Phoenix Suns’ owner and president address first round playoff sweep, head coach rumors
PHOENIX (AZFamily)—Phoenix Suns owner Mat Ishbia and team President and General Manager James Jones spoke to fans and the media on Wednesday about the team’s playoff loss and what it means for next season.
The end-of-season press conference comes on the heels of a disappointing playoff run, which ended with the Suns swept in the First Round. The season was capped off by a 122-116 loss on Sunday, despite a 49-point effort from Devin Booker and 33 points from Kevin Durant. The four-game sweep was a gut punch for a team that entered the season with championship aspirations.
Ishbia opened the presser by saying that while the team’s disappointed with the loss, they’re focused on moving forward and identifying what went wrong.
“I love that people are frustrated that we didn’t win an NBA championship because guess what? So are we. We’re disappointed, we want to win an NBA championship. It’s one thing to win 49 games and get knocked out of the First Round of playoffs and everyone high-fiving you,” Ishbia said. “I’m happy where we’re at from that perspective that people are disappointed because guess what? There’s not someone in the organization more disappointed than me, my GM, my CEO, my players, my coach.”
The star-studded trio of Booker, Durant and Bradley Beal looked great on paper but ended with zero playoff wins. Ishbia knocked down claims of tension within the organization.
“It feels like we won 12 games with the way people are acting. And that’s fine because the reality is that we’re trying to win a championship,” Ishbia said. “The narrative around ‘the house is burning’ is incorrect. The Phoenix Suns are doing great.”
Questions have been circulating around head coach Frank Vogel and where he stands with the team, which Ishbia briefly addressed during the presser. “I have not had one discussion. I know there’s media reports and stuff, it’s just not true. One discussion about my GM, my coach, we’re trading players supposedly now in the media, not one discussion has even been had, let alone a decision being made,” he explained.
“I thought Frank did a great job considering the circumstances. We assembled a really talented team, primarily three scorers. Whenever you’re trying to get guys to adjust and adapt, there’s a transition time. It’s sometimes a struggle but I thought he did a great job,” Jones added.
A question raised multiple times throughout the season has been whether the team should explore adding a point guard in the future. Jones confirmed the team could benefit from adding a point guard. “It’s the actual player that you can get or you do have. And if we had the point guard that would be the best fit for this group, we’d find him if available,” Jones said.
Concerns remain about how Jones will maneuver around the league’s salary cap. The Big Three all have big salaries, and Grayson Allen recently received a $70 million, four-year extension.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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