Bickley Blast: Why the gap between the Phoenix Suns and playoff victories continues to grow

Bickley Blast: Why the gap between the Phoenix Suns and playoff victories continues to grow

and Marada boardings. Arizona sports, the local sports leader, Bigley Blast. It has been 730 days since the Valley celebrated a Suns playoff victory. And alas, I fear that number is only going to grow in the coming years. Now, I bring it up because of the round ball magic we all witnessed last night in the NBA. Two incredible games, two road teams winning in dramatic fashion. A night when male Bridges pulled on her heartstrings from afar, playing 51 minutes and compiling a defensive highlight reel in overtime. A night when male was literally the man of steel. Look, we all know the deal around here. We are a basketball town first and forever. And there is nothing like the buzz of postseason success. Nothing like the feeling of pride and excitement and hype and hope than winning a legendary playoff game. We’ve also arrived at a perilous time in franchise history. Matt Ishbia has promoted an unqualified, inexperienced candidate to be his next GM. And while it might work, it’s another wild swing from an owner who is promised multiple championships, but has shown zero clue in the nuances of team building or coach hiring in the NBA. And the most troubling part is his basketball team is much farther from the promised land than he recognizes or readily admits. That’s why it’s been 730 days since our last playoff victory. 730 days and counting. All right, today’s Bley Blast brought to you by my great friends at Chapman BMW. Make luxury attainable. Find them online at chapmanbmw.com. The number that you just threw out staggered me. I know it’s been a while. Yeah. 730 days. May 7th, 2023. Yeah. Remember that fantastic game? Devin Booker could not miss a barrage of pullup three-pointers. He and KD both scored 36 points in that game. They combined for 72. Bolstered by Landry Shamut’s 19 off the bench. That’s right. That was the Landry Sham game. overcame a 53-point barrage from Nicole Joic and the Suns evened up that series at two games a piece 129 124 and I remember vividly we did some cross talk with our sister station in Denver sports that day. Mhm. And well I don’t remember vividly because I don’t remember the host’s name but that host saying are you guys just laugh laughing at us now? Is that what’s happening? And we were kind of both perplexed by that. I was like, “This is a good series.” Like, “What’s happening?” Of course, Chris Paul did not play in that game. That was kind of the turning point of that series was turned out to be the Chris Paul injury. Yeah. Yeah. And then after that, it was it it got away from them and it had and it’s gotten away from us ever since. Yeah. They lost game five by 16. They lost game six by 25. They got swept last year and here we are 730 days later. Yeah. Listen, and I I tell you what, as somebody and you know this, too, doing morning radio and you combine that with covering playoff basketball, it will wear you to a nub. But some of my funnest moments in this city have been during Suns basketball playoff runs. The the the magic of the Steve Nash era, those legendary games seem to happen every third night where you just have a game that you would just feast on for days. M just remember that just the finals run how fun the memories of of Jay Crowder salsa dancing that the valley oop like all these moments the national response to how crazy the crowd and the atmosphere was. That’s right at That’s right at the arena. All waiting for the PA announcer to say whether it was a good basket or not. You remember that? Of course you do. What took that jerk so long? Yeah. What took him so long? Guy Fiery inexplicably wearing a leather suit in the middle of July in Phoenix. Emma Stone pointing to the Phoenix on her hat. That was peak. Yeah, that’s that’s good stuff. Yeah. When was the last time Emma Stone got an opportunity to point at her hat? That’s right. Come on. When was the last time that guy got to count off his $100 bills in the stands? Well, people will say that that was the beginning of the downfall. Probably including myself. It probably was. And the next year, didn’t that guy get in get into like an argument with Russell Westbrook? He did. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, listen, it it’s and that that’s that’s what’s in front of us now. How long will it be before the Phoenix Suns win their next playoff game? Yeah, that’s the question. Look, and today we’re going to get a a little light shed on the direction of this organization because Brian Gregory, the general manager of the Suns, will be introduced at a press conference today at 3:30. Uh, so we’ll we’ll finally get to hear from the man who not a lot of people know about, especially in this realm. You can go look at his experience as a college basketball coach and you can draw the connection to Matt Ishbia and a lot of people are but most people right now are focusing on the experience level commensurate with the job that he is being tasked to do and this is not your normal hey take over this basketball operation there’s a lot of heavy lifting to be done there certainly is especially to meet the expectations and the words and beliefs of the owner in Matt Ishbia Bobby Marks was on with Wolf and Luke yesterday and focused on that very thing. Experience lack thereof. Is it a problem for the Suns and Brian Gregory? I think the concern with with me is if the vision is from um ownership or is the vision from Brian Gregory. I think that’s that’s the concern. You know, if if you had if you had hired somebody probably from the outside, there would have probably been sweeping changes to the front office and there would have been sweeping changes to the roster. I I just I just get concerned that basically what the roster ended with is what you’re going to see minus, you know, certainly maybe we see a Kevin Durant trade and of course we’re going to see um you know, probably something with with Bradley Beal perhaps here. I just I always thought of and and this is, you know, I’ve been out of the league for 10 years, but when you’re not associated with a team, it gives you so much a better perspective on h what how that team from the outside and you don’t have the blinders on and stuff, but as I said, well, I think you just you give Brian the benefit of the doubt and you give ownership the benefit benefit of the doubt that this was the right decision for them. I think he hit on an important topic there and something that we’ve talked about is this idea of fresh eyes. And yes, Brian Gregory is still new to the organization, but he was part of this organization last year. He was part of the front office. Uh that was the engine of this disappointing season. Yeah, Matt Ishpia thinks that Brian Gregory has a brilliant basketball mind. And that that’s where this story gets tricky for me because Matt Ishbia clearly had a very close relationship with him when when Brian Gregory was an assistant coach at Matt at Michigan State and Matt Ishbia was a walk-on basketball player and and they worked close together and Matt Ishbia took great pride in his role as being somebody on the scout team and and and the famous cut from back then was the secret sauce of that Michigan State team was that they never had bad practices and and that was what something a young Matt Ishpia hung his hat on. But but you’re not hiring Brian Gregory to be a coach. You’re hiring him to be an NBA general manager. And and that’s and that’s where his track record, there’s nothing on his resume that speaks to this. And and that’s why that’s why you give Brian Gregory the benefit of the doubt. But I don’t necessarily think that applies to the owner. If this was his first time in this and he hadn’t failed at team building in successive years, you you might feel inclined. I just think there’s um this is a is a very crucial time because Matt Ishbia’s favorability ratings at at his end of season press conference, he had said to himself that FE or he said to the media that Phoenix fans think I’m great. Those are his words, not mine. Mhm. And there was a time when that was true. There was a time when everybody was full-on with Mattyish. That’s not true anymore. There’s a lot of people wondering where’s this thing going? I don’t know. Where’s this thing going? I know he still calls me Danny. Vin. What does he call you? Greg Brady. Greg Brady. Okay. Does he have a nickname for Sammy yet? Have you met uh had much interaction with Wolf yet, Sammy? a little bit here and there. I when I’m doing the 10 a.m. update in here, he’ll come in and he’ll give me like one of these. I’ll give him one back, but uh not not not a ton yet. Looking forward to more. Okay. So, so again, this is this is something where I I my fingers are crossed. I I hope that Matt Ishp is right. I hope there is something about Brian Gregory that’s going to make him great at this job. But even if he does, what are the odds of spinning a Kevin Durant trade into a playoff team next year? I don’t think the odds are very good at all. And and that’s and and there’s a there’s a resistance to that. All Matt Ishbi would say at that end of season press conference was we’re not going to go 82 and 0 next year, but but you’re going to be happy. You’re going to love what you see. You’re going to be happy with the basketball team. It’s going to be different. It’s going to be undeniable. Yep. Different and undeniable. So that it’s a lot of promises. Those are a lot of checks your mouth have written mouth has written that you got to go cash. Mhm. So, who’s the best checks, by the way? Yeah, that’s a good point. Good point. Thanks for watching Bickley and Marada. Click to see the latest Bickley Blast and hit the button in the middle to subscribe to Arizona Sports.

Dan Bickley explains why the 730 day gap from the Phoenix Suns’ last playoff victory will continue to grow after owner Mat Ishbia decided to hire the next general manager from within the organization.

Bobby Marks lays out Suns’ next steps and his biggest concern about their GM hire: https://arizonasports.com/nba/phoenix-suns/concern-gm-hire/3583047/

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