We are barely into this new NBA season and there has already been tons of Suns-related drama.
Earl Watson was fired, Jay Triano was promoted, Eric Bledsoe tried/is trying to tweet his way onto a contending team, GM Ryan McDonough called out Bledsoe and his agent Rich Paul and fans are clamoring for Robert Sarver to sell the team.
It’s been a pretty busy week.
In the midst of all of this drama, the Phoenix Suns managed to pick up their first win of the season against the Sacramento Kings. Since then, people have wondered, “why were the Suns winless under Watson, but immediately successful under Triano?”
Arizona Sports 98.7 FM radio personality John Gambadoro had an interesting take on the Earl Watson vs. Jay Triano question: “The players learned more in one hour under Triano than they did in the last month under Watson.”
As a coach, Earl Watson’s strengths were in developing people and uniting players. Clearly, developing and uniting the players was not enough to mold the Suns into a competitive basketball team. In 118 games as the head coach of the Phoenix Suns, Watson went 33-85, good for a .280 winning percentage. That equates to the second worst winning percentage for a head coach in franchise history.
Another critique of Watson was his tendency to play players out of position. In each of the first three games this season, he started Josh Jackson and T.J. Warren together. This meant that Phoenix was without a traditional power forward. Without a “4”, the Suns suffered mightily on the boards. Over Watson’s three games, the Suns were out-rebounded 182-152.
How has Jay Triano already managed to improve the Suns?
Swiveling to Jay Triano, someone with a vast amount of prior coaching experience, we see none of Earl Watson’s mistakes. Instead of “babysitting” his players, Triano is teaching them.
Marquese Chriss was quoted as saying, “He’s pretty blunt and straightforward … That’s the way the world is. Not everything you hear is positive, but it can benefit you.” (Via Scott Bordow and AZ Central).
One other plus for Triano is his willingness to use players in their primary positions. Instead of starting Jackson and Warren, Triano opted to pair Chriss with Warren. This allowed each player in the starting five to play in their strongest positions. Also, by dropping Josh Jackson to the bench, the interim head coach gave a huge spark to his bench unit.
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Will Jay Triano be the Phoenix Suns’ savior? No. Will every decision he makes turn out perfectly? Certainly not. We should not expect the Suns to win every game and we certainly should not expect Jay Triano to fix the entire Phoenix Suns organization.
The point is that we are seeing positive change. From adjusted lineups, to better coaching, we could be looking at the Suns on the rise here in Phoenix.