Mat Ishbia promised something new and exciting. It offers something selfish and outdated. He draws a page from the Jerry Jones / Robert Sarver game book. It is a film that we have seen too often in Phoenix, and it does not end well.
Ishbia promoted Brian Gregory as a new managing director of the team. If you haven’t heard of him, you are not alone. Gregory is a sentenced to perpetuity of university basketball who has never been very successful as a chief coach. He recently came to the NBA, where last season, he was the vice-president of the Suns of the programming of the players, whatever this title. What he owns is a deep link with the owner because he was a former assistant coach at Michigan State under Tom Izzo while Ishbia was a bench player.
This is exactly what you feared, and rest assured, your eyes roll again throughout the NBA.
Ishbia has promised that the next iteration of its suns would operate in complete alignment, and this is certainly the case with him and Gregory. They both worship Izzo and swear Fealty with the basketball culture in the state of Michigan, mainly defined as granular and filthy.
So disappointing at so many levels.
Rule n ° 1: When your organization is in a stupid state of decline, you do not promote the interior. You do not reward anyone at the front office associated with an NBA franchise which has gone from the pretenders to the Western Conference to a poorly adapted team that lost 46 games and missed the playoffs. You bring new eyes, new ideas and a different perspective.
Worse, the former director of the Warriors, Bob Myers, would have been interested in work, a decorated name that would bring respect and credibility instantly to the Suns.
Maybe Ishbia pushed hard for Myers. Maybe there were too many obstacles to overcome. The initiate of the NBA, Marc Stein, reported that the prosecution of Myers could have consumed too much time when the Suns were still faced with a head coach vacancy. It all looks like apologies.
Rule n ° 2: Responsibility cannot be a one -way street. Ishbia pulled three coaches in 23 months while adopting like the Steelers, who had three coaches in 56 years. However, there is no responsibility for a front office which has stacked failure of failure, with enough pride to act as the contract without trade in Bradley Beal is not a problem. You make many enemies when you own a beginner and act as if you were smarter than everyone in the league. Go ask Ray Anderson, who thought he could reinvent university football with Herm Edwards and a professional style operation on Arizona State.
I will extend grace to Gregory and space to prove myself the opposite. But fans of Suns know better than anyone it works: an under-qualified candidate accepts a very great promotion with great gratitude and loyalty to the man who did it. The new rental does not care or dares to request autonomy. He does not oppose when the owner is finally in charge of very large decisions.
The cardinals finally turned an important corner when Michael Bidwill looked outside the organization for a new managing director. This means that the Suns have not yet touched the bottom.
Reach bickley at dbickley@arizonasports.com. Listen to Bickley & Marotta during the week from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. on Arizona Sports 98.7.
