Suns' Top HC Targets for Kevin Durant, Booker After Nick Nurse Reportedly Joins 76ers
One of the Phoenix Suns' five reported finalists for their open head coaching job is now off the market after Nick Nurse agreed to join the Philadelphia 76ers on Monday.
Per Duane Rankin of the Arizona Republic, the remaining candidates are a pair of former NBA head coaches (Doc Rivers, Frank Vogel) and current assistants (Jordi Fernandez, Kevin Young). Here's a look at all four of them in more detail.
Doc Rivers
There's no denying how much success the 61-year-old Rivers has enjoyed over his two-decade NBA career. He's led the Orlando Magic (1999-2003), Boston Celtics (2004-2013) and Los Angeles Clippers (2013-2020). Rivers won a championship with Boston in 2008, and only one of his teams has failed to make the playoffs since 2006-07.
Rivers is coming off a disappointing tenure in Philadelphia, which had three straight second-round exits under his watch despite having NBA MVP Joel Embiid. The 76ers notably underperformed in 2021, when top-seeded Philadelphia fell to the No. 5-seeded Atlanta Hawks in the second round.
Past players, such as Paul George and Blake Griffin, have also criticized him for misuse and a failure to make mid-game adjustments.
Rivers' resume should keep him in the mix, though. He was named one of the best 15 head coaches in NBA history for a reason and should find himself with another gig soon if he wants it.
Frank Vogel
The 49-year-old Vogel has found success at two of his three head coaching stops. He fared very well in Indiana with the George-led Pacers, who made the Eastern Conference Finals in 2013 and 2014 off the backs of the league's best defensive teams.
He did not fare as well in Orlando after two losing seasons in 2016-17 and 2017-18, but Vogel rebounded to help guide LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers to the 2019-20 NBA title.
Vogel's next two years were not nearly as good, as the Lakers lost in the first round of the playoffs in 2021 before missing them entirely in 2022. James and Anthony Davis missed a lot of time in those seasons due to injury, and the pieces assembled around them (e.g., Russell Westbrook) did not mesh well.
He's certainly deserving of another chance. At the very least, we know Vogel is a great defensive coach, and that's a side of the ball Phoenix struggled with against the Denver Nuggets in their second-round playoff loss.
Kevin Young
It might be a formality that the Suns will pick current assistant Kevin Young to replace ex-head coach Monty Williams, as noted by Bill Simmons of The Ringer.
Young joined the Suns under Williams as an assistant in 2020. He served on the staff for the 2020-21 Suns, who reached the NBA Finals for the first time since 1993.
Young was promoted to associate head coach in 2021. The Suns went 64-18 in 2021-22 before losing to the Dallas Mavericks in the second round.
The 41-year-old previously worked under Brett Brown as the 76ers' assistant head coach (2016-2020). He's been a G League coach for the Utah Flash (2010-2011), Iowa Energy (2011-2013) and Delaware 87ers (2014-2016).
It's clear that Young is ready to be a head coach, and he has strong backing from within. Chris Haynes of Bleacher Report revealed that Young "appears to have the backing of many Suns' players."
Meanwhile, Young "has received a strong endorsement from Suns star Devin Booker," per longtime NBA reporter Marc Stein.
Young deserves a shot at a head coaching gig soon, if not this year. It very well could come in Phoenix, where the stars seem to be aligning for a role there.
Jordi Fernández
The Denver Nuggets are now a gold standard in the NBA thanks to a fantastic, well-coached roster. A lot of hands went into that production and development, and Jordi Fernández was one of them.
The 40-year-old was an assistant coach for Denver from 2016-2022. He then went to the Sacramento Kings to work under Mike Brown, who become the unanimous Coach of the Year after guiding the team to the playoffs for the first time since 2006.
Fernandez has also excelled as a G League head coach, compiling back-to-back 31-19 seasons as the head coach for the Canton Charge in 2014-15 and 2015-16.
There's a lot to like about Fernandez, who has an endorsement from his old head coach in Mike Malone, who touted his passion for the game.
Like Young, Fernandez deserves a head coaching shot after paying his dues. Success has followed him at his previous stops, and that could easily be the case in Phoenix.
