Report: Former Suns GM McDonough being considered for Pistons GM job
Jun 2, 2020, 4:51 PM
Phoenix Suns general manager Ryan McDonough answers a question as the team introduces its new players after the NBA basketball draft Friday, June 22, 2018, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
(AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
Former Phoenix Suns general manager Ryan McDonough is being considered for the same job in Detroit with the Pistons, according to the New York Daily News’ Stefan Bondy.
McDonough was the GM of the Suns from May of 2013 to October 2018, with his firing coming over a year after he received a contract extension in the summer of 2017.
In Phoenix’s first season under McDonough in 2013-14, the team finished with 48 wins, a 23-win improvement from the year before. McDonough finished second for the league’s Executive of the Year award.
Despite that being the beginning, it was easily the high point of McDonough’s tenure.
From players getting unsettled like Goran Dragic and Eric Bledsoe, to failed top-5 draft picks like Dragan Bender and Josh Jackson, McDonough could never get the Suns out of a tailspin. That’s even with him drafting Devin Booker 13th overall in 2014.
McDonough went through three permanent head coaches over his tenure: Jeff Hornacek, Earl Watson and Igor Kokoskov. McDonough, in fact, was fired before Kokoksov even coached his first regular season game in the 2018-19 season.
His biggest moves, like the Brandon Knight deal during the 2015 trade deadline and the Tyson Chandler signing later that summer, flopped big-time.
Ultimately, though, even in the fashion McDonough crashed and burned, he did leave the Suns with a promising young core of Booker, Deandre Ayton and Mikal Bridges.
Vice president of basketball operations James Jones and assistant general manager Trevor Bukstein took over co-general manager duties for the remainder of the 2018-19 season before Jones was appointed the team’s new general manager the next offseason.
The Pistons for the past two seasons have not held a traditional front office structure, with Ed Stefanski taking on a role as senior advisor to owner Tom Gores. Working under Stefanski, assistant general manager Malik Rose recently left the team to take a role with the NBA.
