Owner Mat Ishbia happy with Suns’ progress, says building consistency is next

The Phoenix Suns win on Thursday had some standout performances and characteristics that have fans and owner Mat Ishbia wanting more.

Ishbia joined Arizona Sports’ Burns & Gambo to talk about the team’s early season success and the development of new players behind first year head coach Jordan Ott.

“We set our identity, the vision and that culture and the guys are executing. They’re those kind of guys. Dillon Brooks has done an amazing job and brought that mentality. (Devin) Booker is great. But even think about guys like Jordan Goodwin who comes in diving on the court, we’re up 45 points. He’s diving on the court, getting the ball to Isaiah Livers for a dunk. Teams don’t do that,” he said.

The blowout 133-98 win over the Indiana Pacers on the back end of a back-to-back moved the Suns to 8-5 on the season after a 1-4 start had many people concerned, but Ishbia says the team is on the right path.

“We’re playing hard, we’re fun to watch and that’s what the Valley deserves and that’s what we’re delivering and we’ve got to be consistent. We’re only 13 games in but we’re on the right path,” he said.

Dillon Brooks helps set the culture

One of the main catalysts of the fast start is Brooks.

He’s averaging 20.3 points, two assists and a full steal over his career average through seven games played this year, but it’s his intangibles that have stood out to fans and Ishbia.

“Dillon Brooks is a culture setter. He’s done an amazing job. He was targeted. Him and Jalen Green in the Kevin Durant trade, you know, it wasn’t by luck that we got Dillon Brooks. Dillon Brooks is a stud, he’s a dog. He’s exactly what we define as our identity here,” he said.

Next level: consistency

“You’ve gotta be consistent. You’ve gotta be consistent for 48 minutes. We’ve gotta consistently do it for 82 games,” Ishbia said.

The way to do that, according to Ishbia, is to focus on the little things and to not necessarily be results-oriented.

However, the results are coming through with a 6-1 record for the team this month.

“We started at 1-4 and a lot of people were pretty down on us. We’re not going to win every game but we are in those games, we’re gonna compete. We’re always going to compete for our goals, do all the little details that we do,” Ishbia said.

“I’m focused on all the little things we’re doing and if we consistently do those the results will take care of themselves.”

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