3. They have the right head coach
This is entirely anecdotal, but around the time of Ryan McDonough’s search and hiring of Igor Kokoskov, John Gambodoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 said that he didn’t believe that the next head coach (which would become Igor) was the head coach that would lead the Suns to their next series of great teams, but that the following head coach would be the one to lead them to greater success.
(I honestly wish I could cite that but while I am positive he said this, and I can give the approx. timing of it relative to the hiring of Igor, I have no clue as to what day or hour of his show to even begin to look it up.)
If you ask most fans of the Phoenix Suns, they will tell you that they believed Igor Kokoskov was a very good coach, arguably the best coach available to be hired in the summer of 2018, and after only one year on the job, with no starting caliber point guard of power forward, he deserved to coach Phoenix again this season.
Instead, James Jones made the decision to fire his head coach after one year and while he claimed he was doing an exhaustive interview process, seemingly instantly narrowed in on Monty Williams, and hired his guy.
Again, Phoenix Suns fans everywhere believe that he is a very good coach, arguably the best available his summer, and the right coach for the future.
But while fans placed Igor’s famed offensive expertise and relationship with a number of great point guards throughout his coaching history at the top of their list of reasons as for why Igor would be a good coach, Kokoskov lacked something that instantly fans think they see in Monty: he just has that it factor to him.
While he hasn’t coached a game yet in Phoenix, Monty appears to be the right coach for the right players; he is smart, tough, but ultimately relatable to the young team, one of the primary reasons for the lack of growth seen by the roster last season under their former coach.
There is no reason to believe that Nick Nurse, Toronto’s head coach, is so much better than Monty Williams that if Monty had had Toronto’s job this year that he too couldn’t have won the title as well.
Monty appears to have been, and should continue to be, a very good head coach, the kind of coach who can lead a team to it’s first ever championship.
Plus Gambo did say that the coach that followed Igor would be the head coach who would lead Phoenix to a string of great teams, and we are on that coach.