It's not exactly a secret that the Phoenix Suns just concluded one of their most utterly disappointing seasons in franchise history. The trio of Devin Booker, Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal failed to hold up against ultra-talented competition in the Western Conference, and now a lot of questions about the future remain.
To help address those questions, the Suns made the decision to hire Brian Gregory as their new General Manager last week. However, the fanbase has not been so optimistic on this hiring for a few reasons.
In order to give you some background, let's look at Gregory's career resume at a glance. He joined Phoenix's front office last June after a long tenure as a coach at the collegiate level, both as a head coach and assistant coach.
Gregory served as an assistant at his alma mater, Michigan State, as well as working in the same position at Toledo and Northwestern. In 2003, he earned his first head coaching job at Dayton. After eight years there, he was the head coach for Georgia Tech as well as South Florida.
The Suns' hiring of Brian Gregory is questionable
It was a little over one year after finishing at USF that he joined the Suns' front office. So Phoenix is getting a tenured, but not an extremely successful, leader from the college basketball ranks to come in and run their operations for the foreseeable future. Gregory made just two NCAA tournament appearances in 19 seasons as a college coach, with one total NCAA tourney win.
Obviously, Gregory's prior connection with Mat Ishbia (both attended Michigan State) is at least part of the reason for this hire. And this has led some Suns fans to roll their eyes, thinking it likely that their new GM will be coming in mostly looking to fulfill the wishes of an owner whose decisions have not been particularly fruitful.
Phoenix could have brought in someone who is more experienced with making big decisions within the NBA landscape. Instead, they opted for someone with just one year of working at the professional basketball level, and who has already been part of what most view as a failing front office.
This is bad news for Suns fans, and it's likely going to be seen as a big opportunity for other General Managers around the league. Various decision-makers in the NBA wanting to make upgrades this summer are likely to repeatedly call the phone of the new guy who's still just trying to figure things out in his first offseason with the organization.
Things can change, and Gregory has the ability to prove everyone wrong. But it just doesn't feel like a promising hire right now.