Suns majority owner Mat Ishbia has conceded that he made some team- and culture-building missteps during his first few seasons at the helm. Ishbia is on his fourth head coach in as many years and has already cycled through multiple Hall of Fame players since the end of the 2022/23 season when he assumed control of the franchise.
In an interview on Arizona Sports’ Burns and Gambo show, Ishbia took the blame for the club’s struggles to define its culture. He has addressed this issue in other media appearances this offseason.
“We have young players that are ascending instead of players that are descending,” Ishbia said. “We have players that wanna be here, that are bought into the Phoenix Suns’ culture. I can take the criticism for not defining (that culture) well enough when I bought the team, but it is defined very clearly now.”
These pointed remarks certainly seem to be allusions to the awkward fit of two pricey veterans, All-Star forward Kevin Durant and former All-Star guard Bradley Beal. Neither player remains on the roster, although Phoenix reaffirmed its commitment to homegrown superstar guard Devin Booker this summer with a two-year extension that could be worth up to $145MM.
Here’s more from Ishbia’s interview, which is well worth hearing in full:
On the current roster’s buy-in:
“There is not a player on the team that does not understand what we’re about. There’s not a coach, there’s not anyone in the front office that does not understand that it’s for the fans, and we’re gonna develop a team that they’re gonna be proud of year in and year out.”
On the revamped team’s new long-term title trajectory:
“What I expect is we’re gonna be competitive, a team that you’re gonna be proud of and we’re gonna be building… Over the next couple years, you’re gonna see us follow that same Phoenix Mercury path to be competing for a championship, playing hard.”
On his original expectations for a ready-made champion when he bought the team:
“When I bought the Suns originally, I thought we were on third base… Now, I’ve set a vision. I’ve said, ‘Hey, I know what kind of guys I want, we ain’t trading for guys who aren’t like this.’ …Do I expect it to take a couple years to get to the point where you’re like, ‘Wow, I see the vision?’ Yes.”
Beal certainly wanted to be there, it was the Suns that as an organization decided they did not want him.
This guy came in and screwed this franchise for years, and now he’s all “I know what kind of guys I want.” The guys he should want are a smart hard working FO that tells him to back the f.o.
It’s nice that he is admitting he made mistakes, but is he really facing how bad his mistakes have been? Virtually all of Phoenix’s first and second round draft picks have been traded away. 3 contracts have been stretched, leaving Phoenix limited cap room. Over $300 million is now committed to Booker, who is a nice player, but not someone who can lead a championship team. And Phoenix has a new coach (again), a lot of new players, and supposedly a new culture. But will it all mesh?
And how patient will Ishbia be if the Suns miss the playoffs year after year?
He’s actually not admitting his mistakes. If you listen to the full interview on the radio, he does the opposite.
“I can take the criticism for not defining (that culture) well enough when I bought the team, but it is defined very clearly now.”
He also says: “So when I bought Suns, we said: ‘Hey, let’s put some money behind it, let’s uncap the luxury tax, let them make some moves.’ And I did not define the vision, the culture of what we want. And we tried spending some money, supporting what they already had in place, and it didn’t work. And we all saw that”.
He’s doing the opposite of admitting his mistakes. He says ‘them’ multiple times to describe what was happening and distance himself from it. And that it was not his ‘vision’.
Now he removed ‘them’, set the vision, and things should be on the up in Phoenix, lol.
Listen to the audio interview – it paints a picture far worse than the quotes selected in this article.
link to arizonasports.com
Thanks to listening to it for me. I am going to go ahead and skip it. Sounds like a d bag. Was hoping when sarver got booted the team would end up in better hands. Oh well.
Book was within two games and a Saric injury of leading a team to a championship. He is a world champion. The only guys, for sure, who won’t lead a team to a championship are out of the league.
Absolutely looking forward to how the young Suns mesh and seeing how the older teams in the PAC fare against the new OKC paradigm. Is there a perfect owner out there somewhere? Do tell.
At least he took a little responsibility for where they are at (although not all the responsibility). We will see what happens from here. The hole they dug is pretty cavernous. Show me don’t tell
me. Trading away two late FR picks for mark williams ain’t exactly a flying start imo.
That interview is not great. Especially when you listen to him talk on the radio.
“The culture is very clear now.” – Yeah, sure, before you even played a game under a new coach.
“Now we have people who are aligned with what we’re trying to do.” – Implying there were people who were not aligned with the new ownership and they got removed. Were those the same people who actually designed their success when the team went to the finals and were the No.1 seed, but did not agree with what Ishbia had in mind?
“You’re gonna see us follow that same Phoenix Mercury path to be competing for a championship, playing hard.” – What does a team operating in a completely different reality and playing essentially a different sport has to do with anything?
If you listen to him talk, it’s clear that he’s even more hands-on than before. Trades, talking about players having different roles. Which is the opposite of what he should be doing.
He’s crediting himself with the Mercury success and talks about them as much if not more than about the Suns. Does this mean the Suns will become an unwanted stepchild hiding in the shadow of success of the mighty Mercury?
If I were a Suns fan, I’d hate every single sentence he babbled in that interview.
Matt is a complete a hole and wish nothing but the worst for his franchises. Came out an told people he was glad Dan Gilbert had a stroke. Despicable human being.
Dan Gilbert can be a douche but being happy anyone had a stroke is messed up. That is gross.
What grade A tool…
Stage 2 of new owner syndrome ….. acceptance.
Well, sort of.
Is there a link to this interview?
Updated the link in the story to go directly to the Ishbia interview instead of the Burns & Gambo landing page.