What the Phoenix Suns need to learn from the Arizona Cardinals

Both the Phoenix Suns and Arizona Cardinals entered their respective 2019 offseasons with the firing of a one-year head coach, but the Suns can learn a thing or two from their NFL counterpart.

If you are a fan of both the Phoenix Suns and Arizona Cardinals, you are well aware that the last season for both teams was absolutely awful.  In some quirk of Thanos-level fate, both teams finished with their second worst record (Suns) or worst record (tied-2000, Cardinals) in the last 50 years, and both were faced with the expectancy that dramatic changes must be made – and quick.

Phoenix Suns

While many fans of both teams probably believed at one point or another that both Steve Wilks and Igor Kokoskov deserved a full offseason and second regular season to prove their worth, neither of them were given such an opportunity.

What is most ironic about the two franchises is that it is fair to argue that both head coaches were also never given a real shot at success in their one season, as Wilks – a defensive head coach – is a 3-4 mind whereas the Cardinals’ roster had been built for a 4-3 system, nor did he have a working offensive line to defend his broken down veteran or rookie quarterbacks.

And Igor is an offensive genius who’s systems were always organized and run by competent point guards. Yet the Suns, however, not only passed on point guard Luka Doncic with the first overall pick in 2018, but then neither got Igor a legitimate point guard, or a starting quality power forward.

Whether both coaches should should still have performed better with what they were given or not, the fact of the matter is, their respective bosses decided that one year was enough and that moving on to an entirely different direction was an absolute necessity.

This is where the Arizona Cardinals have (so far) done it right, and where the Phoenix Suns need to follow in their NFL-brother’s lead.

The Cardinals did eventually hire another first-time NFL head coach again (as both Igor and Wilks were – although Kliff Kingsbury does have head coaching experience at the collegiate level as Igor did in Europe), but not only did Arizona hire someone who has a specific specialty, with their own first overall pick, they did what the Suns failed to do and took the player (in this case quarterback Kyler Murray) who their new head coach has first hand knowledge of, and who they believe is hands down the best possible player to run the new head coach’s system.

Cardinals GM Steve Keim then went even further, and made the franchise the first in the modern draft era to select three WR’s following the selection of a QB first overall.

The Cardinals thus doubled-down on finding the personnel to best fit the new head coach’s system and are building around what he knows he can do best, rather than forcing him to design something new and un-tested around players he has yet to ever work with.

Not revolutionary by any means, although if Kingsbury’s offensive concepts are  revolutionary, than brilliant none-the-less.

Now, Phoenix Suns fans can fairly make the argument that what the Cardinals did with Kingsbury in 2019, the Suns should  have done in 2018 with Kokoskov: Igor was noted as a brilliant offensive mind, he needs a strong point guard to run the show smoothest, and they had someone that he had intimate knowledge with in Doncic waiting for them to take number one overall, and even though they took a center in Deande Ayton, James Jones still never went out of his way to find a competent point guard.

Once again, Phoenix has a chance to make the situation right.

By firing Igor, they have a chance to hire another  brilliant mind (either offensively, defensively, or developmentally), then with the draft, through trades and free agency, design the roster around what that coach can do most effectively and give him the pieces to make his team run to the best of it’s ability.

At this moment we have no knowledge of where the Suns will draft, so of course knowing whether or not they have a shot at either Zion Williamson or Ja Morant will be key to how the roster unfolds from there.

But what can be taken note of right no is regardless of where they select, that they select put forth a plan to find players who fit the system, then double-down on improving those positional weakness through every means available to them.

By not only hiring Kingsbury but then selecting Kyler Murray and drafting three WRs (not to mention the bevvy of other moves made in free agency already), the Arizona Cardinals took their greatest weaknesses in 2018 and are moving to make them strengths immediately in 2020. They have taken their chips and placed them in the center of the table – and called.

The Phoenix Suns need to do the same.

If they want to go with an offensive-minded coach, good – then, by hook or by crook, go get that head coach the best possible point guard they can acquire and give the new offense a chance to develop the right way.

If they want to go with a defensive-minded coach, fine – now go get multiple lock down defenders who can make up for the weaker (although improving) defense of Devin Booker, and let him score 30 points a game while the rest of the team holds the opponents to under 90.

James Jones is essentially still a rookie general manager and has a lot to learn about how to go about the business of an offseason and build a roster than can work within itself, and with it’s head coach.

He is bless with the opportunity right now is to learn from the example the Arizona Cardinals set, and make his roster’s greatest weaknesses a strength in just one offseason.