Several league sources told me they anticipate Suns general manager Ryan McDonough to probe a Leonard deal using the no. 1 pick. Phoenix explored Irving trades last summer but was reluctant to deal Josh Jackson, whom they selected with the fourth overall pick. Leonard is better than Irving, so perhaps it’s time for the Suns to strike now, when they’re armed with assets and an opportunity to trade for a transcendent player. There’s also a sense from league sources that the Suns presumed selection of Arizona big man Deandre Ayton at no. 1 isn’t a guarantee because of the outside possibility that they’ll get a good enough deal to trade down or out of the draft entirely. Now that Leonard reportedly wants out, anything is possible.
Storyline: Suns Front Office
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Scott Bordow: McDonough on Jackson: “One of the more underrated players in this draft in my opinion. Really shot the ball well in this workout.”
Adam Zagoria: Asked by @Adrian Wojnarowski what he would trade the No. 1 pick for, McDonough said, “For us it would probably have to be a proven star, but probably a young proven star.” twitter.com/AdamZagoria/st…
Scott Bordow: McDonough: Coaching search was “robust and exhaustive process.”
Scott Bordow: Jones: “I’m excited for our guys to accept greater expectations.”
Gerald Bourguet: Kokoskov: “The ingredients are coming from Ryan [McDonough], now I’ve gotta cook.”
But an important event occurred during that first month. After a rare loss, Kerr went into the coach’s room postgame with some suggestions for D’Antoni. Within the general message: What do you think about some more Stoudemire post-ups? “Steve had good intentions,” said Coro, who originally reported the details of the encounter during that season. “It was just the wrong time because of how coaches feel right after a disappointing loss and how he took the suggestions. From there, there was kind of an awkward dynamic. Not having been a coach yet, he didn’t know what sort of territory he was coming in on at the time.”
Festering beneath the surface: D’Antoni’s suspicion that Kerr was angling to potentially become the coach, sources said. Kerr wasn’t. He was living in San Diego. His kids were still around. It already took hard convincing for him to make the time commitment for the general manager job. Coaching wasn’t on the table until his kids were out of high school. That’s why it didn’t happen until 2014, despite opportunities beforehand.
But that monster price tag didn’t mean cash was flooding into the franchise. Actually, the opposite. Sarver became almost immediately notorious for his penny-pinching and novice understanding of the NBA world. One of his early questions to the basketball decision makers, one source described: Why, if D’Antoni’s rotation only includes eight or nine guys, do we have to pay 13 players to be on the roster? Sarver meddled, which is a new owner’s right. His money, his team, his place to ask questions and have final say.
Scott Bordow: Got off the phone a few minutes ago with Suns’ GM Ryan McDonough: He said report Phoenix offered 4-year contract to David Fizdale was “inaccurate.” Didn’t want to get into specifics.
The Phoenix Suns have agreed to terms with Utah Jazz assistant Igor Kokoskov to become their new head coach. The two sides reached agreement on a three-year contract, league sources told ESPN. Suns general manager Ryan McDonough met with Kokoskov in Houston before Sunday’s Game 1 and moved quickly to make an offer, league sources told ESPN.
“We are thrilled to bring Valley resident Igor Kokoškov back to Arizona as head coach of the Phoenix Suns,” said General Manager Ryan McDonough. “Igor has been a pioneer throughout his basketball career and he brings a wealth of high level coaching experience to our club. He was one of the first non-American born assistant coaches at both the NCAA and NBA levels and his most recent head coaching stint includes leading the Slovenian national team to the 2017 EuroBasket title, which was the first European title in the history of the country. Igor’s teams have always had a player development focus, a creative style of play and a track record of success.”
Scott Bordow: Everyone going nuts about my Jason Kidd, Vinny Del Negro news: Chill. McDonough told me in March he would talk to a lot of people in initial round of interviews. Then will whittle list down. Doesn’t hurt to get a lot of input, opinions, about your team and organization.
Booker is expecting changes for the better this offseason in Phoenix. “It’s only up now,” Booker said. “This summer is a big summer for us. You hear our GM [general manager Ryan McDonough] come out and say he’s going to be super aggressive. We have young talent, we have a lot of picks, with a lot of money too. So I think there’s definitely going to be a lot of moves made this summer.”
Len isn’t closing the door on returning to the Suns. But he gets it. General Manager Ryan McDonough has said finding a center in either the draft or via free agency is the organization’s highest priority. Tyson Chandler has one more year left on his contract, and Alan Williams proved last season he can be an effective backup – as well as a fan favorite. That doesn’t leave any room for Len and, frankly, he’s fine with that. “I’m looking forward to this offseason,” he said. “I think it’s going to be exciting. It’s the first time I’m actually going to have a chance to go where I want to go.”
LeBron was asked about his former teammate by reporters, who he said he met up with during his time in Phoenix. He believes James Jones will be great in the front office. “He’ll be great because he gets it,” James said. “He gets it, he knows talent, he knows work ethic and he knows basketball people. That definitely helps out. Best of luck to him in his new endeavors, that’s for sure.”
The Cavs have two open roster spots, but it’s unlikely they will fill them. Jones, who was a member of the three Cavs teams who went to the Finals, is still good shape according to LeBron. “He looks good to still play, I’ll tell you that. He’s looking leaner than he was and he was already lean. I’d love to have champ around.”
Phoenix is targeting former Memphis coach Dave Fizdale to replace interim coach Jay Triano, according to league sources. When Fizdale was the lead assistant to Eric Spoelstra in Miami during the LeBron Era, James Jones was on the Heat roster. Jones has been the Suns’ vice president of basketball operations since last July.
The Suns’ stance for weeks has been that they will use their draft picks and their cap flexibility this off-season to add quality veterans to their youthful roster. In that same vein, there has been a growing sense that one or two of the Suns’ duplicated young guys could be had at the deadline. There is a belief the Suns may wait until the draft when they could leverage one of those players to move into a player they are very high on in the draft or to make a deal for a veteran.
Whatever decisions the Suns make will be influenced by their decision to move their timeline up by a year. “We’ve been patient,” McDonough said. “I think we’ll try to accelerate things this summer with all our draft picks and cap space. That’s kind of our mindset as we sit here today in late January.”
“There are certain core pieces that are starting to solidify,” McDonough said. “I think we’d be foolish or naïve to wait forever or be overly patient. We’ve been, I think, relatively disciplined with contracts we’ve given out in terms of length and dollars, but yeah, we’re planning on being one of five of six teams with a decent amount of cap space, and we’ll see if we can improve the team.”
Because of the depth at point guard, in particular, McDonough indicated it’s less likely Phoenix will make a move for a veteran point guard before the Feb. 8 deadline. Charlotte’s Kemba Walker has been mentioned as a possibility, but he’s 27 and his contract expires after the 2018-19 season. “If we can make any moves there that could help us in the short-term solution, we’ll look at that,” McDonough said, “but I think (we’re more interested) in a long-term solution.”
As of Saturday, Phoenix would have the No. 5 overall pick, the pick it acquired from the Bucks as part of the Bledsoe deal – it confers to the Suns between Nos. 11-16 – and Miami’s top-seven protected pick. Currently, that’s No. 22. McDonough said it’s fortuitous for the Suns to have multiple picks because the draft is deep at the two positions they need to address: point guard and center.
If only those warm feelings could have produced something long-lasting in Phoenix almost a decade ago with Kerr as the Suns’ general manager and D’Antoni as the Suns’ head coach. Nearly a year after Kerr became Phoenix’s general manager in the 2007 offseason, Mike D’Antoni took the New York Knicks’ head-coaching job following the 2007-08 campaign. “I have some regrets,” Steve Kerr said. “I think we had a few differences that I probably didn’t handle very well as a GM that I could’ve probably handled better, especially given that we really like each other and have a lot of similar viewpoints on the game.”
Mike D’Antoni faced persistent criticism regarding his commitment to defense and the Suns’ inability to beat the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA playoffs in 2005, 2006 and 2008. “I had some ideas on how we could get over the hump. Mike had some ideas,” Steve Kerr said. “We were both frustrated we couldn’t beat the Spurs. I just think if I had more experience as a GM, I would’ve navigated that whole thing a little bit better.” Kerr spoke thoughtfully and in depth about those regrets because of his reverence for D’Antoni. D’Antoni spoke briefly and politely declined to reflect in detail because he harbors the same feelings about Kerr. “We’re good,” D’Antoni said about Kerr. “He’s a great person, a great coach. I have nothing but respect for him.”
Devin Booker’s importance to the Phoenix Suns franchise continues to grow. General Manager Ryan McDonough said Thursday that Booker will have a voice in all of the organization’s major decisions going forward, including the search for a new coach, free agency and the draft.
Devin Booker was napping when an earthquake struck the Suns. At 1:44 p.m. Mountain Standard Time on Oct. 22, Eric Bledsoe sent his now-infamous tweet about wanting out of either Phoenix, or a hair salon — or, hell, maybe both. Sixty-eight minutes later, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski broke the news: The Suns had fired Earl Watson, their head coach. Booker was still sleeping. “I woke up,” he says, “to everything. It was crazy.”
Meanwhile, Ryan McDonough’s phone was buzzing constantly, as tends to happen when you are the general manager of a team embroiled in multiple and intertwined controversies. One notification alarmed him: a voicemail from Jeff Schwartz, the New York-based power agent who represents Tyson Chandler. “Given the way our season had started,” McDonough says, “it wouldn’t have been shocking if Tyson wanted to be moved.” Schwartz delivered the opposite message, the two recall: “Tyson is fine.” He likes Phoenix, Schwartz told McDonough, and enjoys mentoring the young Suns. “It was a breath of fresh air,” McDonough says.
Suns Managing General Partner Robert Sarver told azcentral sports Thursday that he has “zero interest” in selling the team. Sarver’s comment came in response to a note item in the Washington Post in which an NBA writer said, “There are already rumblings around the league that Robert Sarver, who bought the team from Jerry Colangelo for $401 million in 2004, is looking to cash out.” “There’s zero accuracy to that story,” Sarver said. “Zero. I have zero interest in selling.”
Phoenix Suns general manager Ryan McDonough admits that, in hindsight, he should have considered outside candidates before hiring Earl Watson as head coach. Watson replaced Jeff Hornacek in 2015-16, going 9-24 before the Suns removed the interim tag in April without conducting an interview process to consider other candidates. “As far as the procedure goes and the process goes, yes, I think we probably should have gone through a more extensive interview process,” McDonough said Wednesday on 98.7 FM Arizona’s Sports Station’s Burns & Gambo show. “Some people said that at the time. Robert and I take and accept that criticism, and I think we’ll learn from that going forward.”
“It all starts with Sarver,” one of the people told B/R. That would be owner Robert Sarver, who bought the team for $404 million in 2004, just in time to have a front-row seat for the team’s most successful four-year run since the early 1990s, when Cotton Fitzsimmons and Paul Westphal led the team to seven straight 50-plus-win seasons, three Western Conference Finals and the 1993 NBA Finals against Michael Jordan’s Bulls. It’s been downhill ever since for Sarver.
My question is, why aren’t the Suns better? They have a decent team, they’re young, they’ve had a consistent team, no big moves, “deep” lineup, no major flaws. So why are they a 24-58 team? David Aldridge: The short answer to his question, though, is found in that firing. There isn’t anyone outside Phoenix’s management that thinks the Suns’ awful, awful start — 0 and 3 out of the gate, including 48- and 42-point shellackings by the Blazers and Clippers, respectively — is just Watson’s fault. Ownership, in the form of Robert Sarver, and management, in the form of GM Ryan McDonough, will be on their third head coach together since the improbable 48-34 season of 2013-14. They’re the ones that have traded Goran Dragic and Isaiah Thomas, and gave Eric Bledsoe and Brandon Knight $70 million extensions, and gave Tyson Chandler $52 million (yes, in pursuit of LaMarcus Aldridge, but gambles that don’t pay off aren’t celebrated), and have seen none of their Lottery picks look like budding superstars yet. And they’re the reason, I’m told, that Bledsoe wants out. Bledsoe’s “I Dont wanna be here” tweet, posted Sunday afternoon, just before news of Watson’s firing broke, was not directed at Watson, a source said. Yet another source that’s been around the team put more blame — 70 percent, the source said — on Watson.
Markieff Morris: Lol and they thought I was tripping.. #Happyimhome
Suns general manager Ryan McDonough is actively engaged with several teams in trade talks for Bledsoe, league sources told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, and the team hopes to find a deal soon. Interest around the NBA has increased in the past day for Bledsoe, once it became apparent that both sides are motivated to part ways, sources told Wojnarowski.
Bledsoe arranged a meeting with team owner Robert Sarver and McDonough during the preseason and requested a trade, league sources told ESPN. Sources said Bledsoe has voiced his frustrated with the direction of the team.
Still, league sources, both inside the organization and out, don’t see McDonough as the problem. He’s whiffed on a few trades (Isaiah Thomas, Goran Dragic) but his draft record is solid (Devin Booker, Josh Jackson, T.J. Warren, Marquese Chriss) and he has had to battle through the systematic dysfunction caused, in part, by an owner, Robert Sarver, who routinely injects himself into basketball-related decisions.
General manager Ryan McDonough and Watson had often been at odds in their short partnership together, league sources told ESPN. Owner Robert Sarver was a significant part of the decision to replace Watson so early into the season, league sources said.
Suns looking for young free agents
McDonough, who flew overseas Tuesday to watch forward Dragan Bender play for Croatia in the EuroBasket 2017 championships, said the Suns might work out players over the next week or two to see if any “stand out.” But, he said, it’s unlikely Phoenix would sign a veteran to replace Reed. That would seem to eliminate free agents such as Tony Allen, Monta Ellis or former Suns guard Leandro Barbosa.
“I think we will lean toward younger guys, with the mid-to-late 20s being the upper limit of what we’ll look at,” McDonough said. “Is there one guy out there who could be an exception to that? Maybe. But I think that will be the target of the initial process, somebody who fits with the timeline of our young core.” McDonough said the Suns also have internal options to replace Reed, who will be out four to six months after having surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee.
James Jones working for Altman? — Matt Hey, Matt: There were considerations for Jones on the Cavs’ side in terms of a front-office role, as well as a discussion between the two sides in relation to what he wanted to do in retirement, a league source told cleveland.com. Jones ultimately wanted to be in Phoenix, where he is vice president of basketball operations, and where he played for two seasons early in his career. The source said Jones’ decision was not related to the tumult that’s surrounded the Cavs this offseason.
At 27, Bledsoe doesn’t fit into the Suns’ youth movement, or #timeline, as it’s been coined on social media. He said he “definitely feels” like an old man among his teammates. Then there was this response when asked what he thought of the Suns’ offseason: “We got Josh Jackson. James Jones (in the front office). But for the most part, I don’t care,” he said. “Whatever team we have at training I’m going to play my heart out for. I just control what I can control. Getting better every time I step onto the floor.”
Scott Bordow: What I’m hearing: Multiple announcements from today’s 11 a.m. #Suns press conference. Still believe McDonough extension part of it
The Phoenix Suns are planning to keep general manager Ryan McDonough in place entering the final year of his contract, according to league sources.
Marc Stein: Story posting now with @Chris Haynes: ESPN sources say Phoenix plans to keep GM Ryan McDonough in place entering final year on his contract
Brett Pollakoff: Suns announce they’ve added Mehmet Okur as a player development coach.
So McDonough said the best route short term is through the draft, building a young foundation with Booker, Bender, Chriss, Ulis, and T.J. Warren along with veterans Eric Bledsoe, Brandon Knight, and Chandler. “That’s certainly the most sustainable way to do it,” McDonough said. “If you can draft those guys and have them under control for four years on the rookie scale and then have a bunch of advantages in terms of contract extensions and full Bird rights, that really helps.
Sarver said McDonough “definitely” will remain GM of the team next season. In his third season as Suns GM, McDonough is running the basketball operations for the first time; Lon Babby moved from the role of president to part-time adviser last summer. Sarver has hailed McDonough’s talent evaluation and is excited about the future of his draft picks (Booker, Len, T.J. Warren and Archie Goodwin) in what he believes are key areas to NBA success: drafting and developing.
June 25, 2018 | 5:21 am EDT Update
David ‘Dubi’ Pick: Source: Glen Rice Jr. has signed a $60,000 deal through August in Puerto Rico with BSN champions Piratas de Quebradillas.
The Cleveland Cavaliers will add power forward Billy Preston to their summer league roster, sources told ESPN. Preston, who is 6-foot-10, was a five-star recruit and McDonald’s All-American in 2017. Known for his athleticism and scoring talent, he committed to Kansas and was once projected as high as a mid-second-round NBA draft pick by ESPN.
Illawarra Hawks recruit Emmett Naar will be heading to the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas, linking up with the Phoenix Suns for the off-season showcase. Naar will team up with the #1 pick from the 2018 draft, Deandre Ayton, as the Suns open up their Summer League campaign against the Dallas Mavericks on July 6, followed by games against Sacramento and Orlando.
