Marc Stein Talks Surprising Suns Hiring Of Jordan Ott & What’s Going on With KD

Marc Stein Talks Surprising Suns Hiring Of Jordan Ott & What’s Going on With KD

look Jordan Kn is a well- reggarded coach there’s there’s no doubt about it but the natural questions that will come out of this beyond look question number one 2 3 5 7 9 11 like you said do you only hire people who have Michigan State ties i mean that is a question that the Suns are going to have to answer mark how are you my friend i am good sir i am good i wanted to tweet that I was on but sorry too many things are happening so I’m not I wasn’t able to do that before we started so my apologies that that is perfectly fine you never have to apologize to me we appreciate your time Jordan not new son’s head coach uh a lot of skepticism due to his Michigan State ties what did you hear about this process and how they kind of whittleled it down to Jordan Well it’s interesting i have to say as you know I believe I was the first to report that Brian Gregory was going to be elevated to the top of the Sun’s front office hierarchy and on Sunday the same person who told me that Brian Gregory was going to get the Sun’s front office job told me that Jordan not was going to win this race and there have been so many twists and turns in this search that even hearing that from such a smart preient source who was right on about Gregory I couldn’t confirm it with a second source so I couldn’t go with it but I certainly bought it believed it and that’s the way it’s played out and look Jordan is a very well- reggarded coach he’s been with I believe four different franchises already steve Nash who you know is someone that I hold in very high regard and someone whose career I covered very closely steve worked with Jordan not in Brooklyn and has always regarded him very well i had another source describe him as very reminiscent of Taylor Jenkins which I think is also high praise because I think Taylor Jenkins did a tremendous job in Memphis and established himself as a very good coach who’s going to get another head coaching job in this league someday but there’s nothing I can pass along from talking to people in the league that I’m sure is going to change your opinion or assuage the concerns of PHNX listeners and Suns fans who are furious that can’t who who I’m guessing cannot believe that yet another person with Michigan State ties the guy who wins the race here but that is exactly the way it’s played out and let’s just say I look forward to the press conference i hope Matt is at the press conference when they introduce Jordan not as the next coach because that that will that how many how many questions will include the words Michigan and state in them at that press conference i think everyone look I I was I was just saying Mark I I actually don’t have a huge problem on this i I understood more the concern about Brian Gregory because of his lack of experience but Jordan not as a guy that’s been you know around the NBA on staffs since 2013 was a finalist for that Charlotte job last year i think there has been some unfair approach not that I should expect anything different from the internet but an unfair approach towards him and his experience as if he just came out of the video coordinator room at MSU and now is the head coach of the Phoenix Suns yeah look Jordan not is a well- reggarded coach there’s there’s no doubt about it but the natural questions that will come out of this beyond look question number 1 2 3 5 7 9 11 like you said do you only hire people who have Michigan State ties i mean that is a question that the Suns are going to have to answer the other thing here is that you know Johnny Bryant I believe is the associate head coach in Cleveland he’s the number one assistant there so you hired a coach who was actually lower in the Cavaliers own pecking order than Jordan Kn but again I’m not I’m with you you know Jordan Kn is kind of innocent in this situation he applied for the job he wanted the job it’s a chance to coach to be a head coach in the NBA what is he supposed to do not take it because some people are going to be mad about his background no that would be ridiculous this is the chance of a lifetime for him to be a head coach and like I said there are no shortage of coaches in this league who I trust who I’ve asked for their read on him and they all speak of him very highly but you know the process was certainly weird you know they they interviewed more than 15 coaches in round one and then when they narrowed it down the first time it was like eight or nine and then what was thought to be the final round actually included still five coaches plus David Fizzdale was still part of the process to some degree so there were really six before they got to what actually became the finals of them narrowing it down to Jordan not and Johnny Bryant so one thing I will say about Ishbia though he always does press conferences he does take our questions you know that’s more than you can say for a lot of teams in this league right now so I would assume that when Jordan Kn is introduced that we’re going to get both Brian Gregory and Matt Ishbia at the deis i hope that’s the case because again Matt Ishpia has shown a willingness to answer all these questions you know last Saturday was you know I was I first reported that Devin Booker was involved in the later stages of this search with the in-person you know the the five I’m going to try to remember them all and you know my memory you know I’m getting old so my memory isn’t as good the the the five coaches who advanced to what actually were not the finals but what was build as the finals dallas’s Sean Sweeney Miami’s Chris Quinn both Jordan Kn and Johnny Bryant from Cleveland they all went to Phoenix for face-to-face interviews devin Booker spoke to all of those candidates when they were in Phoenix over the weekend I reported that Brian Gregory actually went to OKC to meet with Dave Bliss who’s still coaching in the playoffs oklahoma City’s Dave Bliss i don’t know this for a fact but I do not believe that Devin Booker was on the trip to actually go to Oklahoma City and meet with Dave Bliss i I do not have that confirmed but it’s just my working assumption that Deon Booker didn’t travel but Devin Booker was involved in the process for the last fiveish candidates it’s been reported today by ESPN that Jordan not has Deon Booker’s seal of approval if that’s the case that’s obviously a good sign you know Steve Nash giving him a strong recommendation that’s obviously a good sign but like I said I am eagerly awaiting the introductory press conference there’s a belief uh from some online uh that this was not a thorough process i I I feel like after going through that uh it seems like they were very thorough in trying to figure out where they wanted to end up even if they may have had an idea of uh people that they liked towards the end well the look it was thorough i mean you don’t interview more than 15 candidates and and claim it’s not thorough but I think the issue here is that again and and Jordan not is just going to get dragged into this unfairly this is not on him whatsoever but another question I imagine that the Suns are going to have to answer is did you just do this whole process knowing you wanted to hire Jordan not the whole time and did you run through 15 plus candidates to put on this elaborate show and then just hire the guy you wanted all along i think that’s a fair question i don’t know what the Sun’s answer is going to be again I am eager to hear it uh did Johnny Bryant uh and the Knicks news yesterday have uh have any impact on this final decision i know there were some rumors that he might be a candidate in New York but I I don’t believe so i know that was a natural thing to circulate yesterday in the wake of of Tom Tibido’s dismissal the Knicks like Johnny Bryant he had a pretty prominent role on a Tom Tibido staff there already but when the Knicks in the statement we’ve received from Leon Rose explaining the decision by the Knicks to go away from the most successful coach they’ve had in the 21st century you heard Leon Rose say “We are singularly focused on winning a championship.” Something that hasn’t happened in New York since the early 70s that’s a tough position to put a firsttime head coach maybe Johnny Bryant is on high on their list maybe he’s going to be considered for this Knicks opening but is a firsttime coach the answer when you’re I mean the Knicks have basically made it this is championship or bust the Suns are not in a championship or bust position the Suns are in a position i’m not even sure I have the the words to fully describe it um so I I really don’t think they were related and certainly with the Suns choosing Jordan not it’s kind of a moot point at this point when uh you know when this dust settles the the last or the biggest question remaining for the Suns is the Kevin Durant situation have you heard anything new on that front or we pretty much sounds like they’re going to make a move but we don’t know exactly how that’s going to shake out at this point yeah I had this in my Sunday night story that as part of the search there definitely was messaging that emerged that that yes the Suns are not expecting to retain Kevin Durant and I think coaches who were involved in the process came away with the feeling that Durant is not going to be on this team when training camp convenes in late September early October and look the difference you know we’ve talked about this before in February the Suns unilaterally explored Kevin Durant trade options and it took Kevin Durant going to them and saying “Guys I don’t want to be traded in season don’t trade me let’s finish this season out for those talks to kind of be halted this time it’s going to be done in collaboration with Kevin Durant i think it’s been a you know working knowledge around the league that the Suns and Kevin Durant’s representative business manager Rich Kleman his longtime business manager they’re going to try to figure this thing out together but I yeah I would say the expectation around the league is that there is going to be some sort of Kevin Durant trade it’s much harder to forecast Giannis Antakmpo’s future at this point because we don’t have clarity does Giannis actually want out does Giannis want to stay we are waiting for that clarity to this point and it’s it’s you know it’s frequently been suggested in recent days that the Durant situation might might underline might have to wait for that kind of clarity but if you’re predicting a future Hall of Famer to be traded this off season it’s a much safer bet I think at this point to start that list with Durant do do you get the feeling that if either one of those are moved that you’d probably see something around the draft just because it’s going to have to involve draft capital to to get something done i trul I mean I think that’s an assumption but I can’t I can’t tell you that for sure i wish I knew i wish I had it nailed to that degree but still got to the Durant Durant’s future like you said and Bradley Beals for that matter those will now be the focus between now and the draft for the Suns they’ve done their coaching search they’ve got their new GM they’ve got their new coach i’m going to say one more time PHNX send the send the plane send the private PHNX plane to get me out there for the press conference i would love to be there but on once once that is done it is it is time to focus on on roster mark it’s only an 18-hour drive to Dallas i I’ll be there uh shortly we’ll get back here in time for the press conference i highly recommend that you all go subscribe to the Stein Line on Substack great NBA Finals coverage all of the rumors and news and interesting things going on in the NBA from Mark and Jake Fisher over there it is one of my favorite subscribes you need to go do it you can also check out Mark on DLS mark thank you for the time my friend

NBA Insider Marc Stein joins the show to talk about the Phoenix Suns surprise hiring of Jordan Ott and what’s the latest on the Kevin Durant trade rumors.

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