Suns GM Brian Gregory really wants you to know that he’s ‘aligned’ with owner Mat Ishbia

Brian Gregory, the Phoenix Suns‘ new general manager, has spent most of his career coaching college basketball. He was the Suns’ vice president of player programming this past season, and he consulted for the front office during the 2023-24 season. Asked during his introductory press conference Wednesday to describe why, despite his relatively limited experience on the pro side, he thinks he can succeed in his new role, Gregory cited his “30-plus years of basketball experience.” Then he said that the thing that will separate him is his focus on building an “identity” and creating “alignment.”

It is far too early to know whether or not Gregory will make a good GM. After his 37-minute press conference, though, he has already separated himself in one way: He can find a way to make just about anything about “alignment.” He used the word (or the word “aligned”) 27 times.

Gregory’s relationship with Suns owner Mat Ishbia dates back to the late 1990s. When Ishbia was a walk-on at Michigan State, Gregory was an assistant coach on Tom Izzo’s staff. Gregory did not downplay this connection; he framed it as a positive thing. Why? Alignment!

“Mat and I are a team,” Gregory said. “We are completely aligned. As the general manager, my job and my responsibility is to oversee the day-to-day operations of us, basketball-wise. I report to Mat Ishbia. Mat is an owner that is involved, and I like that. But he has also empowered me to build this team and to build the identity and to build the alignment that is so important. But Mat and I are aligned, and the one thing I will say is this: I’m never going to shy away from the fact that one of the reasons I’m sitting up here is because of my relationship with Mat Ishbia. But that relationship is founded on that alignment.” 

That’s four mentions of alignment in less than a minute. 

Phoenix fired coach Mike Budenholzer after the team finished the regular season with a 36-46 record and failed to quality for the play-in. Since Ishbia bought the franchise during the 2022-23 season, it has fired its coach at the conclusion of each season: first Monty Williams, then Frank Vogel, then Budenholzer. Gregory said that his “main focus” is the coaching search, though he declined to give a timetable for a hire. He said there are “some definite benefits” to having a coach in place before the draft, but that is not more important than finding the right person.

“I want to make sure that we get this right,” Gregory said. “This is very, very critical for us moving forward, finding that head coach that is aligned, finding that head coach that has the attributes that are important to us: unbelievable basketball IQ, tremendous communicator, shares our vision and what we understand needs to be done to be successful in basketball in this new NBA — the toughness, the physicality, all those different things — and has the ability to hold players accountable to doing that, playing and having a systematic approach offensively and defensively.”

The Suns expected to be contenders this past season, and they cannot blame injuries for their shortcomings. They outscored opponents by only 0.5 points per 100 possessions with both Kevin Durant and Devin Booker on the court (and had a negative point differential when Bradley Beal shared the floor with them). They have the league’s most expensive roster and, because of their past trades and the team-building restrictions in the NBA’s collective bargaining agreement, few avenues to improve it. Asked about the challenge he’s facing, Gregory echoed Ishbia’s sentiment that the win total did not reflect the talent on the team.

“What we have not been able to do is either create the environment or figure out the combinations that give us the best opportunity for that talented roster to perform even better,” he said. “But there’s a baseline and a foundation of talent that I think can put us in a good position moving forward. Drafting is going to be critical. The free agency is always critical as well. But I think the biggest impact can be made in some of those things that we’ve talked about time and time again already: Is the team aligned? Does the team know exactly what its identity is?”

Phoenix is widely expected to trade Durant and either trade or release Beal in the offseason. Common sense dictates that the front office will also try to shed salary so that it does not spend another season over the second apron. Gregory said he would not talk about “players’ contracts, movements, anything like that,” but he had a “great meal” with Beal last week and “Kevin gave me a nice hug in the weight room the other night when [news of the hiring] came across Twitter.” He said he is charged with “making sure we have a competitive team next year,” and declined to say whether not getting under the second apron is a priority.

“We understand the cap situation, and when the time comes, if we need to make that decision, then we’ll make that decision,” Gregory said. “And the one thing I can tell you is this: Whenever you see a decision by the Phoenix Suns, whatever it is, whatever it’s pertaining to, you can mark it down that [it is] an aligned decision, that everybody’s on the same page on that decision. And I think that’s critical because I think there are times when decisions are made and maybe there isn’t that alignment, and if things don’t go well, then, ‘Oh, I never thought’ — that ain’t happening here. That is not happening here. So when we make that decision regarding the cap and the second apron and what we do, that will be an aligned decision.”

Gregory said that he is not driven by a need to prove that he deserved this opportunity regardless of his relationship with Ishbia. Instead, he’s excited about the leadership aspects of the job and he wants to be held to account.

“I understand that, to the fans and to you guys, I’m going to be held accountable to executing this vision,” Gregory said. “I’m going to be held accountable to the success of this team. I completely understand that. I don’t shy away from that, either. That actually excites me. One other area that Mat and I are extremely aligned in is our competitiveness.”