REPORTS: Phoenix Suns ADVANCE Two Finalists For Head Coach

REPORTS: Phoenix Suns ADVANCE Two Finalists For Head Coach

In 2013, he joined the Atlanta Hawks as a video coordinator under Mike Bddenhoer. That’s right. Circle moment. Cannot escape him. And then there were two. The Phoenix Suns coaching search is nearing its end and we here at PHNX Suns are breaking it down. It’s Stephen and Eric for another trending mini pot here on PHX Sports or PHNX Suns. Hit that like button, hit that subscribe button. Five star reviews if you’re listening on audio go a long way in helping to grow the show. Steven feels like we’ve been in a coaching search for the Suns for about forever now. And according to Sham Shirania, it has been whittleled down to two finalists from the same team. Cavaliers associate head coach Johnny Bryant and assistant coach Jordan have advanced to the final round of Phoenix Suns head coach interviews. They will have an in-person interview with Matt Ishpia this week. A decision is expected to be made this week. So, the list has been whittleled down. No Dave Bliss, no Chris Quinn, no Sean Sweeney, it’s two Cavaliers assistants. How do you feel at this point? Um, well, considering the the stark shift with everything that happened with Cleveland from last season, which was okay, to this most recent season that was exceptionally great in the regular season in particular. um you could pick much worse teams to want to kind of base your your your new head coaching search off of. Sure. Um and to that point, one of the more evolved approaches for teams in recent history has come from this Cleveland Cavaliers team from the 2024 2025 season. Obviously spearheading a ton of that was Kenny Atinson. Um, and looking at where Kenny Atinson derives from, most recently spending time with the Golden State Warriors prior to being uh, hired as the head coach of the Cavs, they move with very modern approaches. Modern in communication, modern in approach to offense, modern in defensive process, modern in roster construct, modern in the day-to-day approach. There’s a common denominator with all of that stuff I mentioned. And that’s what I was hoping the Suns would value most with their next head coach that they would be u considering and especially when we get to the top two, top three. And here we are with two coaches that directly hashtag align with all of that. Hashag alignment. You love to hear it. Let’s dive into Johnny Bryant first and foremost. Let’s just give a brief history, Stephen, about who Johnny Bryant is, what he’s done, and maybe what is a strength that that he can bring. Yeah. So, he’s a a coach that’s pretty much coached his way up to the highest point on the um team’s bench under as an as a head assistant coach under Kenny Atinson his most recent season. He’s been in the NBA as a coach in particular since the 2012 season. So, spanning quite some time. Yeah, exactly. um 2012 he was a player development assistant with the uh Utah Jazz and then spent time across multiple seasons with the Jazz going through 2019 2020 and then from there uh he went on to the to the U New York Knicks spent time with them from 2020 to 2024 as an associate head coach. Um and then obviously this most recent season he spent time with the Cleveland Cavaliers as their head assistant coach. So he spent actually assistant head coaching time in both New York and Utah or New York and um Cleveland. So needless to say, he’s understood it from the bottom all the way up. And within all of that, I think there for people that don’t necessarily know the day-to-days of assistant coaches. Um they typically get tasked with a ton of um the kind of game planning on per opponents. So, not necessarily always having the full scout, but putting together specific game plans for matchups over the course of the season, him having a hand in that consistently as a head assistant coach, as well as the skill development background, I think, puts him in a perfect position to get the most out of the rosters that the Suns are looking to come with going forward. Yeah, I think player relations is something that Johnny Bryant, I guess in theory. We don’t really know for sure, but in theory, he would be a strength by all accounts of his time with the Knicks in particular. Mhm. And in fact, there are some links to Julius Randall and and his time with the Knicks and and their relationship growing very strongly there. Obviously, being a former player and there are just certain coaches that in NBA circles, it’s like this guy is up next. And and both of these coaches, from everything that we’ve heard, are in that circle of, yeah, these these guys are going to be head coaches uh eventually. Now, on Jordan’s side of things, I’d say he’s a little bit more of an unknown quantity, a little bit more of a wild card. In fact, I don’t even know if his birthday is is public information. So, it’s like, all right, who who really is this guy? But Jordan has also been in the NBA for a little bit over a decade now. In 2013, he joined the Atlanta Hawks as a video coordinator under Mike Benhoer. That’s right. Cannot escape him. No, he is technically from the BUD coaching tree, but in the same way that Bud is from the pop coaching tree, it doesn’t always matter. He then moved on in 2016 to become a Brooklyn Nets assistant coach under Kenny Atinson, who he would then join up in Cleveland this past year, but he stayed as an assistant coach under Jacques Vaughn and Steve Nash all the way from 2016 to 2022. So much like David Fdale, sticking around in an organization despite changes in the head coach, despite changes in the roster, was seen it as a valuable enough voice to have a little continuity there. in 2022. He then jumped from Brooklyn to LA, joining the Lakers as an assistant coach under Darvin Ham in 2024. He then parted for the Cleveland Cavaliers. However, he was in contention for the Charlotte Hornets head coaching job that eventually went to Boston assistant Charles Lee. He was in those round of interviews and was rumored to get pretty far there, but now an assistant coach under Kenny Atinson, of course. Also with Jordan, you have the Michigan State of it all. He was a uh Michigan State alum. He has a master’s degree in athletic administration from Michigan State. He also was able to get his undergrad in Penn State, was the manager for the men’s basketball team and a video coordinator at Michigan State while getting his masters there as well. And then of course worked his way up to the NBA. I do have a quote here from his hometown boys basketball coach saying he is the hardest working person I know as far as being dedicated. Every time you think Jordan has met his expectations, he always finds a way to go further. Said Dane Pollock, the McConnell boy basketball coach and also Jordan A’s cousin says, “We come from a little bit of nothing. You talk about a guy who proves that hard work pays off. He never played college basketball. He can’t walk into an interview and say he played against Southern Fulton or Forbes Road. That doesn’t mean anything. He has earned everything that he’s got.” Of course though, Stephen, it’s going to be tabbed as Michigan State ties. Is that a concern or a worry for you about potentially hiring Jordan A? It’s not only because the recent successes that he’s seen on a professional level. Uh obviously spending time with Kenny Atinson in Brooklyn and then obviously being able to re up with Kenny in Cleveland and to see the historic um lengths of success that they enjoyed throughout the regular season. I think he’s positioned to have a breath of experience no different than Johnny but in context similar and different as well. um that would be malleable for the Suns, that would be something that they would desire to have going forward for sure. So, no, the Michigan State Ties are cool and I know discourse is discourse, so naturally people will jump to that first, but if you look at his recent history and the successes within that and who he’s had success with. He’s a he’s a more than worthy candidate and to your point, the fact that he’s been involved in multiple head coaching searches over the last couple of seasons suggest that as well. And this is just a guy that seems like he loves coaching. He helped coach the Dominican Republic national team. He uh according to Brendan Clean who uh who’s putting this out there also signed on to be an assistant for Latvia in the Euro basket later this summer and was expected to coach the Cavs summer league team in Las Vegas. Of course that would be put to the side at least the summer league part of it if he becomes a Sunset coach. Not sure. Well, maybe not. The Cavs. Not that he won’t be the Cavs. No, no, no, no, no. He think the Sunset coach. Yeah. No, he he honestly he might because a first time head coach I would honestly prefer if if he was there% uh different topic. I wonder if Ryan Dun and Osar are going to play in summer link but I know I know they want to. Yeah, that’s a that’s a different conversation. Another fun little note with Jordan before we wrap up here. Jordan is married to Jordan. Yes, that’s right. Jordan’s wife is also named Jordan. Do you like that move? cuz I don’t know if I’ve ever heard of anybody doing that. That ain’t none of my business. As long as as long as she’s 10 toes down about the the demands of having a a spouse that’s a head coach, that’s all I would care about. Honestly, I won’t dive into all of that. I’ll let I’ll let Twitter tackle that one once that once that hits the hits the waves. All right, your your final thoughts. give me your choice out of these two for the next Phoenix Sun Unsaid coach and and maybe how you feel about the names that didn’t make it on to this final round. Yeah. Um I’ve sided with Johnny Bryan for quite some time. I’m not going to shift that at any point now, especially as the finish lineers. Um not to be right, but more so because of the reasons that I felt like he’s been the the the pick for them. And that’s the modern approach, the communication part. um having his communication skills and relationship building being loudered is one of his um best characteristic traits as a as a coach. Um and seeing that as something he could build off of as a head coach, I think that would be fun to see. I think he might be um better suited to kind of harbor a culture and understand how to build that up foundationally and then expand upon that as well. also think he has a a good eye for um the talent that would be needed to uphold the principles of the style of player he would want to play to. So those reasons all being that I’ve spoken to multiple times. I feel like that’s why he’s the coach for them. But I don’t see Jordan not as a wrong option in that I just think that Johnny has a half stride leg up on him as far as that goes for me personally. But I am surprised that other names did not make it to the final final round. Yeah, Chris Quinn, of course, at the top of that list of names that I think both of us were were expecting. Sean Sweeney gained a little traction there. I’m a little less surprised about him than the I was surprised the traction he got last week cuz it kind of came out of nowhere. I was like I’m not mad at it, but yeah, surprising for sure. With with who I think is the best choice here. I would also roll with Johnny Bryant. There is this scenario being floated out there. I think it’s just by Suns fans, but just in general that taking both of them, you know, one is a head coach, one is an associate head coach. That would be a a big FU to Dan Gilbert, who is Matt HBS Mortgage rivalry. Uh, but it would also be a kind of a hedging your bets move. Now, you only do that if both of them are on board, especially whoever you’re hiring as a head coach because you don’t want to give off a a vote of no competence. But I’m I’m all for Johnny Bryant. I I think what edges it out for me over a Jordan Knaut who I do believe is qualified. It’s not the Michigan State thing. Although I do think that from an optics perspective, hiring somebody from Michigan State would be a tough sell to fans. Fair or not, I think it’d be a tough sell. But for me, it’s the player relations side of things and how important that is in the NBA. And when you look at Frank Vogel, when you look at Mike Benholes, they’re sure there were failures on the court, specifically more so with Bud and his game planning than Vogle. Mhm. But what was the main problem with those two, Stephen? Like what superseded that? Felt like they didn’t connect with the players on the roster, especially at the top. And if you’re planning on going through a couple years of of maybe some rough riding before you get back to the top, you need to have a coach who’s who’s ready to handle that. I think it’s Shaunie Bryant. You think it’s Shaunie Bryant, but what do you think it is? What is the best choice for the Sunsed Johnny Bryant or a name that did not advance on to the final round of Suns interviews? Of course, BHX Suns is live 5 days a week at 3:00, bringing you all the latest coaching news, mailbag Mondays, trade machine Tuesdays, draft prospects, free agents, all sorts of fun on PHNX Suns right here on PHNX Sports. Hit that subscribe button, hit that like button as well if you’re new to PHNX. We do have a ton of other content here from Cardinals to Diamondbacks, ASU, U of A. Of course, Stephen is dead set in the middle of Mercury coverage as their season keeps on going in a much better way than the Suns season went on. You can check all that out on PHX Sports. You can follow the show at PHX Suns. You can follow Stephen, don’t call him Steve, at Stephen PG3. That’s Steven with a ph. You can follow me at Riky. We’ll be back with more breaking news from the Suns coaching search later this week. [Applause] We all silly like the mayor.

The Phoenix Suns coaching search had been narrowed down to two finalists per Shams Charania, Jordan Ott and Johnnie Bryant. Who is the best choice to replace Mike Budenholzer? Erik and Stephen break it down on another PHNX Suns trending pod! Follow the show @PHNX_Suns, @StephenPG3 & @ErikRuby!

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