Phoenix Suns are hiring Jordan Ott as new head coach

Phoenix Suns are hiring Jordan Ott as new head coach

p Final, which begins tonight in Edmonton. Breaking NBA news for the second straight day. It’s head coaching news the Suns naming Cavs assistant Jordan Ott as their new head coach, according to ESPN. He’s been an assistant in the league for about a decade, most recently spending one season in Cleveland on Kenny Atkinson’s staff. He replaces Mike Budenholzer, who was fired back in April. Suns missing the playoffs last year OTT and Suns GM Brian Gregory facing some big decisions this offseason, including what to do with veterans like Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal. The Knicks, now the only team without a head coach after firing Tom Thibodeau yesterday. All right. We’ve got Ashley Nicole Moss and Brad Botkin. I’ll be honest I don’t know who Jordan Ott is. Do you guys. No. But I was able to do some research on him. Obviously someone who has, you know, a substantial amount of experience, obviously not as a head coach, but on coaching staffs. It says here the Lakers, the Brooklyn Nets actually began his career as a video coordinator for the Atlanta Hawks and the Erik Spoelstra Erik Spoelstra route. You know, it’s just taking him a little longer to be a head coach. But I think the thing, the thing that stood out to me the most when I was researching it was that Devin Booker was very hands on in the coaching search for the Phoenix Suns. So this obviously does not happen with Devin without Devin Booker’s approval. I think also the biggest thing that I noticed in the article that I read is that Kevin Durant’s name was not mentioned, was nowhere mentioned, I should say. Which means what we kind of already know that Kevin Durant is on his way out where we don’t know. But I will say this, we were having the conversation about Tibbs earlier on in the show, and you thought he might be good in Phoenix. That was one thing that we said, but we also said that Tibbs is a coach where, you know, you consider him a coach was the terminology I use. He’s not going to win you a championship, but he is going to get down, do the dirty work, build a repertoire relationship with guys in the locker room. He’s going to also establish a culture and do all the things that ultimately lead to a championship. The hiring of this particular coach for the Phoenix Suns let’s me know that that’s kind of where they are in this stage of their venture, if you will. I don’t think this is a coach that’s going to help them win a championship. They’re also very far removed from that with their roster and the lack of pieces that they have. They’re going to have to do a lot. They’re dealing with a lot of rebuilding. And obviously the uncertainty surrounding Kevin Durant. But I think that this is going to be a coach much like Tibbs, that’s going to get in there, do the dirty work, establish a culture and hopefully reap some benefit of whatever that means for the Phoenix Suns. But I don’t think this is, you know, going to be the celebratory it’s not knocking my socks off, I’ll tell you that. It’s not it’s not. Be careful though, just because you don’t know a lot about a guy. You know, you look at these hires we were talking about in the last segment, is Tom Thibodeau going to get another job? This the trends are maybe trending the right way for him. These teams are going with these new guys Mitch Johnson Doug Christie. You know here’s another Christie is not new though. No but he’s an assistant. He’s coming on this. This is not previous head coaches that are retreads like a Budenholzer or a Frank Vogel or Michael Malone and all these guys that always come up in every coaching conversation. Teams are moving to new voices, new faces, guys who certainly have been around the league. You know, when you talk to players around the league, you talk to scouts, you talk to these people who are behind the scenes doing the work. Assistant coaches are often the guys that the players have the best relationships with. They’re they’re the guys that are working out before the game with them. They’re the guys over the summer that are changing their jump shot with them, that are setting screens for them, passing balls out to them, talking to them, communicating with them. These are guys that have real relationships, and you’re seeing that as they get hired as head coaches. Now, where sometimes in the old days, maybe the head coach was a little more hands off in terms of relationships. And you just manage the X’s and O’s and you and you and you were kind of the voice of the team, almost more of a figurehead. That’s maybe how it used to be. These guys now are the dirty work guys, the guys that have established the relationships, the guys that are in crunching the analytic numbers and doing all these things that are so important in the modern game. So when you talk about the trends and now we’re talking about Johnny Bryant, who’s coming up, another Cavaliers assistant who his name has been talked about with the Knicks. And he was also in the running for this particular job as well. Might want to snap him up real quick because you know these guys are going now and you never know who’s going to get fired next. How these teams are looking to move on to a new coach. I think it’s actually a pretty cool trend that teams are giving these new faces, new voices, again, not baby faces. They’re not guys who haven’t been around the league but not experienced head coaches giving them their shot. They’ve earned it. And I don’t necessarily think it means that you don’t think you can contend. I don’t think it signals that, oh, we’re going into a rebuild because we got a young coach. I think these young coaches have proven they can win. I don’t know if I would say it means you’re going into a rebuild, but I do think that if you are on a specific timetable, you would hire a specific kind of coach. And I think that maybe that’s what the bucks did. They’re like, oh, we got to win now. So let’s go get doc. You know, like, you know how I know doc. But maybe maybe the league is changing on that. But I do think that you can make the assumption that the Phoenix Suns maybe are a little bit more aware of where they are in the league, where they are specifically in the Western Conference. Again, the uncertainty around Kevin Durant. You have Bradley Beal, who hasn’t really been a gold mine for the Phoenix Suns. You have Devin Booker, who’s been in the organization his entire career and still hasn’t won. And you have a roster that doesn’t really have much of anything. I think that this is a coach that is willing to get in there and do the dirty work to figure out what this team can be. But I do think it’s safe to say that the Phoenix Suns know this is not a championship team, and this is probably not a championship. They know that. You would hope it’s kind of there on paper. You know, Jeff, Jeff Van Gundy is famous for saying every team should have like a CEO of common sense. And the common sense would tell you here that you don’t hire a first time head coach and assistant guy to have a one year, two year runway. You’re hiring them. It’s not to say you don’t think you can go out and compete right now, but you are. You are saying like, we’re committed to a, you know, 4 or 5 year process here, right? So many things to figure out. We have an article right now at CBS sports.com on on what to do with with Kevin Durant. Do you ship him to New York for Karl-Anthony towns. No. No. You don’t want him as a Knicks fan, okay? I mean, he’s getting up there. I’m okay. This isn’t Kevin Durant, Warriors Kevin Durant from ten years ago. So the Suns fill their head coaching vacancy. It’s the Knicks the only team now that has an opening at this point Ashley Nicole Moss on triple threat each and every week. You can watch it live on CBS Sports Network Midweeks. You

Ashley Nicole Moss and Brad Botkin join CBS Sports HQ to discuss the Suns hiring Cavaliers assistant Jordan Ott as their next head coach.

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