Kevin Durant's first season with the Houston Rockets did not go as expected, and the Phoenix Suns know all about that.
Rockets unlikely to part with Ime Udoka this offseason either
But if there is one mistake Phoenix never made with the now 37-year-old, it was keeping a head coach alongside him for more than one season when it clearly wasn't working.
That's what the Rockets look set to do however, with all of the noise coming out of Houston that they have no plans to fire head coach Ime Udoka this summer.
This is at least a little puzzling, despite having what looked to be a deeper roster than the Los Angeles Lakers they were bounced out of the playoffs by 41-year-old LeBron James.
Udoka arrived in Texas having been fired by the Boston Celtics for events that had nothing to do with his coaching ability, but he has failed to live up to the hype with the Rockets.
If anything getting outsmarted by a former "Podcast Bro" in JJ Redick will make Udoka the subject of ridicule for some time to come yet, but the Rockets don't seem to mind.
Durant has a relationship with his current coach going back to before they were a part of the same organization, and that was never the case while he was in The Valley.
Frank Vogel and Mike Budenholzer both blamed for failing to get the best out of Durant and company, although in hindsight that may have been harsh.
Perhaps Budenholzer does deserve another shot in the NBA after all, while the Rockets clearly feel they can make a postseason run with Durant at the helm of the offense.
Clearly that relationship is stronger even than a failure to get out of the opening round of the postseason, and it is unclear how running it back will lead to a different outcome.
Not that the Suns care, they finally made the brave move after moving on from Durant to get a young head coach in Jordan Ott to build with.
The weight of expectations are coming and they will change things in Phoenix, but long-term they made the right decision not only in ditching those head coaches but getting rid of Durant as well.
Time is not on the Rockets' side here either, and potentially wasting another year running it all back will make a trade they clearly lost look even worse 12 months from now.
Add us as a preferred source on Google