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Suns new coach Jordan Ott explains how he plans to prove his talent<\/p>\n
Phoenix Suns news head coach Jordan Ott talks about his philosophy and general manager Brian Gregory speaks to why they chose Ott.<\/p>\n
Loyola University Chicago men\u2019s head basketball coach Drew Valentine can relate to Phoenix Suns<\/a> first-year head coach Jordan Ott hiring Sean Dwyer as an assistant.<\/p>\n Trust.<\/p>\n Valentine tapped into the same thinking when becoming the Ramblers\u2019 head coach in April 2021.<\/p>\n Promoted at age 29 after four years working under Porter Moser, Valentine made Dwyer his first assistant.<\/p>\n \u201cI wanted somebody from the family to help me as I started my journey,\u201d Valentine said.<\/p>\n The Michigan State family.<\/p>\n Dwyer\u2019s last year as a student manager at Michigan State was Ott\u2019s first year as a video coordinator for the 2008-09 season when the Spartans reached the national title game under Hall of Fame coach Tom Izzo.<\/p>\n The previous season, Ott and Dwyer were student managers together as pictured in the 2007-08 Michigan State media guide. Ott was a graduate assistant.<\/p>\n Now they are reunited in Phoenix with this being Dwyer\u2019s first year as an NBA assistant.<\/p>\n \u201cThankful for an amazing 4+ years at Loyola Chicago,\u201d Dwyer tweeted Aug. 12. He was the team\u2019s associate head coach last season.<\/p>\n \u201cForever grateful for Drew, the coaches and all of the players. The administration, university community and fans made it an awesome place to live and coach. On to Phoenix!\u201d<\/p>\n Dwyer joins Jesse Mermuys, DeMarre Carroll, Brian Randle, Chaisson Allen, John Little and Mike Muscala on Ott\u2019s coaching staff, which also includes Mateen Cleaves as a player development coach\/leadership assistant. Cleaves led Michigan State to the 2000 national title, part of a roster that included Suns team owner Mat Ishbia.<\/p>\n \u201cI think he\u2019ll be great,\u201d Valentine said about Dwyer. \u201cHe\u2019s unassuming. Isn\u2019t a guy who is going to be the loudest guy in the room, look at me, look at me. Once people get to know him, his character, his work ethic, he always ends up being a favorite of players and coaches.\u201d<\/p>\n First-year Phoenix Suns head coach Jordan Ott on building a coaching staff: “I know we’re building something unique here. I want those guys around me that I can lean on because I don’t know what this is exactly going to be. I don’t know all these steps in it. Guys who have been\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/Xd1u9FOE1p<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Duane Rankin (@DuaneRankin) July 8, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n The Michigan State influx continues to grow and expand within the Suns organization, with Dwyer being the latest edition.<\/p>\n \u201cSean is a relentless worker,\u201d Valentine said. \u201cEverybody that has ever worked with him or been around him, every single person, I guarantee you, the first thing they\u2019ll talk about is his work ethic and how thorough he is, how detailed he is. He\u2019s going to do whatever it takes. He\u2019ll take something he read in a book or analytics and use that in player development or decisions to try to help another coach. Whatever it might possibly be, he\u2019s going to do that to try to help the coaching staff come up with the best solution to be successful.\u201d<\/p>\n Like Dwyer, Valentine was a student manager at Michigan State (2013-15). His brother, Denzel, starred at Michigan State (2012-16) and played five NBA seasons.<\/p>\n Their dad, Carlton, put in work for the Spartans in the 1980s.<\/p>\n Dwyer joined Drew Valentine at Loyola after working at Alabama, Florida, Northern Kentucky and Cincinnati. With Dwyer in charge of defense, the Ramblers ranked 17th in points allowed per game at 61.5, limiting seven opponents to fewer than 50.<\/p>\n NBA assistants tend to have specific tasks on a coaching staff, like player development, frontcourt or backcourt work, offensive or defensive schemes or analytics.<\/p>\n Dwyer comes to Phoenix with experience in those areas. He helped Philip Alston make the jump from NCAA Division II\u2019s California (Pa.) to average a team-high 12.6 points his senior year at Loyola in 2023-24 to landing an Exhibit 10 deal with the Milwaukee Bucks last year.<\/p>\n \u201cSean was his primary development guy,\u201d Valentine said.<\/p>\n Dwyer also saw a bright future for Rasheer Fleming when the Suns rookie was a freshman at Saint Joseph\u2019s. Loyola and St. Joe\u2019s both are in the Atlantic 10 conference.<\/p>\n \u201cSean was like, man, I think that kid has a chance to be special one day,\u201d Valentine said. \u201cTrue story.\u201d<\/p>\n Two years later, Fleming was the first player taken in the second round of the 2025 draft. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Ishbia decided to make changes, with several moves directly tied to Michigan State after experiencing a 36-win season in 2024-25. He fired Mike Budenholzer as head coach after one season.<\/p>\n He promoted Brian Gregory from vice president of player programming to general manager in May. Gregory was also part of Michigan State\u2019s 2000 national championship team. Gregory served as an assistant while Ishbia was a walk-on.<\/p>\n A month later, Ishbia hired Ott to replace Mike Budenholzer.<\/p>\n These moves fueled the \u201cMichigan State Suns\u201d narrative.<\/p>\n And?<\/p>\n \u201cI hope and pray (Ott) keeps some of what we did because we had great success when he was here, but it\u2019s not a Michigan State Southwest in the standpoint of he didn\u2019t get the job because of me,\u201d Izzo said in June.<\/a> \u201cHe earned the job. He went through the process.\u201d<\/p>\n Starting his NBA coaching career in 2013 with the Atlanta Hawks as a video coordinator under Mike Budenholzer, Ott served as an assistant for the Brooklyn Nets, Los Angeles Lakers and Cleveland Cavaliers before landing the Suns head coaching job.<\/p>\n Now he had to start building his staff as a first-year head coach.<\/p>\n \u201cYou want your staff to be high character and high care,\u201d Ott said as his introductory press conference in June. \u201cSo, who they are as people. Loyal. Trustworthy. Then, do they do the work? If we can consistently find that in our staff, we\u2019re in good shape.\u201d<\/p>\n Dwyer fits that description.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s committed to serving the players, first and foremost,\u201d Valentine said. \u201cHe\u2019s a guy that\u2019s super reliable. The players, I always felt, they could call him at any time of the day and he was going to be there for them as people. He\u2019ll be there whether it\u2019s to watch film, workout with them on the floor or go out dinner. Have him over to his family home. Whatever it is, he\u2019s committed to them.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n Valentine knows how close Ott and Dwyer are.<\/p>\n So naturally, he asked Dwyer his interest level in working for Ott in Phoenix.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was like, nah, I\u2019m good here,\u201d Valentine said. \u201cI see a real pathway to things working out at Loyola.\u201d<\/p>\n Oh, how quickly things can change.<\/p>\n \u201cThe week of the draft, Jordan actually reached out to Sean and kind of started the dialogue as far what that could possibly be,\u201d Valentine said.<\/p>\n That call began a six-week process as Ott offered Dwyer the job Aug. 3, Valentine said.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen (Dwyer) brought it up and finally talked about some of things that he could be doing with the organization, I was like, ‘Man, I think this is something that you got to at least consider and look at,’\u201d Valentine said. \u201c\u2018If you can get that job, I think it might be something that you can\u2019t turn down.\u2019 I was excited for him.\u201d<\/p>\n Have opinions about the current state of the\u00a0Suns? Reach Suns Insider Duane Rankin at\u00a0dmrankin@gannett.com<\/a>\u00a0or contact him at 480-810-5518. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, at\u00a0@DuaneRankin<\/a>.<\/p>\n Support local journalism: Subscribe to\u00a0azcentral.com<\/a>\u00a0today.<\/p>\n\n