2025-26 Phoenix Suns First-Half MVP - Jordan Ott became long-term solution in Phoenix

The Phoenix Suns are already halfway through what has been a hugely enjoyable and unexpected season in The Valley, and they remain in the thick of the playoff hunt.

Already we've given the first-quarter MVP award to Collin Gillespie, while it was Dillon Brooks who took home the honor for the second segment of the campaign.

Jordan Ott Suns' first-half MVP for implementing his vision in Phoenix

But we couldn't let this part of the season pass without showing some love to head coach Jordan Ott, whose consistency on the sidelines was the driving force of the first-half of the season.

Obviously Devin Booker could have won all of these awards to this point, he's the franchise cornerstone and is clearly bought into how good this group can be.

But at a time when the organization were bringing in their fourth head coach in as many seasons, and a first time one at that, coach Ott has been exactly what the Suns have needed.

He's not too set in his ways to be open to change, with two recent examples highlighting this and how well it meshes with the group perfectly.

In the aftermath of the win over the Brooklyn Nets, coach Ott admitted that once Jalen Green gets back from injury, while will be any day now, that he'll be coaching on the fly as one of the best offensive players finds his groove in the rotation.

Not long after he followed this up by refusing to confirm if center Mark Williams would play in the second night of a back-to-back against the Philadelphia 76ers, despiting having done so a couple of times already.

Coach Ott is honest and isn't afraid to not have the answers right away, a far cry from the more rigid responses of both Frank Vogel and Mike Budenholzer in the past.

We've already seen him get the best out of everybody from Royce O'Neale to Jordan Goodwin, while his ability to cobble together defensively sound rotations with Grayson Allen and Collin Gillespie as key components has been exceptional.

Perhaps the greatest statistic from coach Ott's time in charge so far has nothing to do with offensive or defensive ratings, although the Suns have been at or above league average in both areas for the entire season to this point.

Instead it is the fact that this group hasn't lost three games on the bounce since the opening week of the season.

This despite being in the midst of a six-game Eastern Conference road trip that began with a pair of losses to the Miami Heat and Detroit Pistons.

They could have rolled into Madison Square Garden with a hobbled Booker and just taken another defeat on the chin. After all, they're playing with house money.

Instead Booker suited up, the Suns won the game and followed it up with another victory in Brooklyn to remain in the seventh seed out West.

The 2025-26 campaign was all about putting building blocks in place to become contenders around Booker once again as soon as possible. Coach Ott was the most important addition in making that happen.