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On Friday night the news about the Phoenix Suns reaching a 5-year agreement with the NBA Champion coach Frank Vogel emerged.
JUST IN: Frank Vogel is finalizing a deal to become the new head coach of the Phoenix Suns, sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium. pic.twitter.com/bef5NdTO29
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) June 2, 2023
The Suns fired Monty Williams after their round 2 exit from the 2023 NBA Playoffs. Despite going all out for a blockbuster trade to bring in Kevin Durant from Brooklyn the Suns failed to deliver and lost 2-4 against the Denver Nuggets in a series that saw veteran Chris Paul missing most of the games injured and the bench contributing negligibly little. The Suns immediately shortlisted their assistant coach Khris Young and the title-winning coaches Doc Rovers and Frank Vogel as their main targets. It seems the coach they wanted Frank Vogel has agreed terms and will be taking the reigns on a 5-year contract.
Title-winning Frank Vogel takes charge of the Suns
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Photo by Icon Sport
Frank Vogel spent the entire 2022-23 season out of a job after his sacking from the Los Angeles Lakers last summer. He took some time off and then refused 2 job offers, at the Toronto Raptors and at the Detroit Pistons.
It seems the package offered to him by the Phoenix Suns, combined with their win-now roster that has superstars Kevin Durant and Devin Booker on it has tempted Vogel to get back to work. It is believed that Vogel has signed a 5-year contract so this hire is for the long-term it seems.
Frank Vogel’s Bio, coaching style and career stats
Frank Vogel began his coaching back in 2011 at the Indiana Pacers. He spent 6 solid years in Indiana, led the Pacers to 5 playoff appearances during his stay there and his winning percentage was way above .500.
In 2016 Vogel left Indiana to start a rebuild at the Orlando Magic. However, he had 2 unsuccessful seasons in Florida with the Magic never taking off under his coaching and having below .350 seasons in both those years.
After that Vogel took a year off before in 2020 he was hired to coach LeBron James and Anthony Davies in LA. This was the year of the bubble due to the pandemic and in his first year at the helm, Vogel led the Lakers to the NBA Title, his biggest success so far. Vogel’s Lakers then suffered a round 1 playoff exit in 2021 and didn’t even make the play-in tournament in 2022 which led to Vogel’s sacking.
Frank Vogel has led his teams to the best defensive record in the NBA 3 times in his 11 years, twice he did that with the Pacers and once with the Lakers during the title-winning run. His overall win-loss record is 431-389 (.526) and in the playoffs, he is 49-39.
What can we expect from Vogel-led Phoenix Suns
Frank Vogel is a defensive-orientated head coach so we can safely expect him to look and add to the roster some D&3 pieces that will complement Durant and Booker. Having the 2 superstars means that Vogel doesn’t need to worry much about the scoring.
However, he will need to improve the bench and our understanding is that Frank Vogel already has handed a wish list of 6-7 names he wants added to the Phoenix Suns roster.
Vogel is not a dominant coach so he will allow Durant and Booker to run the show as much as they want. He is likely to build the Suns to play mostly zone defence as this is his preferred approach. Vogel’s main successes so far had been when his teams were able to force lots of turnovers and punish opponents in transition. Naturally, Vogel will try to do that in Phoenix too. Will he succeed? Well, only the future can tell that but the Suns sure hope to be playing in the NBA Finals within the next year or two so the pressure on Vogel will be high from the start.
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