3 reasons keeping Kevin Young was masterstroke move by the Suns

3 reasons keeping Kevin Young was masterstroke move by the Suns.

3. He has the trust of the locker room

As already mentioned, Young went for the head coach’s job with the Suns, and had the backing of Booker in doing so. For a star player to back a coach in this way is huge for them, because the biggest names in the league have considerable sway with the organizations they play for.

To keep Young around means Booker is still happy, and both he and Kevin Durant will need to be fully bought into what the coaching staff are trying to implement if they want to win a championship. It also speaks volumes that a player like Jae Crowder didn’t work out when Williams was in town, despite being everything the Suns need, and will again need this summer.

With Williams gone and Booker still wanting Young to stick around means he knows how to communicate with the star, and also has Booker’s backing to put together an offensive game plan that the players can get behind. It likely also means whatever issues were going on behind the scenes last season, the players didn’t think Young was the issue.

Young can now also act as a link between the new faces on the coaching staff, as well as Vogel himself, and the players. On top of that, the issues surrounding the Suns and their depth has been well documented, and it will be hard for them to remedy the situation without making big roster changes this summer.

Should the organization do that, the incoming role players will have a member of the coaching staff who the star players already turn to, and who they too will be able to establish a connection with. Young could also gauge the temperature of these potential roster moves with Booker, Durant and Chris Paul, to get a feel for their thoughts as well.