Frank Vogel ' very interested' in coaching Chris Paul as Phoenix Suns may waive veteran point guard
Frank Vogel says he is "very interested" in coaching Chris Paul.
Whether he gets a chance to this season remains in question as the Phoenix Suns are considering waiving the veteran point guard, according to sources, but their new head coach is all for keeping him.
“I think he's got a great opportunity to win a championship,” said Vogel in an interview Friday on SiriusXM NBA Radio with hosts Amin Elhassan and Eddie Johnson, who does color commentary for the Suns. “I know he's very motivated by that and I'm very motivated to be the guy that helps him get there. I'm very interested in coaching Chris and Chris being back with us. I've communicated that to him. There's just that, an intangible piece that you cannot overlook when you're talking about a guy like Chris Paul, right?”
Vogel had his introductory press conference Tuesday at Footprint Center as he replaced fired Monty Williams. Vogel showed excitement when talking about the idea of having Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, Deandre Ayton and Paul going into the 2023-24 season.
The next day, Bleacher Report’s Chris Haynes tweeted the Suns were waiving the 38-year-old Paul.
“Just the toughness, the I.Q., the intelligence of just dissecting it and understanding there's certain guys in this league that they just have a feel of knowing whatever, you know, being able to dissect a game and understand what's happening within that game and figure out what chess pieces to move to get that win,” Vogel continued in the radio interview. “I mean, he's an ultimate winner and I think he's a vital part in what we do next year.”
More: Phoenix Suns 'exploring' options with Chris Paul with waiving him being one of them, sources say
Sources informed The Republic the Suns were “exploring” options regarding Paul with waiving him being one of them. Paul is entering the third of his four-year, $120-million deal with the third year being partially guaranteed.
The remaining $15 million of the $30.8 million on the deal’s third year kicks in June 28. The new collective bargaining agreement regarding the second salary cap apron puts the Suns in a situation in which keeping Booker, Durant, Ayton and Paul will financially limit their roster flexibility.
That’s why Paul being waived is an option. The Suns could make trades to make it easier to keep Paul or look to trade him.
Paul ended his 18th NBA season with a groin injury suffered in the second half of Game 2 of the Western Conference semifinals at Denver. He didn’t play in the final four games of the series the No. 1-seeded Nuggets won in six games.
“I was getting close, but it doesn’t matter now,” Paul said after the team’s exit interviews the day after Phoenix lost Game 6 to the Nuggets in Phoenix.
The 12-time All-Star played just 59 games in the 2022-23 regular season as he missed 21 due to injuries. Paul averaged a career-low 13.9 points to go along with 8.9 assists.
Vogel was very candid about how he'd manage Paul as he talked about doing that with LeBron James when coaching the Lakers.
"I think you're gonna be smart with how much load he has, right?” Vogel said in the radio interview. “Not to get into that word or anything like that but, you know, he's not gonna play 82 games, you know, first off. We'll be intelligent with making sure that we're not putting him in situations where he's at risk of injury, you know, in a string of games or whatnot. I feel like my time in L.A. and helping to manage LeBron at a similar stage in his career and several others that we had on the last roster that we had there.”
Vogel coached the Lakers for three seasons, winning the 2020 NBA championship in the Orlando bubble. He was fired after going 33-49 in the 2021-22 season.
“I really feel like I improved as a coach in terms of improving our team without live work in practice," Vogel continued in the radio interview. "How much quality work you get in in the film room and your walkthroughs and then no contact work on the floor where guys are getting a rhythm, but still getting something out of it, whether it's defensive rotations or offensive breakdowns of our fundamentals in our system. There's a lot you can do to really improve your team without taking your guys' legs out. And I think all those things, all those lessons of what we did the last few years in L.A., I think will benefit Chris and our whole group.”
Have opinion about current state of the Suns? Reach Suns Insider Duane Rankin at dmrankin@gannett.com or contact him at 480-787-1240. Follow him on Twitter at @DuaneRankin.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Frank Vogel ' very interested' in coaching Chris Paul as Suns may waive point guard
