{"id":75890,"date":"2024-05-02T04:43:00","date_gmt":"2024-05-02T08:43:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=75890"},"modified":"2024-05-02T04:43:00","modified_gmt":"2024-05-02T08:43:00","slug":"suns-general-manager-james-jones-sounds-off-on-frank-vogel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/05\/02\/suns-general-manager-james-jones-sounds-off-on-frank-vogel\/","title":{"rendered":"Suns General Manager Sounds Off on Frank Vogel"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Halfway through the First Round, when it became clear that they had met a formidable foe, Phoenix Suns head coach Frank Vogel was already rumored to be <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/04\/28\/nba-rumors-suns-frank-vogel-hot-seat\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">on the hot seat<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The conflagration intensified immediately after they were swept by the Minnesota Timberwolves, which was to be expected. Rarely has a team been so thoroughly outplayed and their head coach was left unscathed. Especially a team with as much star power as the Suns.<\/p>\n<p>However, based on the comments of Suns general manager James Jones, Vogel may be just fine this summer.<\/p>\n<h2>James Jones Sounds Off on Frank Vogel<\/h2>\n<p>&#8220;I thought Frank did a great job, given the circumstances,&#8221; Jones says. &#8220;We assembled a really talented team\u2026 Primarily three scorers. Whenever you&#8217;re trying to get guys to adjust and adapt their games, there&#8217;s a transition time. It is sometimes a struggle&#8230;&#8221;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">James Jones on Frank Vogel&#8217;s performance: &#8220;I thought Frank did a great job, given the circumstances&#8230;whenever you&#8217;re trying to get guys to adjust and adapt their games, there&#8217;s a transition time. It is sometimes a struggle, but I thought he did a great job this year.&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/SMuZ9nhdnz\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/SMuZ9nhdnz<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Gerald Bourguet (@GeraldBourguet) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/GeraldBourguet\/status\/1785802975740637294?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">May 1, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;\u2026It was a tough grind with the lack of continuity and health,&#8221; Jones continues.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;But we won 49 games and we were in the playoffs against a really good Minnesota team that just was a better team than us. I thought he did a tremendous job. I thought the staff did a great job. I thought the players did a really good job. Just not good enough to reach our goals.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>A 14-year NBA veteran who won three championships playing alongside <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/jamesle01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">LeBron James<\/a> with the Miami Heat and Cleveland Cavaliers, Jones\u2019 experiences on those teams likely colors his assessment of the Suns\u2019 season.<\/p>\n<p>To that point, Phoenix\u2019s first year with their new look Big 3 was quite similar to the Heat\u2019s first year with James, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/w\/wadedw01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dwyane Wade<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/boshch01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Chris Bosh<\/a>. Both teams had a top-heavy roster with thin depth. Both teams featured three gifted players who weren\u2019t sure how to fit together, especially seamlessly. They both had disappointing playoff exits.<\/p>\n<p>They also had a head coach who was receiving mixed reviews both inside and outside the locker room.<\/p>\n<h3>\u2018Buy-In\u2019 Versus \u2018Belief\u2019<\/h3>\n<p>Vogel seems to have the support from the Suns\u2019 higher-ups. However, it may not completely extend to the players. A recent report from The Athletic\u2019s Shams Charania and Doug Haller painted <a href=\"https:\/\/theathletic.com\/5456932\/2024\/04\/29\/phoenix-suns-season-end-frank-vogel-kevin-durant\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">an unusual picture<\/a> of Phoenix\u2019s locker room.<\/p>\n<p>In it, Vogel\u2019s sincerity, authority, and tactics were all being questioned by players. The anonymity of such reports makes it easy to disregard, dismiss, or discredit them. However, unless The Athletic is completely fabricating stories, there\u2019s something amiss with regard to Vogel.<\/p>\n<p>Indeed, Jones confirmed there was some consternation late in the season:<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I believe when things get tough and you\u2019re uncertain, you start to guess,&#8221; he says. &#8220;As we got near the end of the season, I thought you saw some indecision. Our guys thinking too much and not playing.&#8221;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">&#8220;It&#8217;s not about buy-in, it&#8217;s about belief.&#8221; James Jones when asked if there was player buy-in with Frank Vogel. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/NBAPlayoffs?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#NBAPlayoffs<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Suns?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#Suns<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/ExptkzHtJR\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/ExptkzHtJR<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Duane Rankin (@DuaneRankin) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DuaneRankin\/status\/1785793281974296802?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">May 1, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Semantics aside (&#8220;buy-in&#8221; versus &#8220;belief&#8221;), it\u2019s clear that the disconnect helped contribute to the way the Suns\u2019 season ended. If that\u2019s the case, it\u2019s understandable why Phoenix would consider moving on from Vogel. However, Jones is of the mind that the solution is to breed confidence in one another with continuity.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;As we continue to spend time together and continue to build together, I think you see it\u2019s not about buy-in it\u2019s about belief,&#8221; Jones says. &#8220;Belief in one another. Belief that the things we\u2019re working on will translate in those moments\u2026&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Halfway through the First Round, when it became clear that they had met a formidable foe, Phoenix Suns head coach Frank Vogel was already rumored to be on the hot seat. The conflagration intensified immediately after they were swept by the Minnesota Timberwolves, which was to be expected. Rarely has a team been so thoroughly [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":75893,"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":[28,1608,62,3],"tags":[132,1872],"class_list":["post-75890","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-suns","category-basketball","category-nba","category-news","tag-frank-vogel","tag-james-jones"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75890","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=75890"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75890\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75893"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75890"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75890"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75890"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}