The Phoenix Suns are still in search of a new head coach, but it sounds like they're also interested in hiring Gonzaga's Riccardo Fois as the team's player development coach.
Marc Stein of the New York Times reported the Suns' interest in Fois on Monday evening:
The Suns don't know the identity of their next coach but league sources say they are closing in on the hiring of Gonzaga's Riccardo Fois to take on a top player development role in Phoenix
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) April 30, 2019
Fois has quite of bit of experience with developing players. He's served four years with Gonzaga's men's basketball staff as their Coordinator of Basketball Analytics and Video Operations. That means he knows the tendencies of his players — both good and bad. Fois was also named a video coordinator under Bulldog's head coach Mark Few in the 2015 Pan-American Games.
Prior to his days at Gonzaga, Fois was a graduate assistant for the men’s basketball program at Pepperdine University (2012-2014), where he earned a master's degree in business administration.
A native of Italy, Fois also has quite of bit of experience on the court as a player. In fact, he played in Italy’s Third Division from 2009-12. Before that, he was a member of the Italian Junior National Team from (2004-08).
As for their search for a new head, the Suns are said to have several candidates in mind. ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reports that Phoenix general manager James Jones and VP of basketball operations Jeff Bower will meet with Blazers assistants Nate Tibbetts and David Vanterpool on Saturday. Monty Williams is also a top candidate.
Whether or not the Suns will indeed hire Fois as their new player development coach remains to be seen, but it certainly sounds like they're interested.
As always, be sure to keep your browsers locked on ClutchPoints for more updates on this topic as they become available.
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