I'm sure @Codman has more juicy stories on the Suns. 3rd game in for me but I knew 2 weeks before I had a 2-week ultimatum to accept the ultimatum or be let go. I chose to be let go. Ultimatum? By ownership. Team aware of it? There's no secrets in the NBA. Relationship with Ryan McDonough? When I arrived in Phoenix, I felt the talent was pretty much close(closed?) but no hope for the future. That's when I saw Booker being hope. I was told going into Devin's 2nd year, there was a push by management to have Brandon Knight start over Booker. Any truth? It was some great debates. It wasn't just McDonough. I had coaches on my staff who believed it wasn't time for Devin to take over the starting 2-guard role. I knew when you build a program, a Knight/Bledsoe backcourt can only take you so far and it wasn't even to the playoffs. You had to mix it up & build hope. In the NBA, you have 3 years to build a mindset of a player. Within that 3 years, he becomes who you tell him he's going to be. We didn't want him to be a Sixth Man. We wanted him to be a starter. We knew he'd have problems defensively. We knew the opportunity would give him a chance to create and visualize being the greatest player to ever play at that position, which all players should want to be. Was there a time when everything came to ahead and they said Knight needs to be starting at the two? There will always be major push back when you pay a back court close to $140M and you have this new, young coach telling you this kid from Kentucky who came off the bench should be the starter. It was major push back & confusion but it's two different perspectives. Front office perspective ... and coach perspective. I knew starting Booker put me at high risk of being let go. How were you able to stick by your stance & trot out Booker? You don't play 13 years in the NBA & not have stubbornness. ... When I came into Phoenix, it was we had to trade Markieff, do all these different moves, it's like where's the hope? You have to give the fans hope, the program hope, the team hope & your coaching staff hope.
Suns Offered 2nd Round Pick To 76ers For T.J. McConnell The Phoenix Suns sought a trade with the Philadelphia 76ers for T.J. McConnell in recent weeks. The Suns offered a second round pick for Philadelphia's backup point guard, which the 76ers rejected. The Suns have also had interest in Patrick Beverley, Cory Joseph and Spencer Dinwiddie.
https://www.hoopsrumors.com/2018/11/former-suns-gm-mcdonough-talks-firing-suns-ariza.html On why he was surprised and a little frustrated by the timing of his ouster: “I viewed the roster as not fully completed. We were working on a few trades to upgrade the team, and I guess I thought we had more time than I ended up having.” On whether it was challenging to recruit free agents to Phoenix: “Phoenix is a great place to live. It’s a great place to play. The team is super young, so I think that hurt us somewhat in terms of recruiting elite free agents in their prime. The two foundational pieces that we left there are 22 years old (Booker) and 20 (Ayton). I think free agents, especially veteran free agents like a LeBron James or LaMarcus Aldridge, look at it and say, ‘They’re a little ways away.’ “It is a challenge. There are unique challenges to every setup, every situation. The Suns have been a destination franchise in the past. I think, and hope, as Devin and Deandre and the rest of the young players improve, they will be again in the future.” On his biggest regret from his time with the Suns: “The biggest regret, I think, is how public some of the conflicts with the players became. I think the good organizations have historically handled that behind closed doors. And that’s not a shot at Phoenix — that’s more of a shot at me than anything. We could have done better internally, from ownership and the front office and our coaching staff in terms of communication with the players, and vice versa. If I do jump back in on the team side at some point, I’ll learn from that. I’ve been doing a lot of reflecting over the last couple weeks, just thinking about how we can do better in that area going forward.” On why the Suns used their cap room on Ariza instead of a point guard over the summer: “We studied the final four teams in the league last year, and other than Cleveland with LeBron, if you look at Golden State, Houston, and Boston, they have a ton of interchangeable wing players. And a lot of times, they’ll have three or even four of them on the court at a time. Ariza was an unrestricted free agent, he’s a West Coast guy, he had interest in coming to Phoenix, and we viewed his contract similar to how Philly viewed J.J. Redick‘s contract a year ago, where we can pay him a lot of money for one year [and] keep our future flexibility. … We thought Ariza would help us take a step from rebuilding to hopefully being playoff competitive. And then we could build from there, either with Ariza or with an elite free agent from the 2019 class.”
Saw McDonough show up on ESPN last night commenting about the NBA. Not sure if there will be more appearances.
Ha Ha, ok, if u guys are not satisfied with Ariza, we can accept a return with a partial refund, let's get it done
please no...enough is enough...we tried ariza for several years and it didnt work.... perhaps id take him in the bobby brown role..that would be ideal because i respect ariza much
Suns chemistry is bad. They are not holding themselves accountable apparently. MAYBE THEY SHOULD TRADE FOR SOME VETS????..........oh wait.....
Trevor Ariza hands Booker a couple $50 bills for his tears and says, "It's gonna be okay son, I promise to start holding others accountable when I too start to give a f#ck. . . . Did I mention that I was rich?"