MAJOR Suns Coaching Update... Darvin Ham DECLINES Mike Budenholzer.. | Suns News

As we all know, the Phoenix Suns have been building this roster this offseason, starting with the coaching staff. They brought in head coach Mike Budenholzer, have been looking for some assistance, and have finally found those guys to take that role. But with a new report coming out that Darvin Ham could have been on this roster, but declined being an assistant head coach, has me circulating and really guessing what is wrong with Darvin Ham. So we're going to be diving in, looking at the possibility of how he could have impacted this squad, with him not joining, how the other assistant coaches are going to help out this Phoenix Suns team alongside Mike Budenholzer. All of that and more on this episode of Suns Digest. I'm Bruce Follett. Before we dive in on all of this Phoenix Suns news, 80% of you guys who watch our videos are not subscribed. And we appreciate that number dwindling down because we want to make sure we stay up to date with daily Phoenix Suns news for you guys. Make sure to hit that subscribe button so you guys can stay up to date on everything revolving around this team this offseason as this is the centralized hub for your daily Phoenix Suns content and news throughout the offseason into the regular season we're going to be pumping out a bunch of stuff so make sure to stay tuned and up to date as we try to get to 1,000 subscribers without further ado though let's dive into the topic at hand today make sure to grab a snack as it's going to be a jam-packed episode and like i kind of broke down in the introduction Darvin Ham could have been a piece of this coaching staff here for the Phoenix Suns we want to look at this tweet from Gerald Bourget we can see that in this latest in his latest newsletter the Stein Line Mark Stein mentioned that Mike Budenholzer tried to convince Darvin Ham to join the Suns coaching staff but he understandably passed after two exacting seasons in LA it's Looking like the Lakers got too much to Darvin Ham's head. The coaching staff and pressure got too much for Darvin Ham. And he does not want to join this Phoenix Suns squad as he would like a break, would like a rest. Similar to what Mike Budenholzer had this offseason to kind of recoup, regather himself. And then hopefully or possibly we can see him on another assistant head coaching team or possibly even with this Suns squad in the near future. But we want to look at this article. Obviously, Mark Stein kind of broke it down on his Substack. Unfortunately, I am not subscribed to Mark Stein's Substacks. We'll be looking at this report from the Arizona Sun, which is a report that former Lakers head coach Darvin Ham passed on joining the Suns coaching staff. Recently fired Los Angeles Lakers head coach Darvin Ham turned down a possible role with the Phoenix Suns under head coach Mike Budenholzer, reports NBA reporter Mark Stein. Ham accordingly passed after two exacting seasons with the Lakers according to Stein and Ham has previously worked under Mike Budenholzer for the head coaching entire tenure with the Atlanta Hawks from 2013 to 2018 and then also went with him to Milwaukee for 2018 to 2022 with the Bucks before he landed his head coaching job with the Los Angeles Lakers so ultimately kind of getting into that kind of breaking down as you guys know we've kind of brought it up here on this channel on Suns Digest before the possibility of Mike Budenholzer after he got hired bringing in Darvin Ham because Darvin Ham was fired before the Suns even hired their head coach in Mike Budenholzer which was crazy to see so ultimately in my kind of understanding Darvin Ham was the great defensive mind for the Milwaukee Bucks ultimately with Mike Budenholzer and really unlocking that defensive side that's why the Lakers kind of wanted him they felt like he could be a good defensive presence but ultimately Darvin Ham not the greatest offensive mind in an LA playing with LeBron James playing with Anthony Davis you're going to have to have some great plays some great offense and flashiness to show to make sure that the cameras are focused on those plays and can be distracted from the drama unfortunately for Darvin Ham he had the drama and he did not have those fantastic plays so ultimately it cost him his job in Los Angeles and after those two grueling and disappointing seasons with the Los Angeles Lakers it looks like it's taken a toll on Darvin Ham himself as he reportedly declined passed up this offer like we mentioned Budenholzer has worked with him in the past in Atlanta from 2013 to 2018 and from 2018 to 2022 with the Milwaukee Bucks there was one season in which Budenholzer did not you know coach alongside Darvin Ham and that was the year he got fired then last year obviously Budenholzer sat out did not coach was not a head coach of any team because obviously Adrian Griffin got hired for him this season then obviously Doc Rivers then gets hired and now they have Doc Rivers which is a whole other story with the Milwaukee Bucks that's not what i want to dive into and kind of go off on another tangent there but obviously Budenholzer is now the head coach for the Suns wants to bring this offensive style wants to bring this great shooting back to the team wants to make sure that Durant and Booker can be those great three-point shooters that they truly are Bradley Beal can be that third tertiary score for this offense really have that game plan set and then have some guys on the edges to you know grab the rebounds be the playmakers be the facilitators be those hard-nosed defenders i truly think that Budenholzer is going to do a fantastic job and i ultimately would have liked to see a guy in Darvin Ham come over and you know come and help out this side on the defensive side obviously has a great relationship with Budenholzer already had worked with him for you know almost a decade straight before leaving to go to Los Angeles truly believes in Budenholzer was a great duo duo with him and i think that if they brought that to Phoenix they would have been fantastic but ultimately Darvin Ham has declined to come to the Phoenix Suns he is not going to be working with them this season can we see it in the future though could we possibly see Darvin Ham you know in a couple years or even possibly next year if some things go wrong with the Suns get a second opportunity or Budenholzer basically saying whenever you want to come to join the squad you can i could see that possibly happening in the near future and i wouldn't be disappointed in that so let me know what you guys think down below about this whole Darvin Ham situation of Darvin Ham not coming to the Phoenix Suns and respectfully going to sit in free agency and not looks like not be an assistant or a head coach this season but that kind of gets into our next part here on this video which kind of dives into our other assistant coaches because obviously without signing you know Darvin Ham who looked like it was going to be one of like Budenholzer's top assistants that he wanted the Suns are gonna have to pivot and go into a different direction and we've already kind of see them do that already with you know Gerald Morgan giving us another article fantastic job from Gerald but you know covering the Suns i really appreciate all the hard work he does he gave me a like on my tweet for you know saying thank you for giving us all you know these great quotes and stuff like that so shout out to you Gerald if you do check out the videos i do appreciate it probably doesn't but on David Fizzdale, Jamahl Hagins and Chad Forcier here plus a few other candidates who might have some sense on Budenholzer's coaching staff with the Sun so obviously as we all know Dave Fizzdale was one of the guys that was hired to be the assistant coach even though Darvin Ham was not brought in we already kind of broke this down in a previous video so if you guys did miss that you can check that out from CJ and myself but obviously diving in on Fizdale it appears as though Fizdale will be the only holdover from Frank Vogel's staff it was initially reported that Fiz was expected to decline an offer from the Suns for a front office position but at the very least he'll stay on as a prominent assistant coaching role per ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski because we're at that point in the offseason because of the time that Fizdale spent with LeBron James as assistant head coach with the Miami Heat it didn't take long for speculation about what this could mean for the Suns potential future pursuit for the king to set in so obviously Fizdale like we mentioned before was offered a front office job or seemingly wanted a front office job was not going to be gifted it so he said he was going to leave the Phoenix Suns staff but then after seeing Budenholzer come in probably Darvin Ham declining that option Fizdale decided that staying as the lead and prominent assistant head coach would be the best decision for him and ultimately for the team which i honestly like Fizdale is a good assistant head coach and he can be a good player coach and that's a reason why they kind of kept him they talk about LeBron James possibly being the reason why but the article kind of goes into a bigger reason in a better reason that i personally think fits the Suns and why Fizdale should stay it says no the Suns aren't keeping Fizdale simply to try and win LeBron James even though that would still be cool to obviously have LeBron and Bronny it certainly wouldn't hurt if those stars did align but mistaking a perk for the reason of Budenholzer or wanting Fizdale on the staff would be a slight to Fizdale, what would be a slight to what Fizdale brings to the table out of all the coaches on Frank Vogel's staff last year Fizdale secured to be one of the most willing to hold players accountable when the Suns were struggling or not playing to their potential it was usually Fizdale who was leading them up on the bench during the timeouts that was a major concern with this Phoenix Suns squad and how they kind of treated their head coach Frank Vogel as we all know Frank Vogel was you know said to be getting really angry in the locker rooms and no one really would take him serious he was also said that you know Kevin Durant didn't really respect his offensive game with David Fizdale or not excuse me as Frank Vogel as a head coach maybe David Fizdale was that guy to you know calm this team down get them into motion really wake them up and he could truly do that with Budenholzer ultimately as well I think that's something that I personally like to see out of assistant head coaches as guys are going to want to be firing up the guys who are not afraid you know be the bad guy on the court to really wake up these players and get guys like Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, Bradley Beal really awake really emotional really hunting to try to go and kill out those players on the offensive side but truly then realistically being like i'm going to clamp up on defense as well and that's what i want to see out of my assistant coaches i'm very happy to see Fizdale staying with this also kind of mentioning some of those other guys as well if you want to kind of go back to that we can we can look at that we can see that obviously the two other guys Jim Lagrazia and Chad Forcier they both come over from the Jazz Jim Lagrazia actually working with Budenholzer in the past and Chad just being you know a nice young exciting new assistant head coach coming over from Utah both of those teams having some you know great development systems with some great young players from Rudy Markin into Taylor Hendricks to you know Colin Sexton really blossoming over there Keontae George looking really nice so i'm really liking what i'm seeing over there and if possibly the Suns were to go into that younger youth movement or have some guys from the G League come up these guys could possibly you know help coach those guys into being real oiled machines and ready to play NBA players maybe keeping our youth movement in the right direction especially with us having not the most amount of picks but let me know what you guys think down below in the comment section do you guys think it was a smart decision for Darvin Ham to decline and not come on this roster or would you guys have liked to see Darvin Ham be a part of this assistant head coaching squad obviously i still think the Suns are still in a-okay territory with Jim Lagrazia Chad Forcier and David Fizdale alongside Mike Budenholzer and there'll be a plethora more assistant head coaches coming so we'll have more news to break down for all of you when that comes out plus obviously the Suns are going to be looking to make some roster moves the draft is going to be coming up in this month so we'll have a lot of news a lot of breakdowns revolving around this team so if you're still at this point in the video and you still aren't subscribed check out the other videos and if you guys do enjoy the content hit that subscribe button we are less than 300 subscribers are away from our goal of a thousand subscribers we can't thank you guys enough because you guys give us all the support without your guys's help we would not be being as successful as we are now once again i'm bruce goles i want to say thank you guys so much for tuning into this episode of suns digest i'll catch you guys in the next video peace out and go phoenix suns