Yeah that whole "we could have had him earlier but thought 'meh'" thing is totally and utterly fudgeed.
It's a bad bit of messaging and it's hard to know what the point of saying it was, that and saying that he was second choice behind Merrick last time. On one hand they're talking up how great he is, on the other they're saying they had doubts enough to hire someone else last time and keep the pretty young and green assistants this time.
There were probably good and pragmatic reasons to go down the path that the Phoenix did but it does no good for the club or coach to talk about it.
However, I notice the people that are most angry about this are also the ones who are angry that the Phoenix aren't open enough so once again damned if do damned if don't.