Phoenix Suns interim head coach Jay Triano is ‘a basketball guy’

PHOENIX – It has been six seasons since Jay Triano last was a head coach in the NBA. And to be honest, he hadn’t been looking for another opportunity after Toronto let him go in 2011 following two-plus seasons.

Yet, there was Triano on Monday, now the interim head coach of the Phoenix Suns, addressing the media.

“Everybody asked after I was not coaching anymore in Toronto what I didn’t miss, it was the media,” he said, drawing laughs from reporters. “It’s not just that. It’s the season-ticket holder events and the suite-holder events and the media three times a day on gameday. I’m about basketball. I’m envious right now that our assistant coaches are in there getting ready for the game and I’m out here talking to you.”

Triano, though, accepted the second chance when Earl Watson was fired Sunday. He’ll coach the remaining 79 games, beginning Monday when the Suns host the Sacramento Kings.

And while general manager Ryan McDonough said he hopes it’s Triano as head coach past 2017-18, Triano sounded reluctant.

“We’ll see how it goes,” he said. “But I’m going to embrace this 100 percent and dive into like I have everything else in my career.”

It was Watson who reached out to Triano in the summer of 2016, and because it was Watson, who he had a previous relationship with, that Triano agreed to become Watson’s associate head coach.

“I left a great situation in Portland,” Triano said.

For four seasons, Triano was a Trail Blazers assistant. He also spent six seasons as an assistant with the Raptors before becoming the team’s head coach. He’s worked with Team USA as well and currently is the head coach of the Canadian men’s national team, hired for a second tenure by general manager and Suns Ring of Honor member Steve Nash.

“Triano is a basketball guy,” McDonough said. “We look forward to his player-development focus. He’s got a good offensive mind. Some of the things we wanted to emphasize going into the season were ball movement, player movement, spacing, 3-point shooting. We haven’t done a great job in a lot of those areas, to be honest with you so we think and hope Jay will bring positive change in a lot of those areas.”

Defense, however, is where Triano plans to put his focus, at least initially. Through three games, the Suns rank dead last in points allowed plus opponent’s field goal and three-point percentage.

Triano is unsure how or why things have spiraled how they have, costing his friend his job. Summer workouts and training camp were both excellent, according to Triano.

“We battled and we wanted to kill each other and then when we started playing against other teams we were stepping back instead of stepping forward,” he said. “It’s hard to understand why that happens but we’re going to try to fix that mindset moving forward.”

With just a one-hour shootaround so far as Suns head coach, Triano said to expect to see changes “over time.” He did add, “I would think that we’ll probably go with more a traditional lineup (with either Dragan Bender or Marquese Chriss at power forward) and use small (lineups) as an accessory when we maybe need it.

“If it’s not fun, players don’t want to come in here, coaches don’t want to work,” Triano continued. “This game, it’s a game. It’s called a game for a reason. It’s fun. It’s a lot more fun when you’re successful. I told the players today, the things that are the most rewarding in life are the things that you really work hard for and I think that’s how we’ll make it fun.”

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