Mike Budenholzer is getting right to work after being officially hired as the Suns‘ new head coach earlier today. Sources tells ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski that Budenholzer is expected to attend the draft combine in Chicago, which starts Monday, and he has already begun the process of forming an entirely new coaching staff.
Members of former head coach Frank Vogel‘s staff have been told that they won’t remain with the team, tweets Chris Haynes of TNT and Bleacher Report.
Budenholzer, a two-time Coach of the Year, had been out of the league since being dismissed by the Bucks following a disappointing first-round playoff exit last season. He’s moving into another high-pressure situation as success will be expected right away from an expensive roster built around Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and Bradley Beal.
Phoenix appears to be a good situation for Budenholzer because he has been able to succeed without having a natural point guard, according to an Arizona Sports article, which examines how his teams fared with Jeff Teague and Dennis Schroder in Atlanta and Eric Bledsoe and Jrue Holiday in Milwaukee.
There’s more from Phoenix:
- Budenholzer will have to prove that he can hold his new Big Three accountable in a way that Vogel couldn’t, observes Gerald Bourguet of PHNX Sports. None of them are naturally vocal leaders, so Budenholzer may have to fill that role, which Bourguet notes could either unlock the group’s full offensive potential or could lead to personality clashes. Bourguet also looks at Budenholzer’s coaching style and states that the Suns are likely to play at a faster pace and take more three-pointers next season.
- While there were reasons to make a coaching change, Doug Haller of The Athletic argues that owner Mat Ishbia should receive a large share of the blame for everything that went wrong this season. The Suns have talked about the need to build continuity since they acquired Durant in February of 2023, but Ishbia’s string of big moves have made that impossible to achieve.
- Backup center Drew Eubanks, who holds a $2.65MM player option, has received indications that the Suns want him to return next season, according to Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic. Eubanks, who averaged 5.1 points and 4.3 rebounds in 75 games, appears to be leaning toward picking up the option, but he added, “I’m going to make the best decision for my family and I when the time comes.” Eubanks, Eric Gordon, Josh Okogie and Damion Lee all hold player options and have a June 29 deadline to decide whether to exercise them.
Their offseason is going to consist of bringing dudes in for workouts or guys accepting a vet min to be on the 6th or 7th best team in the West.
Could be a landing spot for CP3, Pat Bev, Kris Dunn, or Delon Wright. Dudes looking to stay in the league and willing to take vet min.
They also have no choice but to re-up Royce and Allen. All but guarantee they will see if someone will take Little off their hands and replace him w/a vet min. I also imagine if they could recoup anything for Nurkic they’d go that route and replace him with any big man willing to take a vet min deal.
Nerlens Noel, WCS, TT, Mo Bamba. They also have the 22nd pick in the draft. If they don’t draft a PG they could go Zach Edey.
Mike has his work cut out for him.
Allen signed a 4 year/$70M extension about a month ago.
I think a guy like Delon Wright would actually be a pretty good signing for them if he signs for a vet minimum. Solid, low-turnover, intelligent point guard. I bet if they started him and made Beal the Sixth Man to get some buckets from the bench, they would have a significantly better team than this year. It’s not happening of course (the Beal part).
Sixers without a Natural point guard then lists 4 natural point guard in Teague, Bledsoe, Holiday and Schroder …..
You’ve missed the beginnings to all of those guys’ careers because none of them were natural traditional point guards
What are you talking about Washington. I think you missed a lot. All those guys were playing PG at the beginning of their careers. Only Holiday was playing SG at times later in his career
Traditional was a very important word there and you decided to skip right over it. Im down to show you my work but if you’re not even going to read my short comment, I don’t really see a point in doing so.
Wasn’t Teague pretty much a “natural” pass-first, floor general point guard by the time Bud took over in Atlanta? I have no idea how he played in college and don’t really remember his first few years in the NBA, but I think he was pretty solid version of a “natural” point guard when he was coached by Bud.
As for the other ones, no Bud’s systems didn’t rely on those types, that’s right.
Bledsoe is 6’1 and has a career average of 14/5/4 and made two all defensive teams.
Even on his Wikipedia page it states “despite being a natural point guard he often played at shooting guard to accommodate college teammate John Wall”.
Jeff Teague, had career averages of 12/5.5/2.5. What’s not natural point guard about that?
Same with Dennis, 14/5/3
Granted Dennis was more of a score first guard but he’s still a relatively traditional run the offence point guard.
Jrue Holiday sure he’s not really a traditional point guard he’s also been a combo guard because of his size and defence but even still he’s been listed as a point guard 12 out of his 15 seasons.
But I’m comparing those 4 guys to Bradley Beal or Devin Booker as a point guard is ridiculous.
Beal 22/4/4 and Booker 24/5/4 only have high assist numbers due to their usage rate and both have always played shooting guard with a point guard beside them to run the offence while being playing the scoring threat.
All four are PGs ….. nothing else.
Wish him the best but he has no chance. Durant can’t lead a team to a championship and his skills are in decline, Beal is an OK 3rd option and Booker vanishes in crunch time. The team Monte was coaching had a better chance to develop into a competitor but Ishbia blew it up to star chase.
The Suns need a new owner who is willing to patiently build a championship team. But since that is not happening, Budenholzer will last one or two years before Ishbia makes his next desperate move.
Matt Ishi is the new George Steinbrenner
I think this is a good choice. Suns need help. And have to make a statement this yr. Budenholzer also has to show up. This a redemption for both imo. Suns need role players who play D. All three stars are offensive players. Not really known for their play making or defense. A rim protector like Mitch. Is what they need.
Suns are cursed…
One bad owner to another…