Should the Suns fire Frank Vogel? 5 pressing questions following Phoenix playoff sweep

Ant-Man Edwards and his gigantic sidekicks just treated the Suns like a pile of sugar, ending a season of frustration, expectation and deflation for Phoenix basketball fans.

It started with an odd blend of three generational scorers who didn’t figure out a way to get the most out of their immense, if overlapping, talents. It ended with a sweep at the broom of the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs.

Devin Booker, Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal are going home in April to watch the NBA Finals in June, just like the rest of us.

Here are the answers to the five most pressing questions immediately following the disappointing season:

How badly does this sweep harm Devin Booker’s legacy?

Sweeps are embarrassing. Sweeps hurt. They go on your permanent record.

But they don’t doom a player’s legacy. Kobe got swept a few times. It happened to Michael Jordan twice. Kevin Durant got swept when he was in Brooklyn. Isiah Thomas. Charles Barkley. Shaq.

Now, add Devin Booker to that list.

The difference is that those guys have volumes that speak to their legacies; Book has a lot of pages left in his career.

His challenge is to be as hungry as he was back when people were calling him “Young Kobe.”

Book is the coolest guy in the NBA, and it’s not close. He’s so cool Arthur Fonzarelli, Uncle Jesse and Tony Stark carry his picture in their leather jackets … and it’s framed.

Book’s got the name, the shoes, the cars, the clothes, the chains and celebrity shout-outs that most guys won’t even aspire to.

He’s been on some good squads. He’s played with some amazing players. And he’s only been on one team his whole career.

Now, he has to finish a season as the last man standing. Ask Carmelo, Chris Webber and Allen Iverson how much it matters.

Can this group win it all?

The core of Booker, Durant and Bradley Beal is enough to win a title, but they need a system.

That system could involve a dominant point guard like Rajon Rondo, Jason Kidd or Steve Nash, but all those guys played with dudes who didn’t really need the ball until it was time to shoot.

I’m old-school and love the idea of putting the Big Three in a system where all they have to do is catch and shoot or attack an open lane, but that’s not what makes them special. They need the ball in their hands.

I’d rather see them with a Draymond Green type of bruiser who can bring the ball up against pressure and get it to them in the half court so they can play a three-man game where their shots are more predictable and therefore more efficient.

Good youth coaches tell their best dribblers that shooting percentages drop late in games for every extra bounce that comes early. All that one-on-one stuff is exhausting.

What do the Phoenix Suns need?

They need hustlers. Guys who hit the floor, opponents and the glass like it’s their sole purpose in life. They need athletic teammates who can shoot if necessary, but would be just as content to play defense and finish games with two points and one win.

I’m thinking of Shane Battier, Matthew Dellavedova, Richard Jefferson and Shannon Brown. The players who become heroes for hometown fans, even if they’re largely unknown to casual fans.

It should go without saying that these guys need to be smart. They need to be able to explain their roles on both ends of the floor like a coach. They need to have such a high basketball IQ that reporters need to carry Jeff Van Gundy and Hubie Brown chatbots on their phones just to translate.

Should Devin Booker have Mat Ishbia and James Jones fire Frank Vogel?

Frank Vogel should come back next season. It’s ridiculous to fire a coach after one year. Vogel has to figure out how to connect to his guys, but his guys need to do their part to connect with him, too.

Any great film has great actors who take their cues from a great director, or else it’s a flop. NBA teams are just like that.

Whose team is it?

This should be Devin Booker’s team. If not, then it should be Kevin Durant’s.

They need to go to an empty gym somewhere between here and Paris, where they’ll team up this summer in the Olympics, and figure it out. Just the two of them in a Bird vs. Jordan style game of HORSE. (Off the wall, off the scoreboard, nothing but net. … No dunking.)

Whoever wins is the big dog next season.

If they need a referee, I’m sure my travel schedule could accommodate. But this should be personal. Just the two of them. No teammates. No entourages. No agents. No coaches. Just them, a goal and a basketball.

They could even keep the story private until Durant’s Hall of Fame speech. Then, Book could let that version ride until his Hall of Fame speech. And no one would ever know what really happened but the two of them.

But when the context is over, the team will have clear on-court leadership from one voice.

The last five minutes of a close game is not a time for democracy.

Reach Moore at gmoore@azcentral.com or 602-444-2236. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, @SayingMoore.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: 5 questions for the Suns: Should they fire Frank Vogel after sweep?