Nuggets Western Conference Rival laughably fires title-winning head coach

The Nuggets have plenty of issues at the moment as they try to battle back from down 0-2 to the Timberwolves in their second-round playoff series. It’s hard for the Nuggets and their fans to focus on anything beyond the task at hand at the moment, but things could definitely be worse.

Take their Western Conference rivals, the Phoenix Suns for example. Denver knocked the Suns out of the playoffs last season, which led them to make some drastic moves including trading for Bradley Beal and parting ways with head coach Monty Williams and hiring Frank Vogel.

The Suns came into this season with title aspirations, but things never really clicked and the team fell well short of their goal, ultimately bowing out of the playoffs in the first round. The Suns were embarrassingly swept by the Timberwolves, getting disappointing performances up and down the roster.

Phoenix Suns part ways with Frank Vogel

Well on Thursday Phoenix took the predictable and pathetic way out and fired head coach Frank Vogel after just one season. Vogel has proven to be a good NBA head coach, including winning a title as the head coach of the Lakers in 2020. The reality is that there is nothing Vogel could have done to fix the Suns’ broken roster.

He was dealt a lousy hand and now he’s being unfairly scapegoated. The organization has countless problems and Vogel and his coaching was extremely far down on that list. I’m not sure what more he could have done with the roster he was given and the health and performance of those players.

Mike Budenholzer to replace Vogel?

He was set up to fail and that’s exactly what happened. Now the early rumors are indicating that former Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer will take over for Vogel. Bud is a fine coach, but this just feels like the team is spinning their tires. If they don’t fix their fundamental roster issues, they’re going nowhere regardless of the coach.

This is the second West playoff team to get eliminated and fire their coach. The Lakers parted ways with Darvin Ham after falling to the Nuggets in five games. Nuggets assistant coach David Adelman is on their short list of replacement candidates.