Suns Narrow Coaching Search to Five Names
It hasn’t been a very long process for the Phoenix Suns since they fired Monty Williams just two days after another early postseason exit, though we’ve repeatedly reached the next stage of their search for a new head coach.
According to NBA insider Shams Charania, the Suns have narrowed their head coaching search to five finalists: Nick Nurse, Frank Vogel, Doc Rivers, Kings assistant Jordi Fernandez and Suns assistant Kevin Young.
This conflicts against a later report from Bleacher Report's Chris Haynes:
Young spent a few years under the watchful eye of Williams before he was fired in an associate head coach role. He reportedly had the backing of multiple Phoenix players in the early stages of the process.
Nurse was a prominent name thanks to his coaching pedigree, having won a NBA Finals recently with the Toronto Raptors before being fired. He’s known to develop talent and has worked with superstars such as Kawhi Leonard.
Vogel and Rivers are more recent championship-winning coach who was recently fired. The Suns were reportedly looking for experienced people in their search for a replacement and Rivers certainly fits that bill.
From 2016-2022, Fernandez served as an assistant coach for the Denver Nuggets before he took a job with the Sacramento Kings as the associate head coach behind Mike Brown, helping lead the Kings to their first playoff berth since 2006.
Other potential names previously connected were Mike Budenholzer, Tom Izzo and Steve Kerr, though the last two were always considered stretches.
