A tale as old as time: If you can't fire the players, fire the coach.
The Phoenix Suns attempted to build a superteam. They traded for Kevin Durant a little over a year ago. (That's right, it's only been a little over a year. Wild, huh?) They sought to pair the future Hall of Famer with Devin Booker, and in doing so broke up the core that had reached the NBA Finals in 2021 and had the best record in the league in 2022. Their second-round flameout that year resulted in the firing of Monty Williams, the trade for Bradley Beal, a revamp of the supporting cast (such as it was) and the hiring of Frank Vogel.
It didn't work out as planned.
After the Suns' first-round demolition by the Minnesota Timberwolves this season, Phoenix had two choices: reckon with its mistakes and hubris, deal with the pain of the lost picks it sent in the Durant deal and accept that either a roster or culture makeover was necessary, or… fire the coach.
So, they fired the coach.
The Suns "parted ways" with Vogel on Thursday, one year after he signed a five-year deal. So the Suns are now paying Williams (some portion offset by his Detroit deal) and Vogel to not coach for them — not a bad gig if you can get it.
The Suns were ninth on offense and 14th on defense, schedule-adjusted, this season despite significant and lengthy injuries to Beal and Booker. The Big 3 were only available for 41 games together, going 26-15. When Durant and Booker both played, the Suns were 38-23, a 63% win rate that would have seen them finish fourth if stretched across 82 games.
The Suns had little to no defensive personnel beyond a flawed big man in Jusuf Nurkić, who they jettisoned Deandre Ayton to acquire, and Durant, who gave a phenomenal defensive season. But even with just those two, essentially, Vogel coached them to the 14th-best defense. The offense was uninspiring, something that Durant reportedly took issue with.
Except that Kevin Young, the longtime Suns assistant coach, was the one who designed the offense. Young took the job as head coach of BYU several weeks ago, getting out while the getting was good.
And yet, Vogel paid the price here.
Vogel wasn't exceptional. The Suns offense was multi-layered; it didn't apply pressure at multiple points or stun you with ingenuity. But while Vogel isn't that kind of coach, it wouldn't have mattered. When was the last time you saw a complex offense built around Durant? Even in Golden State, the Warriors would run their complex schemes and motion offense when Durant was on the bench. When Durant was in, it was mostly, well, Kevin Durant basketball.
This isn't to blame Durant entirely for this, though Durant's list of coaches fired during or directly after his presence is now Scott Brooks, Kenny Atkinson, Steve Nash, Jacque Vaughn, Williams and now Vogel — quite the reaper's haul.
The bigger issue is the Suns did something similar to what the Nets did: acquire Durant and try to do everything to give him what they think he wants. They hired a veteran coach with championship pedigree (Vogel won the title in 2020 with the Lakers) and traded for another superstar.
But the problem was the roster. It didn't make complete sense. There was a lot of praise for Phoenix last summer over signing guys like Drew Eubanks and Keita Bates-Diop, only for both of those players to play small roles. They gave Bol Bol significant minutes despite every piece of evidence suggesting he's not a viable playoff player.
It's not even the roster pieces. It's that the Suns never felt like a team when you watched them. They were just some dudes hooping together. That's hard to win with in the NBA. You need an identity with chemistry and connectivity. The absence of those things were brought into most contrast in their first-round sweep against the Wolves. Minnesota knew who it was, trusted one another and attacked to create the best possessions it could.
The Wolves don't have the Suns' firepower; they don't have a bunch of multi-time All-Stars even if Rudy Gobert and Karl-Anthony Towns have a handful. They didn't have the superstar pedigree of the Suns. But they were a team, a real team.
The Suns were not. They were a collection of dudes. And while certainly, the coaching staff deserves blame for never finding that with this group, it's hard to believe with the egos of the three superstars who make up the majority of the cap space and the absence of any glue-guy role players that Vogel could have made lemonade out of lemons.
But you can't blame the players when you go down the superstar route. Durant is 35 and finicky. There were rumors at midseason about his unhappiness in Phoenix. He lashed out at the reports, but league sources told Action Network they're still monitoring to see if Durant once again wants a change of scenery. Still, having Durant is better than not having Durant, so the Suns need to retain him.
Booker is the franchise. He's the best player and the only one under 30. Without him, they'd have no north star. You can build a connected team with chemistry, but if you don't have a guy who can get you 40 in a playoff game, it doesn't really matter.
Beal has a no-trade clause. He's injury prone and diminished; his end to the Wolves series was miserable. But they don't control his future, so they have to live with him.
There's no good option. There's no pivot. The Suns have to run it back and hope Durant and Booker don't ask for a change of scenery this summer. That's their reality.
Early reports indicate that former Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer is the front-runner for the job. If so, it's a mistake on Bud's part. Budenholzer built special teams in Atlanta and Phoenix built off chemistry and a more chaotic read offense. It's much more difficult to do that with Durant and Booker, who have struggled to raise the tide for their teammates, and Beal, who simply isn't a point guard.
The Suns will run the same drop coverage Budenholzer has used in the past with Nurkić, and it's very possible they're better in the regular season; Budenholzer is basically an automatic 50 wins out of 82. But the playoffs are about problem solving, and you can't problem solve without sacrifice and flexibility. The Suns have not shown they're about sacrifice as a group, and Budenholzer has not shown he's about flexibility as a coach.
If they didn't connect with Vogel, a long-time assistant with a single championship who emphasized defense, why is Budenholzer going to be the one to make magic out of shiny parts?
But this is what happens in the modern NBA with how teams covet, pursue and enable superstars. The firing of Vogel and likely hiring of Budenholzer won't ultimately change their fates, but it'll make them feel better.
And that's nice for them, I guess.
