Phoenix Suns Make Right Move By Retaining Earl Watson

After all the negative change that has befallen the Phoenix Suns this season, they needed some stability. In removing the interim tag from Earl Watson and retaining him as their head coach, they achieved exactly that. Suns general manager Ryan McDonough spoke to Yahoo Sports’ The Vertical about the reasoning behind the decision.

“One of the things that stood out was this: Every single player on the roster came to us at the end of the season and said that this is the guy we want as head coach. They said that you’d be making a mistake if you hire a different head coach. That’s not something we expected to hear from [our players] back when we promoted him to interim coach in February, but Earl has shown an ability to connect and motivate our players as well as discipline and hold them accountable.”

It’s extremely rare that an interim coach receives that kind of support from his players. Typically they’re seen as nothing more than placeholders until the real head coach takes over. Think J.B. Bickerstaff with the Houston Rockets.

Phoenix was just 9-24 under Watson, scoring 102.6 and allowing 110.4 points per 100 possessions. Forget about the numbers though, because they were horrible under Jeff Hornacek too. Think about the fact that Watson’s team never quit on him. By season’s end, Watson was forced to count on guys like John Jenkins and Chase Budinger.

It’s hard to have any kind of success when you trot out 22 different starting lineups like they did this year in Phoenix. The injuries to Eric Bledsoe and Brandon Knight were a killer of course, but the dissent in the organization was just as large a factor. If Phoenix sticks with Watson through a huge rebuilding job, they could end up with a promising young coach.