It is hard to know who exactly has been the worst Phoenix Suns’ head coach this decade, but Frank Vogel is surely in the running.
Although the tenure of Mike Budenholzer felt more disastrous relative to expectations and the roster that he had at his disposal, outside of some solid team defense Vogel failed to get the best out of Devin Booker and company as well.
Vogel landing position as lead assistant makes sense
Which was why the news that he will be heading to the Golden State Warriors as a lead assistant under Steve Kerr shouldn’t have come as a surprise. Suns fans might not have good memories, but he has excelled with a veteran roster in the past.
Vogel was the head coach when the Los Angeles Lakers won a championship in the bubble, while he had some success with the Indiana Pacers. Having him slot in behind Kerr makes sense, and would appear to be a safety net for when he eventually departs San Francisco.
If there is one coach who will slot into the wreckage of a team after losing Kerr and potentially Stephen Curry and Draymond Green, it is certainly Vogel. He’s also unlikely to be poached by another team given his past experiences in the NBA, which suits the Warriors at this time.
Ironically for Vogel the Suns tried something similar when he was in charge, employing Kevin Young as his lead assistant. Many felt that was in case the Vogel hiring went sideways as it eventually did, only Young then jumped to the college game and BYU and has seen his stock increase since then. He was linked earlier this offseason with the top gig with the Chicago Bulls before it went to Tiago Splitter.
Why is any of this relevant to the Suns? At a time when rebuilding franchises such as the Utah Jazz look to be overtaking them in the pecking order, the Warriors adding Vogel while looking increasingly likely to miss out on LeBron James could see them sink lower than Phoenix in the next 12-18 months.
If the Warriors do slip into a rebuild, Vogel showed during a dreadful stint with the Orlando Magic that he is not the man for that role either. Which does lead to more questions than answers as to why they brought him in at all.
Vogel looks to have found his level as a coach in the NBA, but Suns fans will never forget his time there.
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