Don't blame anyone but Alvin Gentry

[visions]

I agree Gentry made bad subs in the 4th quarter of game 6. Without a doubt he should have subbed in Nash for LB and left the other 4 guys as is. He could have even had Goran playing the PG and Nash the SG since Goran was pushing the ball so well.

That said there is no way I'd blame Gentry for losing this series.

First of all: he took the Suns further than D'Antoni ever did IMO. Yes D'Antoni took the Suns to WCF twice but I don't think either of those teams had as much chance to win as this year's team did.

Second: he actually used the bench and developed the young guys. If D'Antoni was still here we'd have no clue how good Dragic & Lopez are. Dragic in particular looks like he will be the Suns PG of the future and it's all thanks to Gentry.

Third: he completely turned around a team that had taken 10 steps backwards under Porter and he did it without the addition of any big names in the off season.

Fourth: even though he's been a head coach before, he's never taken a team so far. The guy deserves a pass - it was a learning experience for him too.

Keep him, keep as much of the team together as possible and next year we can be contenders again.

[Kerrsed]

Alvin Gentry is a fine coach and an avid golfer.

[BurningHeart]

I agree Gentry made bad subs in the 4th quarter of game 6. Without a doubt he should have subbed in Nash for LB and left the other 4 guys as is. He could have even had Goran playing the PG and Nash the SG since Goran was pushing the ball so well.

That said there is no way I'd blame Gentry for losing this series.

First of all: he took the Suns further than D'Antoni ever did IMO. Yes D'Antoni took the Suns to WCF twice but I don't think either of those teams had as much chance to win as this year's team did.

Second: he actually used the bench and developed the young guys. If D'Antoni was still here we'd have no clue how good Dragic & Lopez are. Dragic in particular looks like he will be the Suns PG of the future and it's all thanks to Gentry.

Third: he completely turned around a team that had taken 10 steps backwards under Porter and he did it without the addition of any big names in the off season.

Fourth: even though he's been a head coach before, he's never taken a team so far. The guy deserves a pass - it was a learning experience for him too.

Keep him, keep as much of the team together as possible and next year we can be contenders again.

Gentry is awesome, but let's not act as if those D'Antoni teams didn't have a great chance. We played the closest five game series of all-time against San Antonio in 2005. Seriously, look at the games. We had the lead going into every fourth quarter of every game, and the Spurs had to play PERFECT and we had to play our absolute worst to lose those games. I think we lost the four games by a combined 17 to 20 points max.

In 2006, D'Antoni took SIX GUYS to the WCF, and were up 20 points in Game 6, almost forcing a Game 7.

[RaisingArizona]

updated previous post.

[Kerrsed]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yg2u_De8j5o[/youtube]

Great edit is great.

[lilfishi22]

Gentry has to blame for some of the coaching errors he's made. From not going into the zone long enough, to staying too long in the zone, to leaving guys who are not performing out on the court for way too long or to take out guys that were performing well in favor of a set rotation and to not getting defensive players in on a final defensive possession. Those coaching errors are his to blame and his only.

However, considering how much he's done this season and the fact that he's never taken a team this far by himself before, he's gotta get some credit. He developed a bench that most teams would laugh at into an extremely potent offensive and defensive squad. He gave confidence to guys like Dragic and Lopez who really only needed that support to be a performer on the court. He gave a chance to guys like Lou and Dudley, guys that probably wouldn't have found much if any playing time on other teams of our caliber. By doing so, he kept the minutes of our veteran starters to career lows, allowing them to play longer in the playoffs, unlike D'Antoni who played our vets into the ground.

The team in general also has to take a lot of the blame. Amare, not giving an effort on the defensive and rebounding end really hurt us and if it wasn't for Amare getting totally destroyed on the defensive end by Gasol using simple switches, we might've taken Gm 2. Frye's non-production also hurt us a lot, especially when he didn't give much else on the defensive end. Barbosa really needs to get his game together or go, he used to be a great guy off the bench and now he's a rhythm killer. Nash also has to take some blame. For much of the series, I thought he hurt us by not pushing the tempo, so many possession he'd just walk it up and by doing so, he makes the guys on the court with him slow to get up the court. We're at our best when we have guys leaking on the fast break and coming back fast on made baskets. He took too long to make decisions on some possessions, which lead to guys not knowing what to do and making our offense stagnant.

Gentry made mistakes in the 4th quarter in Gm 6 by playing our subs way too long. At that point, the only productive subs were Dragic, Dudley and Frye who were playing great defense. It's his insistence on playing this exclusively all-reserve or all-starter unit which ultimately lost us the game. I understand if you played an all-reserve lineup to get our guys into a rhythm but in the fourth quarter, if guys like Barbosa hasn't gotten it going by then, it's bench time. He should've subbed Barbosa out for JRich just so we have a spot up shooter for Dragic to pass to. Or even play Nash with Dragic since we were playing a zone anyway. And then we got away from the zone way to late. In the last 4-5min, we were actually playing excellent (we got off with some physical play) man on man defense. We were causing turnovers and we were pushing the tempo. The players also missed FT's which could've put us up going down the stretch and these are things the coach can't control.

I also thought Gentry got a bit complacent, which was something I had hoped the TEAM wouldn't fall into. Instead of the team playing like they were just happy to be in the WCF, it was Gentry. From his off-court "if we're going down, we're going down fighting" BS (which team captain Steve Nash, had to correct him) to his lackadaisical coaching in Gm 6, it just seems like he gave up before we even lost the game.

As far as the rest of it goes, he has done a splendid job and I'm actually quite happy to finally have a coach that works well with our players and actually coaches both sides of the court. I have to give Gentry a lot of credit in turning our team into a decent defensive squad considering the kind of personnel we have and also the lack of any big name/defensive free agents in the off season. He did pretty much as good a job with what he had than anyone could've done. Do I think he lost the series for us? Absolutely not. Did he play a factor in losing the series? Sure, but equal blame should be given to the players as well.

[Neelyboy]

Gentry did a great job getting us this far, but he really should have left Dragic in with Nash. Goran was playing with absolute fire and passion and got to the rim whenever he wanted. Hopefully next year he will employ a Dragic-Nash lineup more often.

[DRK]

Alvin Gentry is a fine coach and an avid golfer.

Pat Burke's hair re-growth treatment!!!

[dantian]

For blames here and there, I have my critics for Gentry, Amare, Nash, Hill over all the time. But one thing is for sure, we have been a work in progress, constantly re-adjusting, learning on the job at an attempt to figure out combinations of our talent throughout all season. We came up a little short. And during that process, we could find fault with our coach and the 3 captains with what-ifs. But all in all, it's hell of an achievement, and testament of the talent level as well as chemistry level that we managed so far.
If we retain the core and have another full season to perfect on combinations and game plans on both ends of the court, I really think we have even a better chance for a title run than this year. Let's keep it up!

[MrVince]

I'd rather blame the loss on Barbosa than Gentry. I do agree the subs were not quite good in the last quarter but Barbosa's decision making is poor and he is selfish.

[lilfishi22]

I'd rather blame the loss on Barbosa than Gentry. I do agree the subs were not quite good in the last quarter but Barbosa's decision making is poor and he is selfish.

True, but it's a coach's responsibility to play a lineup that is working well and pull out players that suck. Gentry should've pulled Barbosa when it became evident he's killing our tempo down the stretch and taking ill-advised shots.

[Demosthenes]

You are all insane for criticizing Gentry. Without him we probably don't make the playoffs. Some people are never happy. You really think we win that game by making a few coaching changes? We overachived by winning 2 games. To blame Gentry is absurd. He has been the biggest coaching revelation of the year in the NBA. Aren't you happy we have somebody we can sign as a coach going forward that we are excited about.

[lilfishi22]

You are all insane for criticizing Gentry. Without him we probably don't make the playoffs. Some people are never happy. You really think we win that game by making a few coaching changes? We overachived by winning 2 games. To blame Gentry is absurd. He has been the biggest coaching revelation of the year in the NBA. Aren't you happy we have somebody we can sign as a coach going forward that we are excited about.

Should he have total immunity to *any* coaching criticisms because he did a good job this season? Should Mike Brown not be criticized (or fired for that matter) for his coaching decisions in the playoffs because he took to the Cavs to consecutive best records in the NBA?

You don't think playing rebounders and defenders on a final defensive possession (the most important one) would be something that he should've done? You don't think we should've went to the zone earlier in Gm 5? You don't think we should've takne Barbosa out of the line up when he was evident he just wasn't going to get it going and was hurting the team just by being on the floor? YOu don't think we should've left Dudley in Gm 6 to put on Kobe because he was doing a decent job on him but could've helped us spread the floor more? Insanity is not criticizing Gentry for making fundamental coaching mistakes?

I'm happy we got the WCF and Gentry has to take a lot of credit for getting us this far, but that doesn't mean he gets immunity for making fundamental coaching mistakes.