Reaction to Phoenix Suns hiring Jordan Ott as next head coach

Reaction to Phoenix Suns hiring Jordan Ott as next head coach

It’s Wolf and Luke on a Wednesday morning. In case you’re joining us, the Suns have a new head coach. And yes, it was probably who you predicted all along that it was Jordan Odd. I mean, I I don’t even I I I feel like I I’m not going to keep saying this disclaimer, Wolf. In fact, this is the last time I’m going to say it. Okay. I’m obviously rooting for Jordan. Yes. It’s not his fault. People are already frustrated with him. It truly isn’t. And I’m not going to sit here and pretend to know the guy’s basketball acumen. I’m just going off of the combination of no other team has really pursued him as a head coach yet and the fact that everybody when the list of nine candidates came out and was like, “So what a I mean he’s the one that’s at Cleveland and went to Michigan State.” That that’s kind of what this felt like, right? So that would be my biggest question. Did you just know it was going to be him all along and you were like, “Hey, we interviewed 14 other people. Hey, we’re down to eight other finalists.” Hey, or hey, we’ve trimmed it down now to five other knowing full well it was going to be him all along. Because I keep thinking about what you said when they hired Brian Gregory Wolf of Brian Gregory is the guy that can step up if Matt Ishb is doing something that’s maybe a little too unconventional and say, “Hey man, I respect it, but I’m your buddy and we can’t go too far down this path.” And he didn’t do that here. In fact, it kind of seems like he’s the one that drove Matt Ishbia down this path. Well, for me, can I just say that I I saw Brian Gregory as a guy that could actually look Matt Ishbia in the face and say, “Knock it off.” Yeah, that’s what I’m And he didn’t do it. Knock it off. All right, sit down and shut up. You know I love you. I’ve got a history with you. We’re great friends. You need to be quiet on this one because you’re wrong. That that that what boy. That You want to talk about change? I thought that was really gonna be change. Yeah. Right there. And honestly, when you think about it, you can think about what Matt Ishba did when he came in as owner of course of the Phoenix Suns and what he’s done now. Is that change? That’s real change is what it is. It feels like over complete change yet it comes down to alignment. That is the word he used over and over and over again. So, to your point, maybe they knew this whole time. It feels like they knew the whole that it was going to be Jordan A. Because I would love to hear a an explanation as to why it’s not Johnny Bryant. Why? Just give me those two. Why is it Jordan Aut over Johnny Bryant? I said this the last couple days and and I was hoping I was hoping they would do this. Hire Johnny Bryant as the head coach because he’s ready to be a head coach. And hire Jordan. If you really like this guy and he’s good at player development, have him as his lead assistant. That’d be great. And then you’ve got both of them. If you want to stick it to Cleveland, since that seems to be everybody’s theory, there you took both of them. I don’t think Dan Gilbert’s looking around today like, “Oh, they took Wait, who did they take?” Like, I don’t I don’t think he stuck it to Dan Gilbert. And if you want to do things differently, that’s great. Yes. But this feels like a hey, look what we did in the moment, but how are you going to feel next February or two Februaries from now when he’s got a tall task in front of him now? Look, I just got to say this quickly right here. when when the names came down that it was it was Johnny Bryant and it was Jordan A. Those two guys right there. When those two names came down, I thought to myself, “Oh, well, it’s Johnny Bryant. Of course, it’s Johnny Bryant. It’s going to be Johnny Bryant.” I thought maybe the Jordan A. The fact that he was down, two finalists right there. I thought maybe, oh, he went to Michigan State. I didn’t think there was any way in the world they were going to hire Jordan A because he went to Michigan State and the way that that looks. So, I thought that they were gonna just put him up there to say, “Hey, you know what? What do you say we go ahead, Brian Gregory? What do you say we go ahead and we just kind of wave around? We wave around Jordan a little bit so he gets some exposure out there. You know what? Hey, this guy’s being considered. Seriously, he’s our old Michigan State guy. Let’s go wave him around out there.” And then number two, I I thought of Johnny Bryant as well. And just the fact that um maybe if you hired Johnny Bryant, it would do away with all of the talk that is out there in regard to, oh, they’re only hiring them because it was Michigan State. See, we brought them down to the finalists and we didn’t hire the guy that was from Michigan State. Total. So, you were all wrong. Yep. And that’s that’s what I kind of thought was going on. And that would have been brilliant there. It would have been if they did what you just said, it would have been brilliant because you would have got Johnny Bryant who’s one of the the the biggest names as far as young head coaches that are kind of checking all the boxes of what you said you wanted a few weeks ago. Everybody I don’t maybe not everybody, but to a certain extent I think people would have been like, “Okay, yeah, he hired Brian Gregory, went to Michigan State, but but big deal.” They didn’t let that continue to the coach. Like I think the whole Brian Gregory got hired because he went to Michigan State narrative would have been gone because you would have to your point you would have had a Michigan State guy and Johnny Bryant and you would have gone with Bryant. You would have lifted A’s name for a future job somewhere else, right? But you would have you would have shut that narrative down and now you’ve really opened the door to it where now I feel like they have to win games next year. All right, Luke, not that I’m driving here. Okay, but let me just do this based on right now. Um, let’s pay the tease off, shall we? I mean, once again, you were talking about what does this say? What does this say to the Phoenix Suns fans that are out there? Are you ready for this? I’m going to refrain from giving. I’m ready for this right now, ladies and gentlemen. KD is gone. Ron Wolfley reporting. Uh, Bradley Beal is gone. Ron Wolfley reporting. That’s what it says. It also says Book will lead this team. Dare I say must lead this team. Um, number three, rebuild. The rebuild is officially on, is it not? Be patient. That’s what it says to the fan base. And it also says trust was an issue to me. Trust was an issue with the old way it was structured. There had to be some type of betrayal. Some type of you know what um we’re not communicating the way that we should be communicating here. Trust was an issue because alignment was everything. I think again everything up until about this point I’ve been right on the same page with Matt Ishbia. Now I know it hasn’t all worked. I’m not going to sit here and pretend that I like hated the Kevin Durant trade when they made it. I liked it. You know what? I I didn’t like it at first. You didn’t? I didn’t. And then I came around and said we got KD. I mean, it was conflicting because they had to give up Mikuel Bridges, but I remember thinking in the moment like, “Yeah, but you got to give up something significant to get all it.” But and and everything like everything Ishbia said at his postseason press conference where he’s like, “Look at all the changes we’ve made off the court to improve the facility and this and that and you know, former players like coming back.” Like there’s a lot of truth to that. I think he’s done a lot of good things as an owner and I don’t fault him for going out there and trading for Kevin Durant. I didn’t love the Beal move when they made it, but I I I don’t I said this then, I’ll say it again. I don’t hate the go for it mentality like let’s go for it. This just feels like a drastic overcorrect. I think you’re right. I think they probably got burned by Benhoer, but every coach with experience or even, you know, logical credentials isn’t Mike Benhoer. Yeah. You know what’s super cool about this though? Once again, um there is a possibility out there that this does work. That’d be great. I hope it does. Hey, Suns fans, I would love it if it did. A ray of light pierces the darkness, does it not? Hey, Suds fans, there is a possibility that it works. I I just cannot wait to see the type of player they’re going to start bringing in these doors because the type of player they’re going to bring in will say everything about this alignment. It’s one of the reasons why they had to be aligned. Matt Ishbia, of course, Brian Gregory, and now Jordan not. You had to align them all. No, no, it’s not the Michigan State alignment. It’s really a cultural alignment. And because of that, what kind of dude are you going to bring inside this locker room? Are we gonna see everything that I hope? I’m talking about a tough team, but you’ve gota Toughness is great. It’s great. Unless you’re losing by 10 in 12 points every night, then it sucks buttermilk. I I think I I was on board and I’m guessing a lot of fans would have been on board with, okay, it’s Johnny Bryant, it’s Chris Quinn, it’s Dave Bliss, it’s whoever. Okay, we’re kind of hit and reset. We’re rebuilding around Devin Booker. Got to be patient next year. Now, I think you make a hire like this and it’s like, yeah, I need to see that you can win right away. And I don’t know how you’re going to do that with as you’re trying to restructure the roster. The next time we talk about this though, we have to consider the rumor that is out there that Devin Booker was a guy that wanted Jordan Knots. Well, I’m You asked how the fans feel. I’m looking at the YouTube chat because we’re obviously on YouTube live right now. Uh let me see if I can It’s uh Javier wrote in, “Hey, Michigan State on your resume.” Okay, Suns, you’re hired. That’s uh that’s one. Let’s see. Uh Jim was uh the mascot’s going to be replaced by a Spartan mascot next year. Um it’s all that’s all this is, man. It’s just a string of this. So, the gorilla comes out in a Spartan costume. That’d be awesome. I mean, that would be funny. I would be awesome. If you want to do that, that would be hilarious, actually. Thanks for watching Wolf and Luke. Tap to see more and click the button in the middle to subscribe to Arizona Sports.

Wolf & Luke react to the Phoenix Suns hiring former Cleveland Cavaliers assistant coach Jordan Ott as their next head coach.

Cavaliers assistant Jordan Ott to be named next Suns head coach:

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