The Phoenix Suns apparently are turning to an old foe to get them to a place where they've never been — the top of the NBA mountain. More specifically, they are set to hire Mike Budenholzer as their next coach, according to multiple reports.
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Budenholzer, of course, coached the Milwaukee Bucks when they beat the Suns in the 2021 NBA Finals. But he was fired by Milwaukee at the end of last season after losing in the first round of the playoffs. Interestingly, the Bucks lost in the first round of the playoffs again this year — despite replacing Budenholzer with not one, but TWO coaches (Adrian Griffin, then Doc Rivers).
So hey, if you're the Suns, why not give Budenholzer a shot. He did, after all, beat you in the most crucial series of your past 30 years or so.
Anyway, the Suns are basically a mess. They too have had a bit of a coaching carousel going on since new owner Mat Ishbia took over. They fired Monty Williams at the end of last season. Then they hired Frank Vogel. Then they fired Vogel after one season — after a poorly constructed roster centered on Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and Bradley Beal failed to advance beyond the first round.
Durant is great, but Booker and Beal are shooting guards who shoot a lot (then shoot some more) and the Suns had no point guard. So while they could score a lot of points in the regular season, they really didn't put together a team that could win in the playoffs, where just out-shooting the opposition rarely works.
But hey, it appears as if that will be Mike Budenholzer's problem now. Good luck with all that.
"It's like looney tunes around here," one Suns source told Hoops Wire. "It's felt unstable since (owner Mat Ishbia) arrived. He's a good guy and everything, I think, but he's just very involved. Too involved. I know he played (college basketball at Michigan State), but I'd venture to say he has no idea what he's doing when it comes to basketball. Yet he's making a lot of the big decisions."
And so it goes in the world of the Phoenix Suns, the oldest NBA franchise to have never won a title.
