You have to wonder what Ufuk Talay makes of the Phoenix start to the season. He heads off and his assistant gets the top job assumedly as the club can’t afford a new coach. Italiano is on a shoe string budget and can’t sign much new talent. Dips into the reserves while bringing the best out of most existing seniors and so far he’s doing much better.
Dome also said that last season we had our most expensive squad ever and didn't get a return on investment so changed tactic, he said we still have a good budget as we've kept most of our foreigners.
If you look at the other a league teams, they have similar or fewer imports than us. Rudan said in the off season, that imports are just too expensive at the moment with middle eastern leagues paying over market value, so I don't think the Phoenix are necessarily being as cheap as you think, it's just a strategy and the reality that all a league teams find themselves in. And right now it's working
As far as what Ufuk is thinking, hope it makes him reconsider his favoritism. He's said before he doesn't like changing his starting lineup because he thinks game time is required for relationships to develop, but it's clear there were players in the squad who were ready to step up but were either played out of position or never given a chance. Chief said when he started that he and Ufuk disagreed on the merits of certain players and it shows Chief was right.