{"id":129223,"date":"2025-03-17T18:39:09","date_gmt":"2025-03-17T22:39:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=129223"},"modified":"2025-03-17T18:39:09","modified_gmt":"2025-03-17T22:39:09","slug":"suns-shouldnt-fire-mike-budenholzer-this-offseason","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/03\/17\/suns-shouldnt-fire-mike-budenholzer-this-offseason\/","title":{"rendered":"Suns Shouldn\u2019t Fire Mike Budenholzer This Offseason"},"content":{"rendered":"

There are already calls for the Phoenix Suns to fire Mike Budenholzer. To his detractors\u2019 point, the team\u2019s play and rotations have become increasingly erratic<\/a> this season.<\/p>\n

With a 31-37 record, the Suns are now 11th in the Western Conference. They\u2019ve been doing so poorly that they haven\u2019t even managed to outperform the Dallas Mavericks, who are still in Play-In contention at 33-36; 10th in the Western Conference standings. At this rate, their 2024-25 campaign looks a lot like the COVID-shortened 2019-20 season, when they went 34-39.<\/p>\n

Kevin Durant<\/a>\u2019s role has once again been thrust under the microscope. Bradley Beal<\/a> has been weighed, measured and found wanting. Devin Booker<\/a>\u2019s been uncharacteristically inefficient. Ryan Dunn<\/a> has fallen out of the rotation without a clear reason.<\/p>\n

This has led to their star-laden roster ranking 15th in points per game (114.2) and 22nd in opponents\u2019 points per game (116.1).<\/p>\n

Suns Shouldn\u2019t Fire Mike Budenholzer This Offseason<\/h2>\n

Budenholzer isn\u2019t blameless.<\/p>\n

Durant could be involved more frequently. Dunn shouldn\u2019t be rotting on the bench when they\u2019re struggling to contain players on the perimeter. Those are coaching decisions.<\/p>\n

Then there\u2019s the team\u2019s intangibles. As of late, they\u2019ve either been trying to fight fire with fire or just been frustrated, as Durant, Mason Plumlee<\/a>, and Jusuf Nurkic<\/a> \u2014the latter of whom has been traded \u2014getting into dust-ups. Though they might be in need of vocal leadership, Budenholzer has asked Booker to tone it down.<\/p>\n

All of this speaks to a coach that doesn\u2019t have the command or pulse of his locker room. His decision-making is problematic but that<\/em> is what could be the straw that breaks the camel\u2019s back. Indeed, many a coach has been fired because of locker room disconnect.<\/p>\n

This season, it was a primary factor<\/a> in the Sacramento Kings parting ways with Mike Brown. Last offseason, it was part of the reason<\/a> the Cleveland Cavaliers dismissed J.B. Bickerstaff. Shortly after they were eliminated from the 2024 NBA Playoffs, the Suns decided to replace Frank Vogel for a similar reason<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Quick Fixes Are A Risky Strategy<\/h3>\n

One season isn\u2019t always enough time for coaches to build the chemistry and culture<\/a> that they want.<\/p>\n

For all Phoenix knows, this could be a repeat of Budenholzer\u2019s tenure with the Atlanta Hawks. In his first season, he led them to an unimpressive 38-44 record. The next season, they went 60-22 and then had a run to the Conference Finals.<\/p>\n

Since then, Budenholzer\u2019s teams have finished with an above-.500 record seven more times. In four of those seasons, they recorded at least 50 wins. For comparison, the Suns have had five seasons with an above-.500 record since Budenholzer first became a head coach. In only two of those seasons have they finished with at least 50 wins.<\/p>\n

All of that is to say that Budenholzer\u2019s been more successful individually than the Suns have been collectively. Firing him isn\u2019t necessarily an irrational decision given their struggles. However, they could certainly be jumping the gun by not giving him the benefit of the doubt.<\/p>\n

Besides, teams that are always looking for a shiny new toy or a quick-fix to their issues are doomed to repeat their mistakes. That\u2019s been the case with the Los Angeles Lakers for awhile. It\u2019s been a problem for the New York Knicks as well. Both organizations\u2019s owners \u2014Jeanie Buss (Lakers) and James Dolan (Knicks) \u2014have readily admitted those mistakes<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Suns should see themselves in both franchises.<\/p>\n

Firing Monty Williams for Vogel didn\u2019t work out. Dismissing Vogel for Budenholzer hasn\u2019t worked out. Neither has replacing Chris Paul<\/a>, Toumani Camara<\/a> and Deandre Ayton<\/a> with Beal and Nurkic.<\/p>\n

The Last Word On The Suns\u2019 Offseason<\/h3>\n

If the Suns are determined to remodel their Big 3 this offseason, the team that Budenholzer coaches next season could be much more suited for success.<\/p>\n

Playing all three of the team\u2019s heavy-hitters at the same time could be simplified. Upgrading from Tyus Jones<\/a> and Grayson Allen<\/a> could improve their perimeter defense. Given Durant\u2019s trade value, they could get quite a haul<\/a> if they decide to move him.<\/p>\n

Durant\u2019s departure will be a big deal because of his skill level. Yet, he\u2019s been dissatisfied with his role<\/a> for two seasons and with two different head coaches. Thus, moving him could provide tranquility for their calamity. Beal\u2019s value isn\u2019t nearly as high as Durant\u2019s but the same holds true<\/a> for him as well.<\/p>\n

With so much already in-flux though, bringing on their fourth head coach in four years could be chaotic. Maybe Budenholzer\u2019s hypothetical replacement will make Durant and Beal more comfortable. Maybe he\u2019ll make better rotation decisions and shore up their defense.<\/p>\n

But what if they don\u2019t?<\/p>\n

Will the Suns just fire them after a year, too?<\/p>\n

\u00a9 Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There are already calls for the Phoenix Suns to fire Mike Budenholzer. To his detractors\u2019 point, the team\u2019s play and rotations have become increasingly erratic this season. With a 31-37 record, the Suns are now 11th in the Western Conference. They\u2019ve been doing so poorly that they haven\u2019t even managed to outperform the Dallas Mavericks, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":129236,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[28,1608,62,4721],"tags":[311,69,550,4557,4774,1382],"class_list":["post-129223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-suns","category-basketball","category-nba","category-trade-rumors","tag-bradley-beal","tag-kevin-durant","tag-mike-budenholzer","tag-nba-offseason","tag-rumors","tag-nba-trade"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129223","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=129223"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129223\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":129237,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129223\/revisions\/129237"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/129236"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=129223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=129223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=129223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}