The Suns are apparently already on the verge of moving on from first-year head coach Frank Vogel.
Staring down an ominous 0-3 deficit to the Timberwolves in their ongoing first round playoff series, Phoenix brass appears prepared to make a bench shakeup, barring an unlikely comeback, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter video link) reported today.
“[There’s] increasing belief around the league that Frank Vogel’s job is in peril if he loses,” Woj said. “Especially as abruptly as they might in a sweep, as dispirited as they looked in Game 3. When you have this kind of payroll, these kinds of expectations, you’ve got to not only show more in the first round, you’ve got to get out of the first round.”
“Losing in six last year to Denver in the second round cost [former head coach] Monty Williams his job,” Wojnarowski continued. “You see Mat Ishbia, the owner, he’s mad rapid change in his short tenure as owner. Frank Vogel’s job very much may be in jeopardy now.”
Despite fielding three All-Stars in Devin Booker, Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal, the team struggled to stay healthy all year, finishing with a 49-33 record on the year and the West’s sixth seed. Beyond starters Grayson Allen and Jusuf Nurkic, Phoenix was equipped with a fairly thin bench, and hasn’t found a ton of cohesion on the court relative to its talent.