In the wake of the Suns‘ trade of Kevin Durant and buyout agreement with Bradley Beal, team owner Mat Ishbia admitted that he may have taken the wrong approach when he took control of the franchise two years ago and immediately began throwing draft picks and money around to build an expensive, top-heavy roster.
“The big thing I learned is you got to start and have the vision and identity from day one and I did not do that with the Phoenix Suns,” Ishbia said during a Thursday interview on SiriusXM NBA Radio, per Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic. “I thought, ‘Hey, let’s add some money. They’ve already got a good thing going. Let’s untap some resources and it will only get better,’ and that’s not how it works.
“… Everybody has got to have an alignment of what we’re about here in Phoenix and we didn’t do a good enough job of that. That’s on me. I’ll take the blame.”
“Alignment” has been a recurring talking point for Ishbia and the Suns this summer as they made changes to their front office and brought in a new head coach for the third consecutive offseason.
Ishbia said during his SiriusXM NBA Radio appearance that he and new general manager Brian Gregory are “completely aligned with what we’re trying to do,” and brought up “alignment” again when he explained why he doesn’t feel pressure to make sure star guard Devin Booker stays happy in the coming years.
“Devin’s going to be happy because we’re going to try to win,” the Suns owner said, per Rankin. “We’re going to do things that will be aligned with the vision and the identity that he agrees with 1000% and I agree with 1000% along with our GM (Gregory) and our coach (Jordan Ott). The alignment from owner to GM to coach to star/franchise player was never there before, to be clear. It is now and it’s crystal clear.”
According to Ishbia, the Suns are now committed to building “the right way” over the long term, and made it a priority this summer to add “younger, up-and-coming” talent while creating more salary cap flexibility going forward.
Here are a few more highlights from Ishbia, via Rankin:
On parting with Beal:
“He’s a great guy. Just not a fit with Phoenix Suns going forward. We told him that. We made that decision. We let them know wanted to move forward without him. It doesn’t mean he’s a bad guy. It doesn’t mean he’s a bad player. … He’s a great player, but for Phoenix and what we’re doing, it wasn’t a fit and we had to move on and make those decisions.”
On why the Suns hired Ott as their head coach:
“We had to get a coach that’s thinking forward and not looking back. Not looking at what worked in 2020, but what’s going to work in 2030. What’s the future and Jordan Ott is an unbelievable basketball mind. Praised by everybody we reached out to, every reference possible and we’ve been really happy with him so far. He’s young, he’s going to build with our team and he hopefully can be a great coach for the Phoenix Suns for the future.”
On No. 10 overall pick Khaman Maluach:
“We’re excited about Malauch. He’s 18, though. People have unreal (expectations). He’s 18. I have a son that’s 14. He’s four years older. He’s still a kid and he’s going to develop. It’s going to take a little bit of time, but we really love what he’s got and think he can be a real impact player.”
On the return in the Durant blockbuster:
“We wanted Jalen Green, to be clear. We like Jalen. He’s 23 years old, the leading scorer for the two seed in the West and Dillon Brooks, he’s a straight dog. He’s the type of guy we want here in Phoenix. He’s not on your team, you probably don’t like him, but I’m telling you. … He plays defense against the best player. He’s great around Booker. You put him around Booker, you put Jalen Green with Booker, we feel good about that.”
Future of women’s basketball on display here in the semifinal of the FIBA U19 Women’s World Cup bw France & USA. Zacch Risacher’s sister stars for France, Matt Harpring’s daughter stars for USA. Jazzy Davidson who’s headed to USC this fall is the best player in the tournament imo but USA is in a battle rn, only up 3 halfway thru the 3rd… link to m.youtube.com
Hard to express how stacked this American team is but the vast majority of them will be high WNBA picks no doubt. That being said, France has a really strong team as well.
Sienna Betts, sister of All-American Lauren Betts, just nailed 2fts to push the American lead to 5 w/ a min left in the 3rd. Look for the Betts sisters to dominate the Big10 next yr.
Matt Harpring was/is 1 of my favorite basketball players ever. Absolutely loved the way he played, especially at Tech but really throughout his whole career. I might like Kate Harpring’s game even more. She’s a top2 player in the senior class along with Saniya Hall (who scored USA’s last bucket). If she picks Tech like her dad I’ll be a huge fan of hers for life no doubt.
Much like the Puello/Matias 140lb WBC title fight from NYC this past weekend, this France/USA Rd of 8 U19 WWC game has been extremely well played & neither team should be disappointed in their performance. Difference between basketball & boxing is that they true winner almost always gets their W. Truly feel bad for Alberto Puello. But while France takes this tough L they can take solace in the fact that they played this American team better than anyone expected & as well as anyone has in over a decade. Ines Pitarch-Granel is definitely someone with a bright WNBA future. USA survives & advances to meet Spain tmrw to start the medal rds
These answers aren’t great.
Why are the comments about women’s basketball??
Youth, international women’s basketball at that lol
Hey man I love the commitment to the sport.
About twice a year I’ll find somebody in this comment section that also loves basketbal vast majority of the time it’s just guys hating lol
Is alignment the new synergy in corporate jargon?
I love when people pretend to take blame without actually taking any of the blame or pivoting to something unrelated to the issue at hand. One of the classic signs of a narcissist. Ishbia obviously refuses to look in the mirror, otherwise we would know it wasn’t a money issue but a meddling issue. You deliberately took the wheel, but are now trying to pass it off as a matter of “vision”. Sure.
Feel bad for Suns fans. Until the light bulb actually goes off in this clown’s head, the future looks pretty bleak unless he happens to get lucky with some hires.
If they are “aligned” now it would imply they were not aligned previously. Was the issue that the previous group told him that all his trade ideas were bad?
Exactly what I was thinking. Aligned = now I have my yes men in place who can more readily take the fall when my next round of dumb ideas fails.
Cutting Beal to free up a little cap money (but being hamstrung for 5 years) is something they’ll call out as a mistake in another 2 years.
Green is not an efficient scorer and a poor 3-point shooter.
The team is literally not better off, but now has to figure out how to pay Beal and somehow someone else.
Seems like lesson not learned.
Feel sorry for Booker.
They’ll have a new revised vision in 2 years
Well booker just got another $140mil so I don’t feel that bad for him.
Ishbia was like a kid in a candy store, the kid has 5 dollars, and it was burning a hole in his pocket. Ishbia trying to make a big splash in a small puddle. And he was right it bit him in the A** acquired a lemon in Beal. Spent all that money and the Suns future for a player that has been all the Wizards had, came to AZ and could not be the 3rd wheel behind Booker and Durant.
Matt, Since you have money to throw around;
I’ll agree to NOT play for the Suns this year and next.
I’ll NOT PLAY for the bargain price of LESS THAN $100MM.
Contact ME IMMEDIATELY !! Lets Talk!!
Sankara needs basketball more than air (and we love him for that).
Major tournaments need to return soon, otherwise he’ll have to satisfy his addiction by watching scrimmages of U14 academy players of 2nd division clubs in Lithuania.
There’s legitimately A LOT of high level basketball going on rn. A bunch of the girls at this U19 World Cup are gonna be household names as far as basketball fans in 6months, specifically Jazzy Davidson. Jazzy gonna be right up there w/ Juju, Caitlin & Paige. WNBA All-Star game is tmrw, Big 3 season heating up, U20 Eurobasket medal rds start tmrw & a bunch of guys that will be in next yrs NBA draft been showing out in that tournament, senior Eurobasket coming up next month (that should literally be y’all’s favorite basketball tournament), Peach Jam (best AAU tournament in the world) is going on rn, plus the 1st rd of TBT just started.
All year all I see in here is y’all hating on the NBA and it’s star players on a constant basis it seems like this is the type of stuff y’all would like even more than me. What part of basketball excites y’all if it’s not hs, college, NBA, women’s, FIBA or Big3 lol help me understand yall.
1 thing I really don’t understand is the lack of interest in Eurobasket. Y’all make it very clear that you enjoy Jokic, Hartenstein, Luka, Franz & guys like that much more than Bron, Embiid, Kyrie, Russ, etc. Ok so now with those guys removed & the best of the guys that y’all root for playing in one big tournament. Why such muted enthusiasm? Is it bc America first?.. link to m.youtube.com
:)
First of all, I don’t hate. Some do, I don’t. I don’t hate on Jalen Green, Jordan Poole or Embiid. I look forward to watching those guys next year in the NBA.
I will actually be going to EuroBasket. My nation did not qualify, unfortunately, but I’ll be in Katowice in late August watching France to see Sarr and Bilal. Maybe I’ll buy tickets to some other games too. Won’t be able to go to Riga to see the playoffs :/
I don’t watch youth games. I myself was not a basketball player but a boxer. Took part in many youth tournaments, but didn’t and don’t find it enjoyable as a spectacle. Same for youth basketball.
But I like your updates. And I respect your passion for the sport. Sorry if my remark rubbed you the wrong way, I didn’t mean to sneer.
Your comment didn’t rub me the wrong way at all. Moreso the opposite. I appreciate the fact that you appreciate how much I love the game. The way these other guys comment does rub me the wrong way tho.
I’m a big boxing guy too tho. I’m hype to check out all the big fights tmrw, especially Usyk
Booker can be happy ($) or win. Cannot have both on this team.
Beyond Beal and Booker, the suns payroll future is not looking bright enough to surround Booker with a contending team. And with that extension he basically is untradeable. So I guess he should just be happy ($) because he ain’t winning anything for at least 3 years.