Can Mike Budenholzer fix the Suns?

After a disappointing season wrapped up with a first-round sweep at the hands of the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Phoenix Suns have turned to former Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer to turn things around.

But what do Boogie Cousins and Rajon Rondo think of the move?

Boogie says when it comes to the Suns he feels like the team is putting a band-aid on a gunshot wound. No peroxide, they didn’t even clean the wound. He says this hiring doesn’t really move the needle, and we’re still in this era where we keep recycling coaches. Frank Vogel won the title in 2020, Bud won one in 2021. Boogie asks: What’s the difference? Boogie doesn’t understand how this fixes the Suns’ problems as an organization. Which, if reports are to be believed, stems from the very top with KD.

Rondo says to him you can’t particularly blame the coach there. He says if you bring in a championship-caliber coach and then fire him just a year later, what kind of sense does that make? What he’s confused by is didn’t you talk to your players before you hired Vogel? Rondo doesn’t get why you would try to make Vogel the scapegoat — the players on the court have to be held accountable at some point. Rondo says given how hot the Timberwolves started against the Nuggets in the second round, he thought Phoenix would have given Vogel some grace. He doesn’t have any problem with Coach Bud, his problem is with the Suns firing Vogel after just one year and expecting Coach Bud to come in and do something different if they don’t change their roster. There has to be a roster change, which Boogie seemingly agrees with.

“Their roster sucks.”

Can Coach Bud unlock anything with this Suns squad? Boogie doesn’t think it’s about his coaching style so much as his personality and the personalities he wants to mesh with. Boogie says when it comes to coaching it’s not just about Xs and Os, it’s about managing egos, it’s about managing different personalities. And as a coach, Boogie says you can’t shortcut it by just saying, “Oh, I don’t like this personality.” Well, that’s a disaster waiting to happen, which is one of the reasons Boogie says PJ Tucker didn’t go back to Milwaukee after winning a championship since Coach Bud didn’t like PJ, which is mindblowing. Boogie is just tired of recycling coaches on a loop. What happened to chemistry? He says the reason Denver is as good as they are is because they’ve been together for years, from the coaches to the core. They’ve won together and they’ve lost together, that’s how you grow as a team. Changing coaches every year, two years will never lead to a team finding success, Boogie says.

Listen or watch the full show below and make sure to tune in to new episodes of Bully Ball every Monday at 6 p.m. ET on DraftKings Network!

SHOW BREAKDOWN

Nuggets & Pacers Tie Series, Kyrie’s Leadership, Suns Hire Coach Bud | Episode 27 | BULLY BALL

• It was huge Sunday of hoops and BULLY BALL is here to recap it all. Rachel, Boogie & Rondo break down the series tying wins by the Pacers and Nuggets. Is it Denver’s series to win after making good adjustments? Are the Knicks running out of gas after playing big minutes? Plus, PJ Washington is on fire and Kyrie’s leadership is helping the Mavs. Also, the Suns hire Mike Budenholzer. Will it even matter?

VIDEO:

Check out the DraftKings YouTube page and the All The Smoke Productions YouTube page for more. Subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. You can also follow Rachel Nichols and Demarcus Cousins on X at @Rachel__Nichols and @boogiecousins.

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