The elimination in the first round with a resounding 4-0 at the hands of the Minnesota Timberwolves will inevitably leave heavy consequences for the Phoenix Suns, one of the favorites for the title before the start of the season. Rumors of dismissal immediately begin to accumulate regarding coach Frank Vogel, while Kevin Durant’s frustration with his role on the pitch also emerged
The players on the pitch had not yet finished saying goodbye before a long analysis piece had already appeared in The Athletic everything that didn’t work in the Phoenix Suns season. They started at the beginning of the season as one of the candidates for the title thanks to a roster that could count on three All-Stars of the caliber of Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and Bradley Beal, the team never found its balance during the regular season, thanks to the many injuries and a technical-tactical balance that was difficult to achieve. However, the expectations were of a completely different type a team that will cost approximately 260 million dollars (luxury tax included) to its owner Mat Ishbia, who expected a very different result than a sixth place achieved in the last regular season match it’s a sound elimination with a coat in the first round. The series against the Minnesota Timberwolves exposed, however all the Suns’ problemsfor whom a summer now begins in which everything will be called into question (again).
Nobody listens to Vogel anymore: experience at the end of the line?
The Athletic article opens by telling how, after a terrible home defeat against the LA Clippers, coach Vogel tried to raise his voice towards his players, without however obtaining the desired effect — actually, with one of the players who had to holding back laughter at an obviously out-of-character outburst. The feeling is that the former coach of the Los Angeles Lakers no longer has a handle on the situationdespite himself having claimed before game 4 that he had still feel the “full support” from the owner Ishbia. His relationship with Bradley Bealin particular, however, seems anything but idyllic, as also demonstrated by missed “five” between the two this night as the guard returned to the bench, as if to swat away his coach’s hand. A decidedly unpleasant scene, which confirms how the Suns – according to what was written – they will seriously consider the idea of changing the coach or at least discussing substantial changes in the coaching staff, also thanks to the farewell of Kevin Young (Vogel’s first assistant and one of the highest paid assistants in the entire league) in college basketball, more precisely at BYU. The position of General Manager James Jones, however, seems solid.
Durant unhappy with his role in the attack
The piece doesn’t just focus on Vogel, it also talks about the coexistence difficulties of Devin Booker and Kevin Durant since the two joined forces in February 2023. With KD on the court the Suns have won only 6 of the 15 playoff games played in the last two years, without being able to return to the final like in 2021, and it comes highlighted how KD “wasn’t always happy with the way he was used”feeling “uncomfortable with his role in the attack, feeling relegated to a corner all too often without having schemes designed to exploit his strengths” Likewise, several voices within the team believe that KD himself should have raise your voice more to be heard by Vogel and his staffdemonstrating little personality.
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The Big Three’s lack of leadership and market objectives
There lack of leadership is another of the themes addressed in the piece, focusing in particular on Booker — protagonist of a series well below his potential before exploding for 49 points in game 4, when, however, it was already too late. His alternation at point guard with Bradley Beal never really workedas evidenced by the team’s very high number of turnovers, and for this reason in the summer the Suns will try to make amends: the objectives are to add a traditional point guard capable of taking the load off Booker and Beal from action initiation tasks e a defensive stopper, whether on the perimeter or under the basket. In addition to this, however, it will also serve fill the leadership void within the locker roomas none of the Big Three seemed able (or interested) to step up in that regard and the veterans on the bench were two mid-season additions as Isaiah Thomas and Thaddeus Young, both out of Coach Vogel’s rotation. As Durant also said, however, “the coach is the leader”: with few assets available to move on the market and an already stellar wage bill (next year’s starters alone cost 184 million dollars, with the second apron set at 189.5 million), Vogel himself could be the one to pay for this year’s disappointment.
