From Devin Booker to Mirza Teletovic, from video coordinator Brett Burchard to team owner Robert Sarver, the announcement of Earl Watson being named the Suns’ new head coach was well attended.
Much like he did in his two-and-a-half months as the interim head coach, Watson held serve with everyone watching.
“The most challenging thing [about coaching] is not the verbal buy-in, but the mental buy-in, consistently,” Watson said. “Everywhere in life, you go through situations where you buy in verbally and you say, ‘I’m going to make a change. I’m going to do what’s right.’ Then there comes a situation or an obstacle or a challenge and you get discouraged and you go back to who you used to be.
“For the most part,” he added, “the players bought in immediately.”
This is Watson’s gift, one that helped vault him through the NBA coaching ranks in all of two years. When he speaks, people listen, because there is a combination of encouragement and expectation, all tied together with experience.
That was the recipe Suns General Manager Ryan McDonough wanted at the outset of his search for his next head coach. It didn’t take him long to realize it was already simmering in Talking Stick Resort Arena.
“The more and more we discussed it,” McDonough said, “Earl continued to emerge from the front of the pack. He really had everything we were looking for at the top of our list.”
Players Talk Watson
The players felt the same way. To them, Watson’s voice sought out the best while extracting the worst. The result was an injury-riddled team that won five games in March after winning just seven from December through February. They competed even in losses, and in the process they shed the air of defeat that had dissipated over the team.
“I think at one point in the season, we had the mindset where we were accepting losing,” said Devin Booker. “Once Coach Earl took over, we didn’t accept losing anymore. We were fighting in games. Even when we were down 15 or 20 late, we fought back to almost win back a lot of games.”
Entrenching that voice on a long-term basis is a big deal for such a young team. Booker, for example, will see his head coach carry over from one season to the next for the first time the end of his junior year in high school. That is vital for a 19-year-old hoping to build on a solid foundation.
Watson’s approach with young individuals like Booker is the same as his vision of the team – the sky is the limit, but you have to pay your dues to test it. He does not believe in shortcuts, not after seeing former teammates and superstars like Kevin Durant take their lumps on the way to excellence.
“He really connected with guys at all different stages of their careers...he was able to relate to them and connect with them. That’s pretty rare.”
— Ryan McDonough on Earl Watson
The veterans appreciate that message as much as the rookies. They have been there and done that. In Watson’s words, they hear the voice of someone who has walked the same path and understands its dips, bumps and uncertain turns.
“He really connected with guys at all different stages of their careers,” McDonough said. “He commanded the respect of guys who were more his peers like Tyson Chandler and Ronnie Price and Mirza Teletovic – who he competed against as a player – but also the younger guys…he was able to relate to them and connect with them. That’s pretty rare.”
Even his first full year on the job, however, should feature far fewer lumps than his two-month test run. He will have a full, healthy roster with which to work. The Suns are awash in draft picks and cap space this summer, positioned beautifully to funnel more talent into the machine Watson is now driving.
“I’m very old-school in the way I teach,” Watson said. “I’m aggressive for my passion for the moments and for the elevation of our team to become better.”
Between Watson’s comments and the players and personnel who came to hear them, it’s clear neither he nor they can wait to get started.