Bickley Blast: What the Phoenix Suns can learn from the Thunder & Pacers

Bickley Blast: What the Phoenix Suns can learn from the Thunder & Pacers

and Marada Mornings. Arizona sports, the local sports leader. Bigley Blast. Oklahoma City is in the NBA finals and their demolition of the Timberwolves should send shock waves throughout the Western Conference. Let’s Let’s hope Matt is paying attention because there are many lessons to be learned. The Thunder and the Pacers might become the first championship match between teams that will not spend a penny on luxury taxes. So throwing big money at expensive players is clearly not the answer. There’s also a minority of people who believe not trading Kevin Durant is the best route. Eddie Johnson suggested as much yesterday and Brian Windhorst now leaves a 2% chance open that the Suns will run it back. That would be insanity. The big three in Phoenix prove they are miles behind the Timberwolves, who in turn prove they are miles away from the Thunder. There are hints of delusion in Phoenix. And assuming a firstear head coach could both lead and mold themselves to the desires of Book and KD is utter madness. But it’s very, very clear to me they very badly want to blame the previous two head coaches for most of their problems. The smartest play is to emulate OKC. Acquire assets. Build from the ground up. Take phone calls on Devin Booker just in case someone blows you away with a suitcase full of assets. Cut your losses. Quit throwing good money after bad. Find the humility necessary to admit you do not know as much about winning an NBA title as you once thought. And remember, the best way to get out of a hole is to stop digging. All right, today’s Bitly Blast brought to you by my great friends at Chapman BMW who make luxury attainable. Find them online at chapmanbmw.com. A lot to chew on from the blast today. Oo, where do I spicy? Where do I start? Do I start with the where you want to start? The nugget about the 2% chance from Brian Windhor uh speculating that the Suns could run it back. Um, insanity is, I think, an apt term, but it’s insanity if that’s the path the Suns choose. If we get to July 1st and they’re like, “Nope, we’re good. We’re going to run it back. We got our coach in place. Brian Gregory’s got a good relationship with Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal. One more go.” That to me is insanity. That is insanity. If the result is that after they go down those roads of, hey, anybody interested in KD and there’s not really anything out there and I I he’s still an impactful enough player. I think there’s going to be a market. I my feelings on the Kevin Durant market have shifted about 87,000 times since the season ended. Uhhuh. Uh, you know, my feelings on the Bradley Beal circumstance where it was reported very early on after the season and Gambo was adamant about it and left himself zero wiggle room on what he said on the air. There is a 0% chance that Bradley will be will be back. It didn’t resonate with me at the time. It doesn’t resonate with me now because they are not in complete control of the situation. They’re not. Bradley Beal, you know, Bradley Beal is the John Doe in the last scene from Seven. John Doe has the upper hand. Bradley Beal has the upper hand in all of this. That’s right. So, um I again if if they arrive at that when they go down these avenues for possible change and they just find resistance at every turn, that’s one thing. If they start the off season by saying we’re coming, we’re we’re running this thing back. We feel like we’re a a championship contender in the West. That’s insanity to me. What worries me? What worries me is is the why getting a firstear head coach was an explicit priority. I’ve said this before. There’s a distinction between being blown away by a guy that you gave an interview to that never has done the job and you go, “It doesn’t matter. That guy’s got everything.” To make it a priority almost makes me believe they want to find a young guy. Okay, let me rephrase this. Their approach could make it seem like one of the options they’re considering is let’s pick a head coach that Devin Booker and Kevin Durant really like because that was the issue before. We picked their coach for them last time. Let’s let them pick a young guy they really like and it’ll be a collaboration between them. That to me But do you think there wasn’t any input given on the last two head coaching hires? There had to have been. There’s so much in terms of power of players and I know appeasing your star players that I I don’t know what the process was. I know what the results were, but I would assume that there was some level of conversation about Hey KD, what do you think of Mike Benhoer? What do you think, Book? You went against him in the NBA finals in 21. Pretty good coach, right? I have to assume that happened, right? I think it would be derelict otherwise. No, I I think I think you’re right, but I think they could really take it. I I’m guessing that in both of those coaching situations, year one was KD’s first year and they probably went, “Oh, yeah, Frank Vogel, he’s won a title. Okay, cool.” They probably, you know, talked to some guys in LA or what? Who knows? Um, but I think maybe really going allin with let’s get a young guy and then we can have him mold himself and his coaching style around you guys and that will ensure your happiness and that will ensure our connectivity. Okay. So again, I think one thing you really have to do though is in my opinion is you got to focus on the team that you have to beat and plan out accordingly. Right. You said you had a great line earlier today. You have got to in the Western Conference, you have got to decide whether you can get in the ring with Oklahoma City or whether you need this time to build for the day you can get in the ring with them. Yeah. Do you need a great team next year or three years from now? That’s it. And you’ve been saying that for a while. And I and I and this is exactly what Matt Ishbia doesn’t want to do. And that’s why when I mentioned hints of delusion and I understand why Matt Ishbia feels this way. He played college basketball for a legendary head coach and and so and that is framed the way he thinks about everything and he’s become ultra successful at a very young age. I I I don’t blame him for thinking he could come in and conquer the NBA. I hope though these last couple of years have taught him some things about winning in professional sports that many billionaires who don’t have the back. It’s like you and me is say you and me won the lottery and then said, “You know what I want to do? I want to be a pilot. I’m going to go jump in that plane and because I’m really successful, I’m going to get this thing to cruising at altitude in no time. You’re assuming you’re expertise in this area is going to translate to this area. Yeah. Then then you find yourself landing in a corn field in Glendale. Wait a minute. They have corn in it. Right. And so, so I hope he’s had the realization. Now, I gave Matt Ishbia a long leash on this because he played college basketball, but you and I have played hundreds of thousands of hours of pickup basketball. So is Sammy. It doesn’t mean we’re equipped to run a basketball team. Well, I mean, it’s a little little different level, but it’s a different level. But to your point, too, I mean, it all boils down to do the Suns feel like they can stay relevant while tweaking, not rebuilding. How much how strong is that? Is that possible to do in today’s NBA? I think it is. Okay. When you’ve got a lot of assets at your disposal, I think you can do that. I I the challenge is if that is what the path is, we’re not going to bottom out. We’re going to stay afloat and we’re going to compete for the for for a playin spot for the next three years and then watch out. Okay. with all of the restrictions against this team, I I think that is nearly impossible to accomplish. So your point on on the booker phone calls, it’s not going to happen. And I know everybody gets triggered when you bring it up. I know. But there’s a responsibility. If you’re trying to win championships, sometimes you I mean, a lot of times you got to hit rock bottom before you can start building up. That’s that’s it. That that’s really it. And so I I just hope that they that some humility has come out of out of the last two seasons and then you watch Oklahoma City and you see how they got to where they got. It was very methodical how they got to where they got. It was it it hasn’t been overnight. Certainly the case. No. 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 says the Phoenix Suns have a lot to learn from the Oklahoma City Thunder and Indiana Pacers on his Bickley Blast.

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