Suns bought by Mat Ishbia…Sarver is Gone!!!

[Flagrant Fowl]

Not great Bob err..Mat.

[Superbone]

Dude worshipped IT as a kid. I'm afraid.

[Kryptonic]

Dude worshipped IT as a kid. I'm afraid.

In fairness, if there was a time, it’s when he was on the pistons (when he was a kid) and not when he was a GM… Isaiah PG > Isaiah GM
If he still worships him , then I’d be concerned

[SunsRIt]

HARD PASS on Thomas.

[Shabazz]

+10000 to all of the people saying not to Thomas. He's had multiple chances in management positions and has flamed out badly in all of them. Separate from the seediness with the Knicks, he was an atrocious GM there.

[Furlanfufi]

It's how we say around here...Suns fans can't have a moment of peace.

[Superbone]

It's how we say around here...Suns fans can't have a moment of peace.

Right?! I was excited about the Ishbia acquisition until I started hearing this IT/Mateen Cleaves talk.

[Mori Chu]

IMO Isiah Thomas is/was a crappy coach and a mediocre overall GM, but in the specific skill of the draft, he proved himself to be a genuinely good evaluator of draft talent. He managed to find some interesting players with late picks for the Knicks and Raptors, such as Tracy McGrady (9th pick), Trevor Ariza (43rd pick), Wilson Chandler (23rd pick), etc. But I wouldn't want a person who's done what he's done working for my Suns. There are other talented people we can hire who don't have those stains on their reputations.

https://www.basketball-reference.com/ex ... is01x.html

[Flagrant Fowl]

Isaiah Thomas still has good standing within the league office so we might have a bit of one hand washing the other if he vouched for Ishbia in the sale.

[Superbone]

[JeremyG]

Wow I didn’t notice that UWM is even on the courtside chairs too hahaha.

[Superbone]

OK, I'd like to hear your speculation as to where Mateen Cleaves is going to fit into our organization. Seeing him wearing a Suns shirt last night, there is no question that Ishbia is bringing him in. A little disturbing is I just glanced over his wikipedia page to find out he was involved in a sexual assault case although it was eventually dismissed.

[Superbone]

Although, people in the thread say not to read into it.

2,000 tickets to last night’s game went to people from Ishbia’s company, UWM, and most of them wore purple Suns shirts. Cleaves is a leadership coach at UWM. That’s all this is

Thoughts?

[Superbone]

From the Fox Sports article on Ishbia. Uh, oh, Ayton...

"I was able to really apply the ‘why’ with Coach Izzo — why he does things the way he does and how he runs his program," Ishbia said. "As a player, if the ball was on the floor and I didn't dive for it, he was on me right away. If Jason [Richardson] went and laid a shot in, Izzo would ask why he didn’t dunk the ball. He instilled something in me, in all of us. He knew what I was capable of, but pushed me to my limits to be the best version of myself both on and off the court."

[TOO]

From the Fox Sports article on Ishbia. Uh, oh, Ayton...

"I was able to really apply the ‘why’ with Coach Izzo — why he does things the way he does and how he runs his program," Ishbia said. "As a player, if the ball was on the floor and I didn't dive for it, he was on me right away. If Jason [Richardson] went and laid a shot in, Izzo would ask why he didn’t dunk the ball. He instilled something in me, in all of us. He knew what I was capable of, but pushed me to my limits to be the best version of myself both on and off the court."

Lol

[JeremyG]

From Gambo just now:

Deal will close tomorrow.

Sarver selling all of his 37%
Dyal selling all of their 6%
Three Suns owners are not selling any of their shares, including Jahm Najafi
Remaining partners (including Larry Fitzgerald) are selling about 25% of their shares

Ishbia and his brother will have about 57% (he said 50% the first time?) of the team.

[JeremyG]

So Sarver bought his share of the team for about $148M and receives about $1.48B, making 10 times what he paid (not accounting for inflation).

This also means that we are stuck with Sarver's buddies who bought the team with him, like Sam Garvin and the Heckmann family.

[TOO]

So Sarver bought his share of the team for about $148M and receives about $1.48B, making 10 times what he paid (not accounting for inflation).

This also means that we are stuck with Sarver's buddies who bought the team with him, like Sam Garvin and the Heckmann family.

Meh, Ishbia is the majority owner if I'm not mistaken, I don't care about the other nobodies.

[The Bobster]

It will be interesting to see if there is an emphasis by the league office to keep any questionable characters from assuming high profile front office positions with the team.

You would think after the Clippers, Mavericks and Suns fiascos they would circulate some sort of memo warning about the public perception if some individuals with questionable backgrounds (like Isiah Thomas) are hired.

[JeremyG]

This will give Ishbia about 48 hours to help make some deadline deals.