Frank Vogel has been fired by the Phoenix Suns. The veteran head coach led his team to a 49-win regular season before the Minnesota Timberwolves swept them in the opening round of the playoffs. Despite his experience, Vogel was unable to get his Suns team to play the stringent brand of defense his squads have been known for throughout his career.
Last summer, the Suns swung for the fences. They traded away Chris Paul, bringing Bradley Beal back in the opposite direction. In doing so, owner Mat Ishbia constructed one of the best offensive trios in the NBA. However, he also removed a generational playmaker from the roster, leaving the team without a legitimate point guard. Beal arrived only a few months after Ishbia had acquired Kevin Durant from the Brooklyn Nets.
Those two moves emptied Phoenix’s war chest, leaving them with very little depth and no future assets to help balance a roster that was clearly top-heavy. Suddenly, Vogel was expected to work miracles based on his team’s elite star talent.
The problem with that plan was simple: The modern NBA is about high-level depth as much as star power. Without a string of role players to help steady the ship, Vogel found himself reliant on three scorers who had to learn how to play together and off of each other. And he had to do it without someone like Paul on the floor setting the table. Furthermore, there were limited defensive pieces to help balance the equation.
Vogel undoubtedly deserves some of the blame for the Suns’ failures. He did have a roster with three top-end talents, after all. Yet, in a loaded Western Conference, with no point guard and very few upside defenders, Phoenix always had a cap on how successful they could be. The era of the “Big Three” has long since passed.
The Suns may have fired their head coach, but their mountain of problems is still clear for everyone to see. Vogel was the inevitable fall guy. He shouldn’t be judged too harshly for how things played out. In the end, he was put in a challenging situation by an ownership team eager to win. There are lessons to be learned on both sides of that coin.