeah, that’s true,” Izzo said. “But it wasn’t abnormal. Mat had a good feel.”

Late in the 2001-02 season, Izzo asked Ishbia to sit closer to him during games instead of Ishbia’s usual spot near the end of the bench. Ishbia took on a role as player-coach, providing a different voice, a bridge between staff and players.

Because Ishbia had redshirted his first year, he could’ve played during the 2002-03 season, but he instead chose to join Izzo’s staff as a student assistant. After the Spartans lost in the NCAA Tournament, then-Michigan State assistant Mike Garland was hired as head coach at Cleveland State. He asked Ishbia to join him as an assistant.

Ishbia talked to his father, who suggested he join his mortgage business and consider doing something bigger. “Try it for a year,” Jeff Ishbia said, “and if you don’t like it, you can return to basketball.” Thought Ishbia, “I don’t even know what a mortgage is.”

Izzo told Ishbia that maybe he could take everything he learned in basketball and apply it to business. Run it like a program with the same attention to detail. “I just knew that no matter what he did he was probably going to be successful,” Izzo said.

Ishbia chose the mortgage business. That first year as one of United Wholesale Mortgage’s 12 employees. Ishbia made $18,000. He became CEO in 2013. Eight years later, UWM went public through a merger with a special purpose acquisition company.

This month, Forbes estimated Ishbia’s worth at $5.4 billion.


Not long ago, Michigan State was struggling to hang on during a home game at the Breslin Center. Izzo walked up the sideline, close to where Ishbia sat courtside with his buddies. “Boy, I’m sure glad you picked the profession you picked over the one I had you headed for because this sucks,” Izzo said.

Ishbia laughed.

Ishbia said he first thought about sports ownership 15 years ago, but then it was nothing more than a dream. Ten years later, Ishbia realized it might be possible. Once UWM went public, Ishbia thought, “OK, now I got the money. How do I get the right organization?” Before reaching an agreement to buy the Suns, Ishbia reportedly had pursued the NFL’s Washington Commanders and Denver Broncos.

“Would he have preferred to have a team closer? I think so. I really do,” Izzo told The Athletic. “Because he wants to be real hands-on. But I know Mat. I know he’s got a plane, and I have no question that he’ll be making a lot of trips there. He’ll find a way. That thing will be run the right way, I promise you. I don’t think he’ll micromanage, but I think he’ll be involved on a day-to-day basis.”

It’s difficult to predict how Ishbia’s approach will translate to NBA governorship, especially when he lives in Michigan. Ishbia knows he can’t take his UWM playbook and apply it to Phoenix. “It’s different to change a culture from scratch and be here 14 hours a day than to change a culture from a distance,” he said.

At the same time, while pointing out he won’t be the organization’s CEO, Ishbia admits he knows no other way. At UWM, he’s learned that to hold people accountable, he has to know what he’s talking about. “Being in the weeds is mandatory to be successful in business,” said Ishbia, who plans to buy a house in the Valley. It’s the reason that at a recent Suns home game, he visited the concession stand to buy ice cream rather than get it for free in a hospitality suite. He wanted to see how workers responded to customers.

At UWM, the culture starts with him. Ishbia often eats lunch in the cafeteria, sitting with random people to learn more about their interests. He doesn’t schedule meetings on Thursdays because he wants to be free to visit different departments. At executive meetings, cell phones and other devices aren’t allowed because he wants everyone undistracted, maximizing every minute.

While waiting for the NBA’s approval process, Ishbia focused on four areas: community impact, fan experience, team-member culture and winning. That last pillar is emphasized. During a 30-minute conversation, Ishbia said the Phoenix organizations will dominate. (He uses that word often.) Winning will be expected.

“I’m constantly trying to prove myself, being worthy as a walk-on,” Ishbia said. “I’m good enough to be on this team. I’m going to constantly try to wow the fans, make an impact on the community, win on and off the court and create an amazing culture. It doesn’t have to be done tomorrow. But we’re going to be moving in the right direction of getting better every day.”

[WeekapaugGroove]

This is what I’m talking about. Nice

Read on Twitter

?s=20&t=jkRtrkxYxMXE0QYdoUmKhw

Article below:

Spoiler:

Mat Ishbia understands his “superpower.” It’s maximizing his day. Everyone gets 24 hours. He’s determined to get more out of them than everyone else.

“You can’t have more hours than I do, so therefore if I use them better than you, I’m going to win,” Ishbia told The Athletic.

On Tuesday, the NBA finalized Ishbia’s bid to buy the Phoenix Suns and Phoenix Mercury. Per reports, Ishbia and older brother Justin purchased a 57 percent controlling stake in the organizations for $2.28 billion. It makes the 43-year-old, energetic Ishbia the NBA’s youngest governor. It also presents a challenge.

A former walk-on basketball player under coach Tom Izzo at Michigan State, Ishbia is chairman, president and CEO of United Wholesale Mortgage Holdings Corp. He is a hands-on executive, who’s on UWM’s massive campus at 4:30 a.m., sending messages to company leaders before sunrise.

But since agreeing to purchase the Suns, Ishbia has realized something. This doesn’t work. He has watched every Suns game. Home contests, which usually start at 9 p.m. in Michigan, keep him up until midnight. This pushes back his office arrival the next morning. “I’ve got to figure out the schedule part,” Ishbia said, smiling. “I don’t sleep much.”

UWM bills itself as the nation’s largest mortgage lender. Ishbia’s father started the company in 1986, bringing on his son shortly after Ishbia’s college basketball career ended. Ishbia started at the bottom, one of 12 employees, learning every facet. He calls this “being in the weeds,” the driving force behind UWM’s growth. Today, the company employs more than 7,000 people and has a basketball gym, doctor’s office, hair salon and arcade within its offices.

“I don’t think there’s anything that happens in this complex that he doesn’t know about,” said Charlie Bell, an account executive and one of several former Michigan State players working at UWM.

Ishbia plans to take the same hands-on approach to the NBA, which might be good for the Suns. It’s been a rocky stretch for Arizona’s original major sports franchise. In September, the league suspended then-governor Robert Sarver for one year, and fined him $10 million, following completion of an investigation into allegations he fostered a toxic and hostile work environment. After at least one major sponsor threatened to not renew its partnership with the Phoenix organizations, Sarver agreed to sell.

The basketball product is in decent shape. Despite suffering a slew of injuries, the Suns (29-26) entered Tuesday tied for fifth in the Western Conference. With star guard Devin Booker set to return from a groin injury, the Suns could become dangerous, especially if general manager James Jones improves the roster before Thursday’s trade deadline.

“Phoenix … can be and will be an elite NBA franchise,” Ishbia said.

In an expected move, Suns president and CEO Jason Rowley resigned on Monday, but a massive overhaul may not unfold soon. Ishbia said he first wants to learn how the organization operates. His thoughts on…

The appeal of Phoenix: “First off, the fans love the Suns. I want to be in a place where they’re excited and exhilarated about winning and being part of something. … Also, it’s a destination. Players want to go there. This is not like, I won’t mention cities, but I live in Detroit, right. It’s freezing here. People want to be there. The tax situation is good. It checks all the boxes.”

The trade deadline: “I understand what fans are looking for. And, trust me, I’m looking for the same thing. I realize that we have a great team, great players, great organization. We have the ability to win now. And we’re going to do everything we can to put the best team on the court.”

Potential financial hurdles: “The luxury tax is not one of the first things on my mind. (Per Spotrac, the Suns have a luxury-tax bill of roughly $35 million this season.) … We’re focusing on winning and not money. Money follows success.”

Changing the culture: “We’re going to try and do it as quick as possible, but it takes time. … First thing I’m going to do is take 90 days listening and learning from people. I’m not going to make mass changes. I’m going to come in and listen and learn, find out who people are, set the culture and the tone. And it starts with me at the top.”

Basketball is a big part of Ishbia’s life. The first chapter of his book, “Running the Corporate Offense: Lessons in Effective Leadership from the Bench to the Board Room,” is titled “Basketball Guides Me.” Every month, UWM posts “3Points” videos that begin with Ishbia turning and sinking a 3-pointer in the company gym. He has indoor and outdoor basketball courts at his Michigan home.

Most of this stemmed from Ishbia’s time at Michigan State. From 1998 to 2002, Ishbia played on three Final Four teams, including the 2000 national champion squad. He spent his last college year as a student assistant. At the time, teammates thought Ishbia would spend the rest of his life in coaching.

Ishbia did too.

Before the 2001 national semifinals, the Minneapolis Star Tribune ran a feature about the “final four” players of the men’s Final Four — that is, the four players least likely to play. Ishbia represented Michigan State. Accompanying the story was a bio box that listed Ishbia’s height (5-10), weight (165), hometown (Birmingham, Mich.) and season highs in points (two) and minutes (four). It also listed Ishbia’s top skill: his impersonation of Izzo.

While most agree the Izzo impression was solid, Ishbia made a more direct valuable contribution to the Spartans. Like most walk-on point guards, he ran the scout team, pushing All-American Mateen Cleaves and others in practice. Unlike most walk-on point guards, he developed into a leader.

“Mat was a phenomenal walk-on,” said former Michigan State assistant coach Stan Heath, today the head coach at Eastern Michigan. “High energy, great effort, just great for your practices all the time. And a great teammate.”

Ishbia’s mother, Joanne, was a school teacher. His father, Jeff, was an attorney who owned several businesses. Mat remembers his dad coming home, spending time with family and then returning to work. Those actions set a tone.

“And then when I played for Izzo, I saw that level times X,” Ishbia said. “This guy’s watching film at 2 a.m., and he’s back in the office at 7.”

Ishbia approached basketball with similar intensity, but it took teammates time to understand his intention.

“He came in, he didn’t back down from nobody,” said Bell, a 2000-01 All-Big Ten selection. “He’s the same way today, but back then it was just talking trash and it was like, ‘Little man, get out of my face. I don’t have time for this.’ But practices were his games, and he came in every day and treated them as such.”

The Detroit Free Press once reported that Ishbia got into a fight with 6-9 forward Adam Wolfe during a physical practice.

“One hundred percent true,” said Wolfe, chief legal officer and corporate secretary at UWM. “I set a high ball screen on him. Basically, he came off that screen and he felt that it was a cheap screen. I won’t give full details, but there were more than words involved.”

Ishbia absorbed everything. Best of all, he wasn’t afraid to speak up. In the 2000 national championship game against Florida, the Spartans lost Cleaves for a stretch in the second half because of an ankle injury. After the Gators hit a 3-pointer to pull within 55-49, Ishbia told the coaching staff the Spartans should run “double backdoor special,” a play that would free up forward A.J. Granger at the top of the key.

Izzo ran it. Bell dumped the ball to forward Andre Hutson on the left elbow and rushed to set a screen for Granger on the right. Granger popped out, took a pass from Hutson and buried a 3.

On the bench Ishbia jumped in celebration. Assistant coach Brian Gregory gave the walk-on a high-five.

“Yeah, that’s true,” Izzo said. “But it wasn’t abnormal. Mat had a good feel.”

Late in the 2001-02 season, Izzo asked Ishbia to sit closer to him during games instead of Ishbia’s usual spot near the end of the bench. Ishbia took on a role as player-coach, providing a different voice, a bridge between staff and players.

Because Ishbia had redshirted his first year, he could’ve played during the 2002-03 season, but he instead chose to join Izzo’s staff as a student assistant. After the Spartans lost in the NCAA Tournament, then-Michigan State assistant Mike Garland was hired as head coach at Cleveland State. He asked Ishbia to join him as an assistant.

Ishbia talked to his father, who suggested he join his mortgage business and consider doing something bigger. “Try it for a year,” Jeff Ishbia said, “and if you don’t like it, you can return to basketball.” Thought Ishbia, “I don’t even know what a mortgage is.”

Izzo told Ishbia that maybe he could take everything he learned in basketball and apply it to business. Run it like a program with the same attention to detail. “I just knew that no matter what he did he was probably going to be successful,” Izzo said.

Ishbia chose the mortgage business. That first year as one of United Wholesale Mortgage’s 12 employees. Ishbia made $18,000. He became CEO in 2013. Eight years later, UWM went public through a merger with a special purpose acquisition company.

This month, Forbes estimated Ishbia’s worth at $5.4 billion.


Not long ago, Michigan State was struggling to hang on during a home game at the Breslin Center. Izzo walked up the sideline, close to where Ishbia sat courtside with his buddies. “Boy, I’m sure glad you picked the profession you picked over the one I had you headed for because this sucks,” Izzo said.

Ishbia laughed.

Ishbia said he first thought about sports ownership 15 years ago, but then it was nothing more than a dream. Ten years later, Ishbia realized it might be possible. Once UWM went public, Ishbia thought, “OK, now I got the money. How do I get the right organization?” Before reaching an agreement to buy the Suns, Ishbia reportedly had pursued the NFL’s Washington Commanders and Denver Broncos.

“Would he have preferred to have a team closer? I think so. I really do,” Izzo told The Athletic. “Because he wants to be real hands-on. But I know Mat. I know he’s got a plane, and I have no question that he’ll be making a lot of trips there. He’ll find a way. That thing will be run the right way, I promise you. I don’t think he’ll micromanage, but I think he’ll be involved on a day-to-day basis.”

It’s difficult to predict how Ishbia’s approach will translate to NBA governorship, especially when he lives in Michigan. Ishbia knows he can’t take his UWM playbook and apply it to Phoenix. “It’s different to change a culture from scratch and be here 14 hours a day than to change a culture from a distance,” he said.

At the same time, while pointing out he won’t be the organization’s CEO, Ishbia admits he knows no other way. At UWM, he’s learned that to hold people accountable, he has to know what he’s talking about. “Being in the weeds is mandatory to be successful in business,” said Ishbia, who plans to buy a house in the Valley. It’s the reason that at a recent Suns home game, he visited the concession stand to buy ice cream rather than get it for free in a hospitality suite. He wanted to see how workers responded to customers.

At UWM, the culture starts with him. Ishbia often eats lunch in the cafeteria, sitting with random people to learn more about their interests. He doesn’t schedule meetings on Thursdays because he wants to be free to visit different departments. At executive meetings, cell phones and other devices aren’t allowed because he wants everyone undistracted, maximizing every minute.

While waiting for the NBA’s approval process, Ishbia focused on four areas: community impact, fan experience, team-member culture and winning. That last pillar is emphasized. During a 30-minute conversation, Ishbia said the Phoenix organizations will dominate. (He uses that word often.) Winning will be expected.

“I’m constantly trying to prove myself, being worthy as a walk-on,” Ishbia said. “I’m good enough to be on this team. I’m going to constantly try to wow the fans, make an impact on the community, win on and off the court and create an amazing culture. It doesn’t have to be done tomorrow. But we’re going to be moving in the right direction of getting better every day.”

Good ole Charlie Bell works for him. Fun fact about Charlie he used to post on the bucks board when he played for them. FlintStone was his username.

Sent from my SM-G986U using RealGM mobile app

[Ghost of Kleine]

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To expound on Matt's awesome reference post:

This at least gives me hope that we won't just sit Idle and promote the typical jones statement of our best available move was internal development!

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[Saberestar]

I have seen different reports about Grant Williams being available and I like him.

Yeah, he will be paid next year (like Cam Johnson) but we can deal with that later.

Crowder + 2nd for Grant Williams and Gallinari (filler) would be fair enough?

[suns12345]

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To expound on Matt's awesome reference post:

This at least gives me hope that we won't just sit Idle and promote the typical jones statement of our best available move was internal development!

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Reminds me of when I followed arsenal in the final Wenger years and every transfer period we would sign no one and someone like Danny Welbeck would come back from injury again and be touted as basically a new signing.... only to get hurt again

[Ghost of Kleine]

I have seen different reports about Grant Williams being available and I like him.

Yeah, he will be paid next year (like Cam Johnson) but we can deal with that later.

Crowder + 2nd for Grant Williams and Gallinari (filler) would be fair enough?

That'd be nice! Williams could serve in a PJ Tucker type of role perhaps. Although I personally in contrast, for the cost would much rather have a Hauser/ Pritchard or Hauser/ Williams/ 2nd for a Crowder/ Biyombo deal?

[TOO]

Read on Twitter

To expound on Matt's awesome reference post:

This at least gives me hope that we won't just sit Idle and promote the typical jones statement of our best available move was internal development!

Read on Twitter

Reminds me of when I followed arsenal in the final Wenger years and every transfer period we would sign no one and someone like Danny Welbeck would come back from injury again and be touted as basically a new signing.... only to get hurt again

But now we have Goateta.