List of Phoenix Suns' regrets grows after recent dismissal

The Phoenix Suns have started their offseason much earlier than they envisioned at the start of this campaign, and already there have been changes in The Valley. Head coach Mike Budenholzer is gone - and not being shown much respect on his way out the door - while Kevin Durant is expected by many to follow.

Some insiders connected to the organization think Bradley Beal could also be on the move this summer, although fans will believe that one when they see it. Beal's no-trade clause coupled with the fact he has said he is happy in Phoenix having the final say there. As for General Manager James Jones and CEO Josh Bartelstein? They could yet be out of a job soon too.

Uncertainty now proves what a great job Frank Vogel did in Phoenix.

If you cast your mind back 12 months, Suns fans couldn't wait to get rid of then head coach Frank Vogel. They got their wish, he was sacked after only one season in charge after the team got swept by the Minnesota Timberwolves in the playoffs. The only way was surely up under coach Budenholzer, until it wasn't.

One of the main areas the Suns hoped to improve was defensively, despite Vogel being known as an elite defensive mind in the league. He had overseen some gritty Indiana Pacers rosters a decade ago, and defending was something the Los Angeles Lakers of 2020 did at an elite level en route to a championship.

But those groups had Roy Hibbert - who was a great big man for his time until the game changed seemingly overnight on him - and a future Hall of Fame big in Anthony Davis. In Phoenix Vogel was left to work with the much less enticing duo of Jusuf Nurkic and Drew Eubanks - yet despite this tandem being used often - the Suns finished an impressive 12th in defensive rating (113.7).

They also won 49 games and on reflection - were in another world entirely to the Suns of this season - who could only manage 36 victories across the entire campaign. That also included a hot 8-1 start, which really puts into context just how awful 2024-25 was for them. The franchise did try and remedy this by ditching Nurkic for Nick Richards, but it didn't work.

Instead they ended the regular season a ghastly 27th in defensive efficiency (117.7), and on most nights looked like they just didn't care enough on that end. The regression was so bad in fact, that it brings into question why exactly the Suns got rid of coach Vogel in the first place. He had clearly put a system in place to be at least average in this area, and the players seemed to respond to him.

Yes there was that bust up with Beal in the postseason - but when compared to the urgency with which Budenholzer was canned and the all round bad vibes in Phoenix this season - it doesn't seem that bad. Vogel also achieved this without rookies Ryan Dunn and Oso Ighodaro, who absolutely would have helped last year's team under his guidance even more.

They might have been able to hide Tyus Jones on that end to make him more effective, but really the dismissal of Budenholzer just shows how badly wrong they got this hire. Rather than improve in the area that they needed to the most, the organization broke up a valuable first round pick to ditch Nurkic - who had excelled last season - and flopped anyway. A disaster that could take years to fix.