Bickley Blast: Suns owner Mat Ishbia needs to take a ‘long look in the mirror’
With the Phoenix Suns bowing out in the first round of the 2024 NBA Playoffs, Dan Bickley implores Suns owner Mat Ishbia to find a way to fix his basketball team.
Video: Felisa Cárdenas and Ed Cole/Arizona Sports
Photo Credit: Christian Petersen/Getty Images, Chris Coduto/Getty Images, Arturo Holmes/Getty Images, Elsa/Getty Images
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32 Comments
Why not blast James Jones? He is the one who hired frank Vogel and did that awful Bradley Beal trade.
Why is James Jones never held accountable? If he fires Vogel he is going on his third head coach. He’s been around since 2018 and inherited the core drafted by previous GM and has only had one deep playoff run since being GM and whiffed badly on drafting Jalen Smith over Haliburton. At some point Jones needs to be held accountable.
Bradley Beal needs to take on ginobli role as sixth man
Beal played great the second half of the season and is the main reason we made a playoff push
I firmly believe they can win it all with this team.
#1: Big three: I don't believe that having three big names spells out doom. That would means Team USA would always be a disaster with too many top-notch stars.
#2: Point guard: I agree with the point guard (like a Chris Paul) aspect, mainly because I think it'll help out with their number 1 (or 2) issue, and that's turnovers.
#3: Playbook: It seems like we don't have a large bank of plays to run — where we're setting multiple screens, cutting to the basket , etc. It felt like 80% of the time we were just trying to go 1-on-1 (and getting double-teamed many times).
#4: Rebounding: Whenever a Sun shoots, it seems like it's our approach to then have the entire team run the court and abandon any chance of rebounding.
#5: Bench: We gotta use the bench. Our bench is not as bad as these experts are saying. Compare ours to other teams … come on.
#6: Effort: If we had given the effort to earlier games like we did in Game 4, we wouldn't have been swept … but still would have lost because of the other reasons.
But sure, I'm no expert. So this could all be stupid, admittedly.
Yeah lets have the billionaire egomaniac intervene even more, that has always ended well when building a team.
Beal will be infinitely better next season
This team sucked for what it should have been. Being a super team I expect a 60+ win season. They didn't even get 50. Suns need a PG, a coach, and Depth. and we as fans will not see it till 2030 when we get draft picks again.
Cam Payne earned his point time, letting him go was foolish.
1) Beal needs to come off the bench. The big three shouldn’t ever be on the court at the same time. 2) Put Grayson and Royce and Bol in rotation, and 3) rotate Nurkic with some other center.
Why is Frank Vogel not gone? There's something going on behind the scenes that we don't know about. Dirty Frank (As Gilbert Arenas calls him)is the reason this team didn't have an offense. Frank Vogel is the reason none of the role players were developed to help these 3. He was the reason this team had no offensive schemes.
Let me get this straight. You got rid of Monte who developed a team and had an offense for a guy that did none of that. There's something wrong with that. There's something going on behind the scenes with ishbia and his decisions that we don't know about. Otherwise why is Frank not gone yesterday
What else can Booker do he put up 50 in a close out game. Need some other pieces (Center, PG, Wing D).
Worst owner ever
I was never a fan of James Jones. I didn’t like his drafts, or his trades and personnel changes. Firing Coach Igor after one season was a bad move. Moving back in the draft to take Cam over getting a PG like Coby White or even trying to trade up to snag Garland when it was clear they needed a PG was a bad move. The next year draft taking Jalen Smith over Haliburton was a horrendous move considering Haliburton was there for the taking and clearly a PG for the future was a big need. Then he gives up on Jalen Smith after only one season and trades him to get back Craig was a real head scratcher to me. I don’t know what is his infatuation with Torrey Craig was… maybe he just liked players in his mold.
People give him credit for the CP3 trade but CP3 came here because of Monty and Booker. But I will blame him for extending CP3’s contract which was a mistake.
Although I was not a fan of his and didn’t like his moves I will not blame him for the disastrous KD trade or the even worse Beal trade… I believe that was all Ishbia’s doing. It just wasn’t Jones’s M.O. to make big splashes like that.
James Jones should have been fired 10 seconds after he drafted Jalen Smith instead of Tyrese Halliburton. Having a good point guard like Tyrese Halliburton would have meant this team would have won 70 games and likely the championship. James Jones is a joke and can't draft.
As much as Suns fans wanted Ayton gone as we can clearly see it was the wrong move. They lost their defensive anchor and lob threat the second they traded Ayton for Nurk and that was part of their down fall. You could certainly criticize Ayton’s motor and his hustle but there is no denying the fact he is a much better player than Nurk and Ayton’s defense and presence in the paint to score is what this current Suns team was badly missing. I was excited to see Ayton play under a new coach… a defensive minded coach at that in Vogel but it never came to fruition. It was nice they got Allen in that trade and I’ve been a fan of Grayson for some time now and even on the Suns FB group page I have been saying for years since he was in Memphis that they should try to get him and they was even some speculation that the Bucks would have traded us Grayson straight up for Crowder at the beginning of the prior season when Crowder wasn’t playing. They could’ve obtained Grayson back then for Crowder and kept Ayton.
Nurk was a decent enough rebounder during the regular season and a good passer but he wasn’t even close of the defensive presence that Ayton was and he certainly was a threat in the paint to score. I also think Ayton was a better screen setter than Nurk. I think trading Ayton was more the doing because KD wasn’t a fan of his.
beal and his bloated contract ,, why would we give him the no trade clause
we traded heart and guts [ the bench ] and years of draft picks ,
for chrome and glitter , durant and beal
Go get a new coach and some size the sun's are very small.
This is why ownership needs to stay far far away from the front office, lol.
The Phoenix media was delusional all year long about this team. You guys were literally lying to yourselves every single day. The Suns were NEVER going to do anything meaningful in the playoffs. Booker is so soft and overrated. KD is literally nicknamed Cupcake for being soft, and Bradley Beal is the most overpaid player in the NBA…. oh yeah, and he's soft too. Don't even get me started on Nurkic. 😂😂😂
Why yall so quick to bang on Ishbia and Moreno but you stay far away from Michael Bidwill?
You are all part of the cover up
I don't often disagree with you, but this is not a case of the owner being at fault. This is the case of having a general manager who doesn't know his f**** job. James Jones should have been fired 10 seconds after he drafted Jalen Smith instead of Tyrese Halliburton. Everyone who understands basketball knows that you have to have a capable point guard. We had an aging point guard who was extraordinary, had we drafted Tyrese Halliburton and let him learn under Chris Paul, we wouldn't have had to make the ridiculous trade for Bradley Beal, although when Beal was up he was very good, That just only happened a few times over the entire season. Tyrese Halliburton is tearing it up in Indiana. What did we get out of Jalen Smith, we got Josh a kogi back that he could have paid a contract to and not had to lose and trade a draft pick for. Fire. James Jones now and find a f**** point guard.
I hate that I kinda miss Sarver
With all due respect Bick I’m not sure he’s the only one who should take a long look in the mirror. That salad is out of control
Fire the coach, JJ, trade booker, durant and Beal. Get draft picks and rebuild the team.
If everyone was saying the same thing than maybe our fan base & front office are an Echo Chamber
Nurkic out, him and Vogel since we cant get rid of beal
Steve Ballmer came in 2014 and stayed out of the way. Please don't compare
Devin Booker and Bradley Beal are the same player. Beal is more difficult to guard. Booker is a more reliable shooter/scorer. One must come off bench or leave town. And preferably leave town.
I’d rather see Beal and Durant and a real point guard.
Rich paul is minimizing the 3rd player. Bosh and Klay were definitely a 3rd piece. The issue with the Suns is Beal has been extremely underwhelming for what he's getting paid.
Ishbia is in over his head and he doesn’t know basketball. He should let the front office do their job