Earl Watson is out. Why and what’s next?

The inevitable – and for many Suns fans, the long awaited – firing of Earl Watson has finally happened. Why did it not work and what is next?

Watson’s tenure and thus win percentage as the Suns’ Head Coach was marred by the team’s intentional tanking thus not necessarily the statistic that fans and management should look to when grading his career at the helm. It was widely understood too that he was unhappy with the strategic resting of Tyson Chandler and Eric Bledsoe midway through the 2016-17 season, and didn’t necessarily want rookie’s to have such a pertinent role in the rotation when he had more capable veterans at his disposal.

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However, what was obvious throughout his 115 games as Head Coach is the team’s lack of a cohesive offense, some of the worst team defense in franchise history, an apparent lack of discipline, and a growing fear that the young players were not being properly groomed while wasting their formative years in a system that seemed to provide them with zero direction.

Watson’s unorthodox coaching style that focused on love and family came to be as a combination of his upbringing, which he admitted regularly was exceedingly difficult, and his connection to UCLA legend John Wooden. Like a Sunday pastor, Watson preached this philosophy which came as a refreshing change of theme coming on the heels of the Morris brother’s attempted takedown of the franchise in 2015.

While this may have potentially worked with those kinds of players had the franchise had no intention to trade them, or had he been a college coach (which many believe is his ultimate and more fitting basketball calling) then he may have been able to take the Morrii with the rest of the rough roster at the time and mold them into something competitive.

However, once that click was disbanded (which included currently unemployed Archie Goodwin), then what the increasingly young roster needed more than a loving older brother was a coach (or staff of coaches) who preached technical growth and improvement, as well as instilling a level of discipline that could mold generally college-aged talent into professionals capable of working cohesively to overcome teams with more experience.

Throughout last season it become increasingly apparent that Watson was not providing that structure and even before the veterans were benched the roster floundered about listlessly with little hope of a long-term return other than a high pick in the 2017 draft.

Then with the same roster almost entirely intact, the team opened this season apparently with no academic growth, and instead appeared to have taken a massive  step back, even with a full year under Watson’s tutelage and the added skill-set of Josh Jackson.

After three games, including two shockingly embarrassing blowouts at the hands of the not-that-great Portland Trail Blazers and Los Angeles Clippers, and what had previously been inevitable, was now imminent.

When it was reported that Robert Sarver would be meeting with Earl Watson today, the writing was not only on the wall, but hand-carved in stone.

For now, Jay Triano will take over as the Suns’ Interim Head Coach, presumably nothing more than to keep the seat warm while Ryan McDonough seeks out the kind of leader who will both teach and preach an appropriate offensive and defensive system that the young players need to develop into the kind of players that their draft spots warrant, as well as someone who can evolve as a coach and move from mentor of youth to voice of consistency as they begin to enter their primes, and win.

This Head Coach could possibly be found in house, and certainly Triano, Tyrone Corbin, or another may be capable to pull of such a task. But with the vacancy of the job happening so early in the year, there truly is no reason for McDonough to rush, and not do his due diligence over the next few months seeking out every potentially available coach and discovering who exactly should lead Phoenix into the future.

Taking his time too should potentially help him to avoid making the wrong decision. After all, this next head coach is the most important one for the young core of Booker, Chriss, Bender, Ulis, Jackson, and the next high draft pick(s) acquired in 2018. Whoever helms this roster will be the one who will be expected to lead the team into the playoffs and towards a championship and thus must be selected wisely and with great care.

A messy divorce with the next head coach could be entirely detrimental to the franchise. Should the team implode like they did under Jeff Hornacek or stagnate and regress like under Watson, Robert Sarver’s next move might be to fire Ryan McDonough himself and potentially reset the roster once again. Not only will this set the franchise back, but it could lead to a program that would become irrecoverably damaged.

If this current core – from which tanking was the main mode of acquisition – is forced to be blown up or does not reach their individually expected level of growth as they reach their primes, it could take a minimum of 3-5 years to reach a point of no return with them, and several more years to attempt to restart. Taking his time in selecting the next head coach and giving the new leadership the right tools with which to work with, is now more imminently important for McDonough than at any other time in the 50 year history of the Phoenix Suns.

Earl Watson is finally out as head coach in Phoenix. Now it is time for Phoenix to rise.