Mat Ishbia Might FINALLY Be Learning From His Mistakes Constructing The Suns + A Show Announcement

Mat Ishbia Might FINALLY Be Learning From His Mistakes Constructing The Suns + A Show Announcement

Today on Locked on Phoenix Suns is Matt Ishbia finally learning from his past and a little he said she said with Bradley Beal, Mark Bartlestein as well as Matt Ishbia. And finally, the Suns miss out on Marcus Smart. What does it mean? Let’s talk about it all next. You are Locked On Suns, your daily Phoenix Suns podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network, your team every day. Welcome back into Locked On Phoenix Suns. My name is Benjamin Garcia, a not a staff writer at Awful Announcing. That’s not true. I am a credentialed Suns media member covering the Phoenix Suns over the past couple of seasons. Uh, thanks for making Locked on Phoenix Suns your first listen today on this beautiful Monday. Don’t forget Locked On Phoenix Suns is free and available on all platforms including YouTube. So, click that follow or subscribe button to do what thousands of other Suns fans have done every single day. Uh, become an everyday. Today’s episode is brought to you by Monarch Money. Take control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code locked on NBA at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year. Joining me as always from the I don’t know uh east side. Normally it’s wonderful West Valley. Today it’s the east side. My guy Brendan Clean staff writer Ovo at awful announcing and a credentialed Suns media member. What’s up man? How you doing? A little different today. How things go? Mixing things up. Although yeah these uh these folks in the Suns organization keep talking. I don’t know why. So we’re going to dig into that today and try to make sense of the spin I think a little bit here. Yeah, there’s definitely been some spinning going on with the Phoenix Suns. Bartlestein, Matt Ishvia, Bradley Beal, we’ll talk about that all in just a second. However, uh Matt Ishvia seems to be potentially learning from his past. Uh you can kind of take it for what it’s worth, but Ishbia went on SiriusXM and basically talked about some of the things that has happened, the mistakes that have that have transpired in the Phoenix Suns organization. Ishvia is now speaking out on that through SiriusXM. Let’s hear what he said yesterday about the Suns mistakes and what they’re going to do to correct us. Vision and identity day one. And I did not do that with the Phoenix Suns. I thought, hey, let’s add some money. Let’s give them They already got a good thing going. Let’s untap some resources and it will only get better. And that’s not how it works. We have to set an identity. We have to define what we’re about here in Phoenix. We have to get those type of players and I have to be intimately involved with those type of people in our organization from the front office to the medical staff to the dietitians. Everybody’s got to have an alignment of what we’re about here in Phoenix. And we didn’t do a good enough job. That’s my that’s on me. I’ll take the blame. We are going to do it the right way here in Phoenix for the long term. And the long term could be a year or two or three or could be 10. But we are going to build it the right way. We got to make our fans proud. No one’s going to question whether I care. I promise you that. And no one’s going to question whether I spend. I promise you that. So, I’ll check those two boxes. But it takes more than that to win and I’m going to try to learn all those things and help lead this organization in the best way possible. The big thing I learned is that listen, you got to start and have the That’s enough from you, Matt. Uh yeah, so I think we’ve heard that multiple times. He’s willing to spend. He’s willing to take big risks. But I think what was more important there is him basically talking about, yeah, we made some mistakes in the past and I want to correct those. Have an alignment. Have a different way of doing things. Brendan, are you buying that or is it just same old Matt Ishbia, but this time he’s going to make it very clear that his thumbrint and everything is all over the Suns team? I think Matt Ishbia sounds like somebody who clearly learned a lesson, but I’m not sure if it’s the right lesson. I think it’s funny listening to him talk there. Like I don’t I don’t doubt that Ishbia I mean how could you doubt that Ishbia is going to spend money and be aggressive and and all those sorts of things like he’s proven that that’s not a question whether you’re talking about his his company or the Phoenix Suns or the Phoenix Mercury. But it it honestly sounds a lot like how James Jones used to speak and the the honestly the the criticism I would have of James Jones which was lacking the overarching goal, right? like, okay, we were building around a big three, all in vets, vets, vets, win a championship. Okay, that didn’t work. Pivot. Now we’re young, 10 years to build this, that, and the other. We’re we’re on the we’re for the long haul. That is all we’re doing. And it’s like you look at the Miami Heat or the Boston Celtics or whoever, there’s like a big picture lesson and a big picture identity that’s being built toward. And so that’s the part where I’m not hearing that. And it maybe it just comes with time and everything else, but it sounds like part of the problem and part of why that’s not there is he has a really hard time trusting other minds is what it sounds like. Cuz why couldn’t that have happened with James Jones or Bob Myers or anybody else that you could throw in there that’s more of a NBA lifer experienced decision maker that he could have plugged in to work alongside him? Why did it have to be that in order for him to feel good and even start to get close to that bigger picture and a little bit of a pivot from his way or the highway, why did it have to only be people he happened to have met before? That’s the part that I think is not quite clicking and that I think is still bothering me hearing him talk about it. Yeah. The thing I think bothers me the most is the lack of vulnerability in it. It feels like when you say sorry in an argument that you’re not actually sorry for, you just want to move on and then he goes back to saying, “But I did this, this, this, and this.” It feels like he thinks that this is going to be a lot easier of a turnaround than it actually is. Just saying the buzzwords of alignment and looking like you’re doing things correctly, uh, I don’t think goes far enough for me to be able to just be like, “Oh, you’ve got it totally fixed.” Because if you’re Ishbia, you have to understand that you have failed like ginormously over the last couple of seasons. But it’s the lack of accountability, I think, on himself and the vulnerability of basically saying it was really hard. We screwed this up. The situation we’re in is not great right now. We’re picking up the pieces to try to make it look better. And unfortunately, it’s a harsh le harsh lesson in reality that I don’t think he has been able to say, “Yep, this is what happened.” It just feels like a not like a like a half-assed apology sometimes when you say these kind of things. But it’s not only just that as well, right? Ishbia potentially learning from some of his mistakes, but it’s also we’ve kind of seen this as a year where you have to win over Devin Booker at least a little bit. Make him seem like that this is a competent organization he’s going to want to stay with. Well, Matt Isbia also came out on SiriusXM and said the following. I don’t feel any pressure to win to keep Deon happy. Devin’s going to be happy because we’re going to try to win. We’re going to do things to be aligned with the vision, an identity that he agrees with a thousand% and I agree with a thousand%. I don’t need any external pressure to try to win. We want to win every single day. We want to get better every single day, but the expectation has changed. When you have Kevin, Devin, and Brad, people think it’s championship or bust. And unfortunately, we busted two years in a row. He mentioned a couple of other things, but that’s the gist of what he’s saying. Are you buying uh that you don’t necessarily have to show convince Devin Booker that you’re trying to win or is this all just kind of again he said she said? Well, I let’s clarify. He didn’t say try to win. He said actually win. I think that’s the distinction he’s making. Like do they have to win 50 games right away in order for Devin Booker to want to be part of this this build? And I actually do buy that that’s true. I don’t think that they need to be excellent immediately and go back to contender status in the next little while in order for Book to to buy in. I think it’s not even just Book. I think all any superstar truly wants is an ownership in front office that is that is allin and obviously the tools to continue to be allin. Now that second part is where the Suns and like you see with Milwaukee for instance that starts to get dicey. Do you actually have the ability to do that even if you say all the right things is sort of a different question. But I think it’s I do think it’s true because like yeah like Lillard in in Portland, we’re all celebrating his return because I think all he ever really wanted was to have the support of that fan base and be in a competitive environment. And once you stray from that and the team and him both kind of strayed from that a few years ago, I think a lot of the time you end up regretting it. And so I I think that that’s true when it comes to book, but obviously if it’s four, you know, four or even two years from now and we’re still feeling like it’s not close, well then it might not actually feel like they’re building aggressively anymore if it can if it keeps failing. So in the short term, I actually do buy that there’s not a ton of pressure to win in order to make Booker happy. Well, I also take it from a different perspective, too, man. Where uh if Devin Booker doesn’t think you have to win for him to want to stay there. To me, it’s like how much does Deon Booker actually care about winning? That’s where it comes to me where it’s like, oh, you don’t have to actually have to win. You just have to make it at least look like it or you don’t actually have to win games. Deon Booker is just okay taking a paycheck. When I see that, say it. No, no, no. I’m not saying Book said it, but it’s telling me, oh, you you have a player on your team that is okay with just collecting a paycheck if the team isn’t good enough. I know that’s not on Devin Booker, but I do kind of want to hear a little bit of a kick in the ass from Devin Booker to Matt Isha being like, we got to win games this year. I’m not talking about winning 55 games, 50 games, 45 games, but we have to take a fairly drastic step up from where we were last year. Remember, there were 10 games under 500 last year. and be a competitive team because if you’re not that you could lose Devin Booker. I do think pressure is a good thing for this team to have. Do you see what I’m saying there? Booker’s not dumb. What what good would it be for him to say win 50 games? It’s just not going to happen. And frankly, a lot of the difference of how it even if you dreamt up a situation where it could happen, it would be him being out of this world amazing. So what good does it do for him to create fairly unrealistic expectations in terms of the standings, the win loss when it doesn’t change the reality of the situation, which is that this is a reset that he just recommitted to with that extension? What like what would it what would be helpful about him publicly or even privately being so like obtuse about it and being like we got to win. Well, good. I mean I got to have a sports car. I don’t have one. Well, I think Well, for me, man, when you’re 36 and 46 last year and you don’t even make the playin, I do think it’s realistic expectations for Devin Booker to say, “Hey, listen. We got to be a playoff team or a playin team this year because I know how good I am in a oneame setting. I can help lift us to the playoffs.” That part’s on me. But what we can’t be this year is a team that is 15 games over under 500. It doesn’t work out. And then you’re talking about issues for uh uh uh the Suns down the line where you don’t even feel you compete with the players that you have. That’s what I’m talking I just need there to be a little bit more pressure from Ishbia feeling that Booker I think there’s plenty. I think when people say win when the interviewer says win to Ishbia win means playoff wins. Win win means be really good. Obviously, if they win 22 games, we’re having a very different conversation. So, there’s a sweet spot in there where Booker is still going to feel like this thing is headed in the right direction because they’re competitive and the moves that they did make this summer do work out, but also being realistic and not trying to say we’re about to make the conference finals and then just sounding like a an idiot in the public. All I’m saying is and I and Okay, so let me let me do you just said yes. you feel like there is pressure. I just wish that that was pointed out more towards the public of like we know how important this season is. We’ve talked about over the last couple years it’s championship or bust for us. I just want to bring back a little bit of that pressure that Ishbia feels like it. Not necessarily that Devin Booker is even putting it on him. Just me as a fan is like, “Wait a second, we could lose Deon Booker next year because we’re not trying to win.” that that I think that that goes back to my answer from the first the the clip you played where it’s like when it’s so um whack-a-ole season to season then that is when it starts to feel like what is the big picture and Ishbia’s comments are very often in my opinion based on what just happened and unfortunately for I think his decision-m what is everybody saying about it he he listens to the noise and I don’t think either of those two things are healthy so I think that he’s just trying to say that there’s not a lot of pressure because that’s just the opposite of what he’s been saying for two years and he knows he needs to change. Okay, so I’m changing. Do you hear me? I’m changing. That’s like what I’m hearing when he when he says this stuff. But obviously I think that he feels like his actions speak for themselves in order to actually do what he knows needs to be done to keep Deon Booker. So maybe that’s also why he doesn’t feel the need to go talk about it is cuz in in his head he’s like, “Yeah, I’m going to do whatever it’s whatever it takes and Book knows that and I don’t need to go tell, you know, Burns and Gambo or Eddie Johnson and Justin Ty about it.” Well, it’s just so funny, man, because it’s like we’ve heard Ishbia speak about it. It’d be nice to get a quote from Devin Booker saying, “Yes, we need to be better next year, but also we understand that the expectations are different than they were from year after year.” It’d just be nice to hear from your star player. However, a former star player uh for the Phoenix Suns, these stories just keep on coming. Bradley Beal, Mark Bartlestein, a little he said, she said. Who do we believe in the story of Bradley Beal’s exit? Let’s talk about it next. 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Instead, we’ll send it over to the Burns and Gambo show. uh Brendan who had uh uh Matt Ishbia on talking about the remarks of Mark Bartlestein on Bradley Beiel’s exit that it seemed a little bit more heated than it wasn’t. But Ishbia has got a different take on the matter. The conversations with Brad in in moving on the word intense was used. The word I believe by his agent uh the word heated was used. What how how what was the nature and the tone of those conversations when Brad when you were going through this with him? You know, I’m not going to speak to stuff about the agent. I don’t you know what they did and how they discussed it. But I’ll tell you, I spoke with Brad himself, me personally. And he’s nothing but a professional. Nothing but appreciative of his time here. Disappointed that it didn’t work. Disappointed that, you know, he can’t stay with the Phoenix Suns. Um and he handled it like a gentleman and a professional that he is. And we’re moving forward. So, you know, we I look at that as a past now. We’re going to move forward. It’s no longer a part of our organization. It was a decision we made when we traded for Kevin Durant and Brad Beal. Those decisions and putting that team together, it did not work. Now, I promise you, we’re going to take other swings in the future. And if you want a team that doesn’t try to win and doesn’t take swings and doesn’t get aggressive, don’t cheer for the Phoenix Suns because we are always going to try to win. The conversations with Brad in in moving on. Thank you, Dave Burns. Um, you know, it’s funny, Brendan. When we saw this story come out, I saw it initially, Mark Bartlestein basically saying it was a little heated. Maybe words were exchanged, not thrilled with the situation that had transpired in Phoenix. A buyout situation was in the works. Maybe Beal took literally the the most minimum amount as possible to make the buyout happen. Relationships weren’t great. Ishbia comes out and says, “Yeah, I don’t really remember that being the case. Who do you believe and what do you think actually happened?” So, let me give the like version of the story where everybody’s kind of right. Okay. So, Beal last year was benched. Yeah. Shown to his face by way of the Jimmy Butler trade talks and his role on the team that they didn’t value him. Even after But Benhoer gets fired, he has every reason to believe that that’s still going to be true. That gets even more true. So in this article, he apparently before they ever got Jaylen Green and and traded Kevin Durant as far back as when Jordan not took the job, Beiel didn’t feel like he wanted to be around, right? So that would go back to last year, which they kind of showed him that they didn’t want him around. And Mattbia said a very similar version of this right after the season in terms of the identity, the competitiveness. If you’re not going to be like that, you’re not going to have a place on the team. Very thinly veiled jab at Beal there. Then I think if you read this article, maybe Bartlescene is just talking about the money side. He’s just saying the intense conversations were just about the amount that Beal was going to give back via buyout, which as far as right now is more than he theoretically is going to make on this Clippers contract. And that’s not always common. So that is something to be, you know, strongly negotiated over. And Ishbia probably does respect Brad to a degree, right? Like he does, I think, all things considered, nothing terrible happened. He didn’t, you know, punch him in the face at a meeting. He didn’t, you know, anything like that. But man, doesn’t it feel like these two sides just want to say the most awful stuff about each other? Like it feels like they are chomping at the bit to tell us how much they do not like each other because they are they are going so close to the line without crossing it that whether it’s leaking whether it’s these these carefully worded statements whether it’s it’s Ishbia saying one thing and then quickly saying something that kind of feels very different like I I think it ended really really badly. I think that, you know, the organization was probably just as frustrated by the end of Beiel’s time here as a lot of fans were and it’s showing. I saw Mark Barlstein’s quotes like exactly kind of framing the situation of like obviously it got heated. The same stuff Dave Burns said. I’m not going to change it up into any different of words. However, I saw that and I was like, dude, why would you leak that? Who cares? I mean, doesn’t your son work for the organization? really trying to make it harder on him to be able to get guys here later. And so I kind of expect that from the partying party away from the team. Those guys are crazy. Whatever. Like fine. I thought Matt Ishpia’s quote was perfect up until that last part where they were talking about you as well. How you were saying, uh, we have a vision, we have a a game plan, we have an alignment, and Bradley Beal didn’t fit that right there. It’s like, why did you have to add that? just let it die. Whatever. I think he’s super mad at Batman Brad. Like I think that it’s just he’s human, you know? I get I get that and I get the human side of it, but you are the CEO or you’re you’re you’re the owner of the team. Like I have I’m sure you’ve had this before in the past, too. I’ve had this happen to me two or three times, not in the sports world, maybe once in the sports world where I got laid off from a job or I lost a job or when I was younger I, you know, got lo lost a job or it’s like you’re angry at that party or same with a sports team. You don’t make a sports team. That happened to me when I was younger. You think one thing in your head and you say, “Oh, thank you for the opportunity.” You don’t get a job that you went through three rounds of interviews for. Thanks for let uh letting me be here. let me know later on in the past. You don’t twist the knife and of like, hey, if that guy that you hired above me eventually isn’t as good as me, let me know. Like, you don’t do that. And so, when you’re the the parent in this situation, that’s where I kind of go after Matt Ishbia, where it’s like, you kind of have to be the adult here. Bradley Beiel got kicked off the team. He got waxed from the team. He’s not going to be thrilled. You were the one that helped make this decision. You got to be the one that takes the high road. That’s where I see it from my side. What about you? I don’t disagree that that’s how it should have been handled. I think you know one yeah human and Ishpp is a very emotional intense guy. That always shows it’s probably not easy for him to hold back on certain things and that’s just getting the best of him here. At the same time I feel like this is a little bit of what we were talking about in that last segment when it comes to trying to express that vision and adhere to it. And I think that there is an element of him that is probably trying to communicate. I mean, he said it right in April, right after the season when he did the press conference you and I were both at. He said, “There are going to be players that we do not keep around because they don’t fit.” And I think that there’s an element of him that wants to make that clear to the league and say, “See, we just did it. We were not effing around. Brad’s gone because Brad did not fit it. You know, five years, our cap sheet five years from now, be damned.” the optics of it be damned. No, we didn’t even do this for Miles Turner like Milwaukee did. We did this because we just really were that sick and tired of this guy and we want to turn the page. So, I I kind of can respect that, too, even though I’ve given my opinions personally about the Beal the Beal move. I I I think that that’s part of what he’s trying to do here, too. And I it’s probably coming across that way for different players and agents and teams around the league. So, in that same ESPN article, uh, Mark Bartlestein mentioned that about 20 teams were interested in Bradley Beal. Do you buy that for at for two years? $11 million. Do you buy that? Oh, well, well, no, because I don’t think that I don’t think he’s saying it that it was that it was that contract because there was also reporting out there that Brad was offered a lot of minimum offers and things like that. So if you could get Bradley Beal at the minimum, every team should at least be inquiring about that, right? So I buy that. I don’t mean 20. I don’t know. But I I think there was probably a lot of interest, same way that there seemingly was with Dame. So I think so. I I I kind of do believe it. Well, I didn’t think of it in that nature, and I probably should have before I asked the question of did Bradley Beal have multiple 2-year, 11 million offers on the table. I just don’t buy that. Especially when in in in a in a NBA league where there’s aprons obviously to it where not everyone has cap space. Only few teams actually have the ability to go give a two-year 11 million contract out that are actually comp competing. Not the Wizards of the world, not the Grizz, not the whatever those teams, right? Exactly. It’s kind of irrelevant because we know what Bill wanted. So, it’s like maybe maybe the Grizzlies would have offered him that, but we just went through it last summer or last season where the Butler stuff goes on and it’s like it doesn’t really matter if Detroit would like be cuz he’s not going there. So, it’s kind of the same thing here. Moving on. Uh let’s head let’s get to the final segment of the show, Brendan, where uh I just mentioned the Wizards a second ago. They bought out a guy in Marcus Smart. The Phoenix Suns were in on that sweep states, ended up losing that sweep states. Let’s talk about that next. Finishing the show yesterday, Marcus Smart was uh uh bought out by the Washington Wizards. And according to Mark Stein, who I think had this story first. League sources tell the Stein Line that Phoenix had also has interest in Smart once he becomes an unrestricted free agent. But the expectation is that Smart will choose to join the Lakers as LA’s third marquee which is a interesting way to put that offseason acquisition along with DeAndre and Jake Lariva Larivia Lavia. I know who that is. Obviously played for the Kings last year. However, name didn’t hit that on the mark. Marcus Smart is uh uh uh was obviously on the Suns radar. The Suns missed out on him. What’s your initial reaction? Are you upset that that didn’t work out? Were you hope you think that would have been a nice missing piece for the Suns or where do you land on that? Uh not really that disappointed. Otherwise, I would have brought him up as we’ve been talking about what the Suns could do at the guard spot with one of these roster spots, right? Like I just I think me never me never mentioning him as somebody I wanted probably answers that for our everydayers here. I just think Marcus Smart like you know anybody there’s a lot of Boston media and so it’s easy to get a read on Celtics players and toward the end of that really the last couple seasons even though he won defensive player of the year his second to last season with the Celtics they were telling us you know physically he’s not the same guy and he’s he’s headed toward a different type of version of what he’s going to be as a player and you know you can look at it and say this past season he is with a Grizzlies team. The past couple seasons he was with a Grizzlies team and a Wizards team that were not exactly in prime contention or position to win much of anything, although Memphis a little more this year. But I just he played 54 games the past two seasons and 61 the year before that. He’s a theoretical fit for what the Suns need. I actually think this guy, whatever, whoever it ends up being that the Suns are going to bring in. Part of why I get why they’re being a little deliberate about it here is I think this person is going to actually potentially play some minutes for this team. And so, I don’t know if you could afford to have it be somebody with injury questions. It’s frankly part of why I’m not going to sit here and tell anybody even like a Malcolm Brogden is a home run because of the same concerns that I would have about him. So, you know, if they had signed Marcus Smart on a minimum deal, would I have like, you know, sit here and and ripped it? No. Cuz it’s a minimum contract with one of your last roster spots. But I think it actually would have been kind of a risk because they need a dude who can actually slide in here and and be capable for a long a large role throughout the whole year. I don’t think it was just the fact that the Boston Celtics fans and media had also kind of seen that Marcus Smart was starting to break down all that stuff, right? When people talk about the defensive player of the year and Marcus Smart, yes, he was a really good defensive player. However, that whole Boston Celtics team was riddled with elite level defensive players. So, yes, maybe he was the marquee player there. They shipped him out of town for granted I think it was Drew Holiday at the end of the day however all that worked out but Marcus Smart you had mentioned it too man 20 games 19 games 15 games a total of 34 games played over the last two seasons uh when you combine those with uh those games between the Grizzlies and the uh uh and the Wizards he played about 54 games over the last two years. He’s breaking down. He’s someone that the Suns, yes, maybe could have used the Bulldog defensively. He is a smaller guy. He’s only 63. It’s not like he’s going to come in here and intimidate other people. I just don’t know if that would have been the right spot for someone who I assume would want playing time when I feel like I mean, tell me if you’ve heard this before, man. I feel like they have the pesky defensive guy on the bench in Colin Gillespie. I don’t think he’s gonna be awesome, but I don’t think he’s a minus defensively to be able to give the Suns exactly what they need. I don’t think he’s exact like the the That’s why I said Smart’s a better defensive player. I don’t want to I don’t want to make it seem like that either. I’m just saying different that role. Smart can switch like he Yes, he’s 6’3. He can guard one through three, one through four or at least he could in his prime. And so if you got that player, I think there’s absolutely a role for that guy. We know that Jordan not wants to pressure the ball and be be uh stifling point of attack team defensively and prevent that penetration and everything else that the defense is going to really start up there like it did with Frank Vogle and that would be great to have Marcus Smart for but you know I don’t think he’s that anymore and yeah I mean his shooting has has fallen off of a cliff and you know I he was never great and so it’s it just yeah it probably wasn’t going to make sense to have a lesser version of that guy. At the same time, I I could just keep sitting here and saying Malcolm Brogden every episode so people can like put their bingo chips down or take a shot or whatever, but I really don’t know who else it’s going to be. Like even now trying to expand my imagination to hm are there buyout candidates on some of these teams now that the smart thing has kind of got some of us thinking in that direction, but Jordan Clarkson already got bought out and some of these other guys have been traded or or different things. I just I don’t really see exactly who that’s going to be either. So, I I hate to be a broken record, but it it may just be unless they can pull one of these trade rabbits out of their hat. It might just have to be Brogden at this point. That might be where they’re stuck. And then if he doesn’t want to come here, I actually don’t know what they do. It does kind of feel like either the Suns aren’t It doesn’t seem like it is Brockton at this I feel like if it was Brockton, they would have just signed him already. They’ve got the cap space to do so. They got the uh uh taxpayer mid No, they they’re not even in the tax at this point if I’m not mistaken, but they have the mid-level exception. They’ve got all sorts of things to bring him in. They can overpay for him if they need to. Uh however, it just feels like we’re going down the trade route right now. That might not pan out, but it feels like that that’s where they’re going to uh at this point. and it feels like maybe they could bring someone in in in terms of a trade or just knowing those guys aren’t going anywhere. That’s kind of where I would go with it. One other candidate on a different team, I don’t think he’ll necessarily be bought out because there’s not really a huge reason to do it, but uh Javon Carter doesn’t really seem like he has a role in Chicago and you know, he’s not switchable. He’s really like he can defend guards and that’s it because he’s so small, but he’s become a more stable shooter and he’s on an expiring contract. Again, if you’re just talking about somebody to play 10 to 15 minutes here and there throughout the season and be capable and not cause problems, obviously fan favorite. I think Javon Carter could be great. I’m not saying that just because he played here. I’m actually saying that based on looking around the league and they have Kobe White and Josh Giddy and I Dunumu and Trey Jones who they just resigned. There’s not a role for a 30-year-old Javon Carter. So, that could be one. No, dude. It’s because you’re in love with the 2021 team. You want to bring Carter back? Yeah. And the twins and everything in particular. Dylan Smith, while we’re at it. Yeah. Abdul Nater. Why not? Let’s see what he’s doing. He’s gota be kicking around there somewhere. Uh let’s kind of switch the conversation over to this man. Uh people are probably confused why it is that I’m driving the show today. Uh it’s not opposite day. There’s not a reason why I’m on one side of the screen though. We Yeah, we decided to match. We decided to match. Um I’m just going to pass it over to you. I don’t feel like like there’s there’s stuff going on. I’m gonna just pass it over to you. I don’t think it’s my announcement to make. It’s a weird transition, but I’ll let you take the floor, man. Yeah. From Marcus Martin and Javon Carter over to an announcement is a little weird, but this week will be my last week on Locked on Suns. It has been almost eight years, I want to say. Um, yeah, November 2017 is when I officially started, so we’re almost at eight years. There was a little gap in 2020 during the bubble where I was not around, but we’ll just call it eight. It’s been crazy to watch the the show grow. Shout out to Kellen Olsen and Eddie House and another co-host who shall not be named for the help that got this thing to where it is. Um, shout out to Aaron Edwards and Brandon Duaneas and Steven Pjon Garner who have been recurring uh co-hosts on a weekly basis with me here. Shout out to you, Ben, for the last year, which has been not fun from a basketball standpoint, but very cool to do a show with a different person and actually have a day-to-day voice and and person to bounce things off of and actually make it a conversation rather than a rambling mess solo like it it has been at various points. And yeah, shout out to the audience like I started with there. Um, this show was not on YouTube. It was like as low tech and lowfi as you can imagine. The network was nothing. I didn’t even get paid because I don’t think they realized I was co-hosting the show for like the first season I was doing it because I don’t think that co-host who shall not be named told them. Um, and now look, we’re on TV doing stuff. We have real ads and real staff and social media and all of it. And then we have like 10,000 people who are like part of this audience, which is insane. So, um, salute to all of you. Salute to all the the guests and everything that I mentioned, but yeah, this will be this will be the last week. Uh, Brendan told me a couple of weeks ago that he’s going to be winding down his work here. Uh, like from my side of it, I don’t think you’re this guy, man. I don’t think we’ve ever gone this way, but like I owe you a lot. You took a shot on me uh about a year ago, and let’s call it what it is. Like it was bumpy at first. I’m a little bit of a loudmouth and then we kind of found our stride. People at times like thought we hated each other cuz we’re going after each other as well. Like I just want people to know that like any of the success a lot of the success that I’ve had maybe 90% of over the past year has been because of Brendan. Uh he’s given me this platform. I can’t tell you how much it sucks that he’s leaving. I tell my wife often, I’m like, “Listen, I don’t know how close of friends Brendan and I would be because I’m a loudmouth and people actually like him.” But he is a great person to host a show with. He does his He’s always on time. He’s doing his work. He’s uh I never have to feel like something isn’t getting done. Sometimes I’m like, should I be doing more? Uh Brendan has been seriously awesome. I am indebted to him. And if he will have it, um obviously he’s going to take some time to himself. like I want you as a reoccurring guest on the show as much as we can. We don’t need to promise anything, but like this is your baby. So, uh I just let me just make this clear too like nothing I did, Brendan, unless you just really hate me uh behind scenes, but like this is a you thing. You’re doing a lot and uh just taking a step back, right? Yeah. Yeah. No, for sure. I’ll be around. I mean, I’m still going to live in the valley. I still have some places I can cover sport uh the Sun Sports here locally. Phoenix New Times I’ve done some writing for over the past couple years. That’s going to continue. Um you know, a lot of people in the valley have my number and call me up for random things at this point. I’m hoping to do at least some writing uh with PHNX. Hopefully have a piece going up with them on the Mercury this week. So, I’ll get to do some of that hopefully more. And I mean, look, Awful Announcing has been a full-time job for two years. And before that, I worked at ASU full-time for two years. So, I don’t, you know, sometimes people will be in the comments section like, you know, this is whatever must be so nice to get to do this. And you don’t get, you don’t know how what and it’s like, no, this is not my job. This never really was able to be my full-time job. So, it’s time to have one instead of like 1.5 or 1.75 jobs, I’m going to have really just one. Maybe 1.25. 1.25. 25. Let’s call it 1.25. Maybe that’s more accurate. But yeah, that’s all it is. It’s been um very cool, like I said at the beginning, but it’s a lot. It’s It’s daily. It’s Yes, it’s 30 minutes of a show, but it’s uh hour. It’s also 30 minutes of screen time. Game time. Yeah. No, it’s 30 minutes of screen time, but going to the games, watching the game for three hours, finding out what we want to talk about, doing all that kind of stuff. Um, yeah, man. I’ll have I’ll have more on Friday, you know, as far as like a very actual finer final farewell. I’ll be posting this, uh, news on Twitter on Monday and everything. But, um, just wanted to give the heads up that way it’s not like all of a sudden I’m the last five minutes of my last show telling everybody. So, um, yeah, that’s that’s the to be fair, I wanted I wanted you to have the farewell tour. I wanted every show you got a different gift. Someone we had on like Udonis has them got a got a rocking chair. I was kind of hoping to get you one of those, although I think you’re six months older than me. Um, but yeah, man, uh, you’ve been instrumental in not I I seriously, man, I I mean this wholeheartedly. I don’t think you’re just instrumental to this. I remember one of the first people I had on like my own personal show that I do on my own YouTube channel. I reached out to you. You don’t even know this, but like I was scared. I was like, “Hey, man. Do you mind coming on my podcast? Let’s talk about these things.” You were willing to do that. You were super gracious, kind with your time. Uh same with this here, man. Uh again, I hope to see you as a fairly reoccurring guest when that time comes, whenever you make a decision that like, “All right, I’m willing to make public appearances again.” But, uh, I personally wish you nothing but the best. I I mean, it sucks, man. It really sucks to see you go. Uh, but I appreciate everything you’ve not only done for me, but like indirectly for my family and bringing me on, dude. So, appreciate it, man. You will be missed. And we still got five more shows with you. So, maybe we’ll do a farewell tour then. But, uh, anything else, man? No. People can drop anything that they I’ll I’ll be checking the comments section. So, if there’s any thoughts or or messages or anything you want to share, we can definitely interact there. Obviously, you all know where to find me on social media and everything, but I’ll just get it out of the way now. The best ghost guest I ever had, clearly far and away, Cam Johnson, so no one no one is going. You had Cam Johnson on the show. Yeah, Cam Cam, where do I come into play? Right before the Lakers series. Well, you’re not a guest. Well, before I was, I came on once. Was I in the top? on because Nick told me to bring you on cuz you were about to work here. So doesn’t doesn’t count as a guest. I didn’t I didn’t just invite you on cuz you wrote a cool article or something. Cuz I didn’t I sure didn’t write a cool article. Yeah. So Cam. It’s Cam. Sorry. Sorry to everybody else. Sorry to Dan Dickley. Sorry to Landry Sham who is another sham on the podcast. I did. I did. So but it’s Cam. Okay. Got all to bed now. I mean that’s that’s pretty great. Anyways guys, thanks for making uh Locked On Suns your first listen. Uh every day we’ll be here tomorrow as well, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. Now go ahead, make your second listens, everything else in locked on NBA world. But for now, thank you for continuously making Locked on Phoenix Suns your first listen every single day. Uh for Brendan, for myself, it’s been locked on Phoenix Suns. We will talk to you guys tomorrow. Um, I’ll get this stuff up and post.

Phoenix Suns owner Mat Ishbia’s candid reflections on past mistakes spark debate. Is the franchise truly learning from its missteps?

Benjamin Garcia and Brendan Kleen dissect Ishbia’s comments, exploring the Suns’ evolving identity and decision-making process. The hosts analyze Bradley Beal’s departure, conflicting narratives surrounding his exit, and potential guard acquisitions like Marcus Smart. Devin Booker’s future with the team and the pressure to win now take center stage. In a surprising turn, co-host Brendan Kleen announces his departure after eight years, reflecting on the show’s impact.

Tune in for an insider’s perspective on the Suns’ organizational shifts and a heartfelt farewell to a podcast veteran.

0:00 Intro: Mat Ishbia learning from past mistakes?
5:44 Ishbia’s comments lack vulnerability and accountability
9:40 Devin Booker’s commitment to winning questioned
14:17 Bradley Beal’s exit: Conflicting stories emerge
18:33 20 teams interested in Beal? Analyzing claims
25:37 Suns miss out on Marcus Smart signing
33:58 Brendan Announces Departure From Locked On Suns
38:27 Reflecting on Brendan’s impact and future plans

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