Suns owner Mat Ishbia ’embarrassed’ by 2024-25 season
At a Phoenix Suns press conference, team owner Mat Ishbia said he’s setting standards for what he expects from all coaching hires going forward.
Phoenix Suns team owner Mat Ishbia made it clear “changes are coming” during an end-of-season news conference on April 17 at the team’s practice facility.
They had already fired Mike Budenholzer after one season as head coach.
Here’s another potential change.
Sources have informed The Arizona Republic the Suns likely will look to add someone to the front office to work on basketball personnel decisions.
Suns general manager James Jones and CEO Josh Bartelstein have had a collaborative effort in making basketball decisions. Jones also is president of basketball operations.
Sources say decisions regarding the front office will be made before the Suns hire a head coach, a timeline that falls in line with what Ishbia said during the news conference.
“We’ve got to set it up front first with the leadership and that starts with me and we will do that,” Ishbia said. “Then we will get the right front office structure with scouts and what to look for in the draft and then we’re going to find the right coach and it will be a process. You’re not going to see a next coach hired in a week or two.”
Ishbia said “everything is going to be evaluated” starting with himself being accountable for how the season went and establishing an identity. The Suns finished 36-46 and missed the playoffs for the first time since 2019-20, which was the last time they had a losing record.
Budenholzer was fired less than 24 hours after Phoenix’s final game to end the regular season, April 13 in Sacramento.
“Making sure the identity we set for the Phoenix Suns is set from the ownership, that the fans are going to love it and be proud of it,” Ishbia said. “Front office is aligned, the coaches are aligned, the players are aligned. There are going to be players that sometimes, we don’t take the most talented player because they don’t align with what we believe in.”
Ishbia said he doesn’t watch film or scout players in clarifying his role of hiring the right people to make personnel decisions and empowering them.
“When someone comes to me about a trade and say, ‘Hey, we need to do this, but it’s going to put us over the luxury tax,’ my job as an owner is to say, ‘Hey, if you really believe this guy will fit with our team, let’s do it,’” Ishbia said. “What do we got to do to make it happen?”
Bartelstein said April 17 that Ishbia informed him that when he was hired as CEO in March 2023, he’d be responsible for “carrying out his vision” in terms of business and basketball with the Suns and WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury.
His role has extended to the Phoenix’s G League team, the Valley Suns, who made the postseason in their inaugural season.
“We’ve done a lot of really good things and Mat thinks differently, he pushes us,” said Bartelstein, who was an assistant general manager with the Detroit Pistons before taking the CEO job in Phoenix.
“I think that’s why we’ve been celebrated a lot for the business side, but winning matters, too. I feel comfortable in my role because I know what he wants to do and my job is to be there every single day doing it, but we’ve got to do better here and we will.”
Jones already was in Phoenix when Ishbia bought the Suns and Mercury from Robert Sarver for $4 billion during the 2022-23 season. The 2020-21 NBA executive of the year had agreed to a contract extension during the 2021-22 season when the Suns won a franchise-record 64 games.
Jones’ extension is set to expire later this summer.
“You can’t win a championship or multiple championships or be a high-functioning team or an organization if you don’t have balance and true partnership or collaboration,” Jones said. “So, as things change, you use your specialty, your expertise to complement your teammate and make decisions and take a step forward in being in certain areas and what’s best for the team.”
Jones said he has a “great working relationship” with Bartelstein and reiterated what each of their roles are in the organization.
“He’s a leader whose charge is to make sure that Mat’s vision for franchise, not just the Suns, but the Mercury, and the businesses all together, that’s aligned and tied together,” Jones said about Bartelstein.
“My job is to make sure the ‘how’ is done and executed flawlessly. So, that comes with me taking some of the initiative but also being smart enough and aware enough to enlist the help of people whose true passion and true incentive is to make sure this basketball thing runs right.”
Have opinions about the current state of the Suns? Reach Suns Insider Duane Rankin at dmrankin@gannett.com or contact him at 480-810-5518. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, at @DuaneRankin.
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