The Suns have narrowed their list of head coaching candidates to five — Nick Nurse, Frank Vogel, Doc Rivers, Kings associate head coach Jordi Fernandez and Suns assistant Kevin Young, Shams Charania of The Athletic tweets.
The five finalists will meet with new owner Mat Ishbia, team president James Jones and other team executives in Michigan this week, according to Charania (Twitter link). Ishbia is a Michigan native and played basketball for Michigan State. His mortgage lending company, United Wholesale Mortgage, is also based in Michigan.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reports that there are four finalists, omitting Vogel.
Phoenix dismissed Monty Williams after its second-round playoff exit.
Nurse has seemingly positioned himself to get another coaching job quickly after parting ways with the Raptors after the season. He’s also a finalist for the Bucks’ head coaching job and a candidate for the Sixers’ head coaching vacancy.
Vogel, who coached the Lakers to a championship in 2020, interviewed for the Sixers’ job on Tuesday. Vogel was also linked to the Bucks’ job but isn’t among the reported finalists.
Rivers was fired just a week ago by the Sixers but was said to be open to coaching again next season if the right opportunity arose.
Fernandez, who served as Mike Brown‘s top assistant with Sacramento this season, is also a candidate for Nurse’s former job. Young was a candidate for the Bucks’ job, but didn’t make the final cut.
One prominent name not included on the Suns’ list of finalists is former Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer. Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports reported earlier today that Budenholzer wasn’t considered a leading candidate in Phoenix.
How does Rivers keep getting interviews? Lol.
He didn’t put the Sixers together….
He helped put the Celtics and Clippers together. That’s how ……. Moreyon is the guy you should be blaming.
He did not help put the Celtics or clippers together lol. He took over after those pieces were there. In both cases he was a bad coach, and as GM of clippers he also made some awful roster moves. He traded prime Chris Paul for a bunch of junk, but kept not-prime Blake Griffin, and made many many bad draft choices.
I think you might want to review the Celtics and Doc Rivers time line, your reflection on how that came about is very different from the truth
He didn’t put either the Celts or Clippers together. Ainge is responsible for the Celts and Leonard is responsible for the Clippers. Let’s face it, Leonard was going to LA either way and recruited PG.
Because humans are biased and tend to place too much emphasis on credentials and accolades.
I have a family member who was going through a divorce and hired a lawyer because they had received an award from some magazine and were “highly regarded”. Except the advice they often received from them was either ludicrous, lazy, or unreasonable. As an example, they were asked to individually catalogue thousands of comic books by hand to ascertain their value, even though many were known to likely be worthless. As an outside observer it felt like, at best, the lawyer/firm was going through the motions and, at worst, they were simply giving bad advice, and bad enough for a nobody like me to take note of it.
Ultimately, they stuck with him because they refused to believe what was occurring in front of their eyes over the fancy awards. You can guess how this story concluded.
Anyone who has watched Rivers coach more than a handful of games knows what the deal is. And it ain’t pretty. But people will see what they want to see. If it’s not the one championship and (bad) playoff experience, I can only assume they are drawn to him for his reputation as a player’s coach, as redundant with Monty as that might be.
It’s just been announced that Isiah Thomas will be taking over
Lol that sounds more like a Bucks move, but I get what you’re throwing down.
Doc in Sun city
Hahaha guess the Suns wanna blow a playoff lead. Good luck with that loser Rivers.
Most overrated coach in the nba
Well, he’s not a coach so I’d say he’s properly rated.
Frank Vogel to Suns, I would like to see him coach KD and Booker
Nurse has options…
But the Bucks are the only decent one…
Yeah, but pretty sure he’ll take the Sun’s job over any of them
IMO, Vogel is a better fit in PHI (or even MIL). Nurse is a better fit in MIL.
Rivers is a better fit writing his memoirs as a basketball philosopher at large. Being a ceremonial HC still builds the bank account, but not much more. If he is hired as a HC, though, I guess PHX is the best stop. CP3, KD and Booker may not need a HC, and may not want one. So, perhaps, everyone goes home a winner.
none are better than Monty
Jaylen Brown will be demanding a trade to Miami this offseason
If you think going from Monty Williams to Doc Rivers is an upgrade you deserve the next few years underperforming and disappointment you’ll undoubtedly get