Now that Mike Budenholzer's coaching staff has been finalized, let's get to know the Suns assistants a little better.

-Gerald Bourguet

Getting to know the Suns assistant coaches on Mike Budenholzer's staff

Back in May, Mike Budenholzer agreed to become the next head coach of the Phoenix Suns. A week later, he was officially introduced in a press conference that gave a better idea of what fans can expect from this team moving forward.

As NBA Power Rankings begin to emerge for the upcoming 2024-25 season, the Suns will likely be fourth or fifth in the pecking order out West, falling behind teams like the Oklahoma City Thunder, Minnesota Timberwolves, Denver Nuggets and Dallas Mavericks. But aside from Phoenix having a year of continuity to build on, bringing in a coach with such an impressive resume provides just as much reason for optimism.

Say what you will about some of Bud's early playoff exits or questionable postseason rotations, but the man has a proven track record when it comes to racking up regular-season wins. He's gone the distance as a championship-winning coach, and his coaching tree in this league -- which includes recognizable names like Kenny Atkinson, Quin Snyder, Taylor Jenkins, Darvin Ham and Charles Lee -- is extensive.

There's reason to believe this Suns team will be more competitive than last year's 49-win squad simply by virtue of Budenholzer's system, which typically features high-end talent, top-10 offenses and defenses, and plenty of 3-point attempts.

“He's so detail-oriented," Suns CEO Josh Bartelstein told PHNX Sports. "He thinks Phoenix Suns all day, every day, from the biggest things of where is Kevin [Durant] gonna get the ball to the smallest things of how do we maximize our two-way guys' days? He's just always thinking Suns basketball, and he's a basketball savant. The way he uses players, the success he's had, the wins, you're talking about one of the best coaches in the NBA."

In the weeks after Bud's hiring, assistant coaches slowly started to trickle in. We already did a similar roundup at the end of May, but at that point, only three assistants had been confirmed. After the NBA Draft, free agency, Summer League and a honeymoon trip for yours truly, the full coaching staff was announced in August, so it's time to circle back and take a look at the eight assistants on Mike Budenholzer's coaching staff.

Vince Legarza

Legarza has a decade of NBA experience under his belt, last serving as an assistant under Bud during his final year at the helm of the Bucks in 2022-23. He also worked with the Utah Jazz from 2018-22, first as director of development before being promoted to an assistant coach in 2019 under Quin Snyder -- another former assistant of Budenholzer's.

Before working his way up from a video coordinator and player development coach with the Minnesota Timberwolves from 2015-18, Legarza also served as a player development coach under Bud in Atlanta from 2013-15. Having that type of background could prove to be beneficial for Phoenix's rookies in Ryan Dunn, Oso Ighodaro and Jalen Bridges. All of them got to know Legarza as the head coach of the Suns' Summer League squad, and he took that opportunity to grow as a coach seriously.

“I think really seeing day-to-day the things coach Bud has to think about, and then think, 'Okay, how as an assistant during the year can I help him with all the things that he's doing?'" Legarza explained. "'How can we be better organized? How do we communicate with people and things like that?' So it's invaluable. For me, I have probably the biggest opportunity to get better than anyone in here.”

In terms of the people he patterned his coaching philosophy after, Legarza cited his father, Mike Legarza, and his grade school principal, Sister Diane.

“He was a junior college basketball coach and just a really great leader," Legarza said of his father. "He's someone I look up to, I still talk to [him] all the time. He really believed in loving his players, and when you love them, they love you back.

"I've had the fortune to work for a lot of great NBA coaches -- coach Bud multiple times, Tom Thibodeau, Quin Snyder -- but I'm gonna go with my grade school principal, Sister Diane. Like, she is probably the best leader I've ever seen."

Chad Forcier

With 23 years of experience as an NBA assistant coach, Forcier brings a lot to the table. He spent four seasons under Budenholzer as a Bucks assistant from 2019-23, but he also served as a fellow Spurs assistant alongside Bud for nine years, from 2007-16. That means he's been on two championship-winning coaching staffs, between the 2014 Spurs and the 2021 Bucks.

Fascinatingly enough, Forcier and Budenholzer originally struck up a friendship when Bud -- who was an assistant in San Antonio at the time -- was an observer at Pete Newell's Big Man Camp in Honolulu, which Forcier worked at for three summers between 1997-2000.

So when a spot on Pop's coaching staff opened up in 2007, Forcier wound up with the best opportunity of his career thanks to that friendship, as he explained to Kerry Eggers for an excellent profile back in 2021.

“Were it not for my relationship with Bud," Foricer said, "I’d not have had the open door to San Antonio."

Including his time as a coaching intern for the Seattle SuperSonics that he started back in 1992, Forcier has 28 years of experience in the league. He's spent time coaching under or alongside the likes of Gregg Popovich (Spurs), Rick Carlisle (Detroit Pistons and Indiana Pacers), Frank Vogel (Orlando Magic), J.B. Bickerstaff (Memphis Grizzlies), Will Hardy (Utah Jazz), George Karl (Sonics), Tim Grgurich (Sonics), Terry Stotts (Sonics) and Dwane Casey (Sonics).

That's quite a wealth of knowledge to draw from! Between his extensive familiarity with Budenholzer and his background in player development during his time in San Antonio, Forcier should be an asset to this new coaching staff.

David Fizdale

David Fizdale is 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 he's staying on in a "prominent assistant coaching role," per ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.

Out of all the coaches on Vogel's staff last year, Fizdale seemed to be the one most willing to hold players accountable. When the Suns were struggling or not playing up to their potential, it was usually Fizdale who was lighting into them on the bench during timeouts.

After a loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on March 3, Bradley Beal recounted how one such exchange went, joking that he couldn't repeat what Fizdale said.

"It was what we needed at the time," Beal said. "He challenged everybody. It was like he punched everybody in the chest. Like, that's what it felt like. He gave us a message we needed to hear, especially, like, he's our defensive guy, so he takes pride in that. If we're effing up his coverages and not doing what we're supposed to do, he's on 10. Rightfully so.”

Obviously there will be concerns about the Suns falling into the same trap as last year, when Kevin Young stayed on as a lead assistant from the prior coaching staff despite not necessarily being Vogel's pick. However, we can dismiss those fears for a few reasons:

1. Every indication Vogel gave was that Young was an asset to the coaching staff and they got along great, so we don't even know for sure that it was a problem.
2. Even if it was an issue, Young was a finalist for the Suns job, missed out on it, and then stayed on the staff anyway. That's not the same situation for Fizdale.
3. Retaining Fizdale sounds like it was Budenholzer's choice, not a verdict from the higher-ups.

Fizdale's straight-forward approach and defensive regimen make him an asset to Budenholzer, as does the fact that he has at least one year of familiarity with this team's core players. His influence over Bol Bol, in particular, shed light on Fizdale's coaching style.

“That's my OG," Bol said of Fizdale. "Pretty much just any time he can help me, whether it's on or off the court, defense, offense, pretty much just gonna pull me to the side and then just coach me up. We've had a pretty good relationship since I've been here.”

Fizdale has 20 years of NBA coaching experience, including two championship seasons with the Miami Heat in 2012 and 2013. He's been a head coach in this league with the New York Knicks and Memphis Grizzlies, spent eight years under Erik Spoelstra, and like Spo, got his start in Miami as a video intern back in 1997.

Mike Hopkins

Unlike most of the names on our list, Mike Hopkins has very little NBA experience, outside of serving as a court coach for multiple USA Basketball teams. That included building a rapport with Kevin Durant on the USA men's national teams that won gold medals at the 2012 and 2016 Summer Olympics, mainly by guarding KD one-on-one before and after practices, playing him physically, and talking a little trash too.

But even if you don't count that as NBA coaching experience, three decades in college basketball certainly isn't anything to sniff at!

After being a four-year college player at Syracuse, Hopkins returned to his alma mater two years later as an assistant under Jim Boeheim from 1995-2017. During the 2015-16 season, when Boeheim served a nine-game suspension, Hopkins took over as interim head coach. During his 22 years at Syracuse, Hopkins was part of that 2003 championship team and four Final Four teams.

In 2017, he was hired as Washington's head coach, and during his seven years there, he was a two-time Pac-12 Coach of the Year. The Huskies also won the Pac-12 regular-season title in 2019. Ball is ball, and Hopkins has more than 30 years of experience. Aside from his connection with Durant, being able to interact with younger players should help now that Phoenix has three rookies on the roster.

Brent Barry

The name Brent Barry might be familiar for multiple reasons. If you're a longtime NBA fan, it's probably from his playing career, when Barry played for six different teams during his 14 NBA seasons from 1995-2009. He won a Slam Dunk Contest (1996), led the league in 3-point percentage (2001), won two championships with Bud and the Spurs (2005 and 2007), and even spent one season in San Antonio under fellow Suns assistant Chad Forcier (2008).

If you're a slightly newer or younger NBA fan, you might recognize Brent Barry as a media personality on TNT or NBA TV. He served as an in-studio guest host on The Starters with his own segment called "The Bone Zone," as well as a fill-in analyst on NBA on TNT and a game broadcaster alongside Ian Eagle. As an analyst, Barry proved he knew the game well while still being personable -- two traits that go hand in hand for great NBA coaches.

But if you have Suns tunnel vision, Barry is now the newest assistant coach under Budenholzer. He's coming off a job with the Spurs as vice president of basketball operations, a role he started back in 2018. He also served as the general manager of the Austin Spurs in the G League for the last two years.

Barry lives and breathes basketball. Aside from being the son of Hall-of-Famer Rick Barry, his stepmother, Lynn Barry, was also a college hooper. Brent played college ball at Oregon State, which, funnily enough, is where Forcier got his first assistant coaching job at the college level (not at the same time). And as a guy with a top-35 3-point percentage in NBA history, Barry obviously knows the value of the 3-ball in the modern game.

James Posey

Like Barry, James Posey is another former NBA hooper. He spent 12 seasons in the league with seven different teams, winning a title with the Heat in 2006 and the Boston Celtics in 2008.

A few years after his playing days were over, Posey became an assistant coach on the Canton Charge for a year before being called up to the Cleveland Cavaliers. He served as an assistant there from 2014-19, which means he won another championship -- this time as a coach -- with that 2016 Cavs squad.

After Cleveland, Posey served as an assistant with Virginia women's basketball team at the college level. In 2022, he jumped back to the NBA as an assistant with the Washington Wizards for two years. All in all, he has 20 years of experience as an NBA player and coach.

Chaisson Allen

The ties to Budenholzer are pretty clear, since Chaisson Allen was an assistant coach with the Wisconsin Herd in 2019-20 before taking over as head coach of Milwaukee's G League team from 2021-24. In his last season with the Herd, Allen coached TyTy Washington, who will now be joining the Suns on a two-way contract.

Allen also has assistant coaching experience in the G League with the Long Island Nets (2020-21) and the Capital City Go-Go (2018-19), as well as a player development role at the University of Miami.

As a player, Allen played four years of college ball at Northeastern University. After going undrafted in 2011, he played five seasons of professional basketball overseas in Israel, Turkey, Croatia, Poland and Greece.

One of the common complaints about the Suns over the last few years has been their lack of commitment to drafting and developing young talent. Allen joins several other assistants on this list with a background in player development, which should help Phoenix in that respect.

Schuyler Rimmer

Add Rimmer to the list of assistants who have extensive experience working with coach Bud! He spent four seasons with the Bucks as a player development assistant from 2018-22, which means he won a title with Milwaukee in 2021. He also served under Bud in 2017-18 as an assistant video coordinator for the Atlanta Hawks.

During his four years in Milwaukee, Rimmer got promoted from assistant video coordinator to player development assistant, and then again to assistant coach for his final season there. After that, he spent two years with Darvin Ham and the Los Angeles Lakers as an assistant. With Ham getting fired and Rimmer becoming available, it's not surprising to see a reunion with Bud in Phoenix.

As a player, Rimmer played four years of college ball from 2013-17, spending his first two seasons at Stanford and his last two at Florida.

TRENDING NOW

Where Suns stack up in Western Conference Now that the dust has settled on the offseason, how about some way-too-early power rankings in the West? Read article

Corbin Carroll continues to show turnaround is real How about that game-winning Grand Slam for the D-backs? Read article

Analyzing the Cards' cuts and keepers The Cardinals cut their roster down to the final 53 players, so it's time to take a look at who stayed and who got the axe. Read article

Dick Tomey: 'Sometimes in life, all you need to do is show up' Before he passed away in 2019, Tomey had a powerful message in this 2018 video about the 1998 Arizona Wildcats football team. Read article

Everyone's Phantasy

Come watch the PHNX Sports crew for the PHNX Phantasy Football Live Draft at Gila River Resorts & Casinos – Wild Horse Pass! All 12 members of the PHNX Fantasy League will be drafting live at 6:30 pm! Join us for giveaways, drink specials, and immaculate vibes.

YOU NEED INDEED

​

YOU DO YOU

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"He's just always thinking Suns basketball, and he's a basketball savant."   Josh Bartelstein on Mike Budenholzer GEAR UP ​