The Phoenix Suns Continue To Show The World They Have No Idea What They're Doing By Firing Frank Vogel After Just One Season

Just 8 days ago, Charles Barkley said it best when it came to the hot seats of both Darvin Ham with the Lakers and Frank Vogel of the Suns

Since that rant, as everyone predicted Darvin Ham was sent packing a year after making the WCF and now today we have the news that Frank Vogel has met a similar fate. This is now the second time Frank Vogel has been made the fall guy since the Lakers Bubble title, and honestly Chuck could not have been more spot on in that video. While no one would suggest both Ham and Vogel are perfect, the problems for each of those teams is MUCH greater than who their head coach was.

For the Suns, pretty much everything has been a disaster since Mat Ishbia bought the team and then tried to buy his way to a title. When he bought the team in 2022, he mortgaged the Suns future and traded for Kevin Durant. Later that offseason, the Suns fired Monty Williams after losing in the second round to the Nuggets, despite the fact that he just had the Suns in the Finals a few seasons prior, and was a big part of their initial turnaround.

Then this summer the Suns decide to punt on their future even more and give up the farm for Bradley Beal, while hiring Frank Vogel to be their "win now" coach. Everyone who saw the Suns roster could see their flaws, no real defenders, no point guard, no real big man depth etc, but like we see time and time again, the Suns were big name sluts. They thought that forming a superteam with 3 guys, two of which certainly aren't all that young was more than enough to make up for their lack of depth.

To the surprise of nobody, the Suns had their issues. The Big 3 could never share the court together because their injury prone players got injured, it became VERY apparent that not having a point guard on your roster in 2024 is a stupid way to build your basketball team, and Frank Vogel even tried to fix this problem only to be shut down by the front office

So now after getting swept, the answer is…..fire Frank Vogel?

Meanwhile, where's the accountability for James Jones? You know, the guy who is responsible for building the roster? Did Mat Ishbia learn nothing from his previous rash decisions that ultimately screwed his team that he felt this was a good idea? Just take a look around the league and the best teams. You know what they have in common? 

1. Talented rosters

2. Continuity with their head coach

That shit matters. Systems take time to develop, roster talent is important, and the resistance to make rash decisions just to make them is perhaps the most important part. Look at what happened with the Bucks this year. They got off to a great start, and yet they fired their head coach mid-season to placate their stars. How did that turn out? Does anyone think whoever becomes the next Lakers coach is going to have them in any better of a position unless Rob Pelinka fixes their roster? Of course not!

Then you have the whole Suns Big 3 angle. I find it hard to believe that the Suns fire Vogel unless it has the blessing of those three guys. Maybe not Beal, but at the very least KD and Booker. It's the same thing with Giannis/Dame and LeBron/AD. If these guys wanted their coaches to remain their coach, they aren't getting fired. 

If I'm a prospective coach looking at the Suns roster/ability to improve, is it even worth it?

In some ways, absolutely. There might not be a better job in America than being a fired NBA head coach who still has multiple guaranteed years left on their deal. That's the dream right there baby. Just like we saw after getting fired by the Lakers, it's only a matter of time before Vogel gets another job if he wants it. Maybe he hops around as an assistant for a season or something, but he'll be fine. If I've been out of the league and I have an opportunity to snag a 4 year deal from this idiot Suns owner who clearly has no idea what he's doing, I say yes so fast and then let him fire me next year so I can chill and collect the checks without a care in the world. 

3 coaches in 3 years is the very sign of a dysfunctional franchise/front office that has no idea what they are doing. Shit, this is Devin Booker's 7th coach in 10 years! Maybe, just maybe it's not actually the head coach's fault? If I was a Suns fan hearing what James Jones had to say about all this, my head might explode

Very convenient that all that looking across the basketball operations to determine what changes needed to be made ended up not being the guy who was responsible for putting the Suns in this very position. Who could have possibly seen that coming! So what happens if the Suns flame out again next year, is that someone else's fault too? 

Considering how stacked the West looks to be, filled with young teams who are already contending and are poised to get even better, it's going to take a miracle for the aging Suns to once again fight like hell to avoid the Play In and even if they do, it probably won't matter. They have a roster issue and no real ways of improving it given their lack of assets and 2nd apron cap issues.

But sure, fire the coach and pretend like your underachievement was all his fault. That makes sense.