Gentry

[rsavaj]

Step 1: Fire Gentry
Step 2: Hire ???
Step 3: Profit!!

Fill in step 2 for me, please, because as bad as we are this season, I don't see anybody on the market better than Gentry right now, other than maybe JVG/Phil Jackson/Jerry Sloan who said they're not interested in coaching.

[RunDogGun]

Step 1: Fire Gentry
Step 2: Hire ???
Step 3: Profit!!

Fill in step 2 for me, please, because as bad as we are this season, I don't see anybody on the market better than Gentry right now, other than maybe JVG/Phil Jackson/Jerry Sloan who said they're not interested in coaching.

Yep, that's a tough one. Actually the guys I would have liked are currently coaching, but weren't when we hired Porter. Doug Collins would have been nice, he would have used Hill as our second point, which would have maximized our leadership. And Paul Silas was the other guy I liked.

Make a run at Bill Laimbeer. Even though his main experience has been in the WNBA, he was a good coach for Detriot, and has experience with getting to a chip, both as a player and a coach.

[NiGhtWiSh]

I don't see anybody on the market better than Gentry right now, other than maybe JVG/Phil Jackson/Jerry Sloan who said they're not interested in coaching.

Easy, it's just 'cause You have small scouting departament
There are many, many great coaches waiting for a shot. Ask any pro scout
Personally, I'll give the team to Kokoskov till the end of season. If he's OK - then let him rule. If not - just go for Ettore Messina; Simone Pianigiani; Xavier Pascual; or one of experienced Balkan coaches

OK, just ask the scouts. They have their notebooks full of really superb coaches.

[RunDogGun]

I don't see anybody on the market better than Gentry right now, other than maybe JVG/Phil Jackson/Jerry Sloan who said they're not interested in coaching.

Easy, it's just 'cause You have small scouting departament
There are many, many great coaches waiting for a shot. Ask any pro scout
Personally, I'll give the team to Kokoskov till the end of season. If he's OK - then let him rule. If not - just go for Ettore Messina; Simone Pianigiani; Xavier Pascual; or one of experienced Balkan coaches

OK, just ask the scouts. They have their notebooks full of really superb coaches.

We can't ask our scouts, because they don't know talent.

[JohnVancouver]

Step 1: Fire Gentry
Step 2: Hire ???
Step 3: Profit!!

Fill in step 2 for me, please, because as bad as we are this season, I don't see anybody on the market better than Gentry right now, other than maybe JVG/Phil Jackson/Jerry Sloan who said they're not interested in coaching.

Saw a headline awhile back where Sloan said he wouldn't' rule out coming back, but didn't read the piece so don't know how accurate it was - I can see how it could eb a Dumb and Dumber thing ... "So you're saying there's a chance!"

Let Jerry GM and pick his own roster. But that would mean firing the two-headed monster

[Revived]

Thing about Gentry is he plays a lot of favorites. You cannot be a good HC in the NBA if you play favorites. Reason LAkers weree so successful is that PJ made sure Kobe knew who was in charge and that if he played like crap, he wasnt gonna get the ball much.

And Gentry's favorite players are the CRAPPY players like Lopez, Frye, Telfair etc. He started Lopez last season UNTIL WE WERE ELIMINATED OUT OF PLAYOFF CONTENTION and then started Gortat. He started FRYE THIS YEAR UNTIL THE TEAM LOST MOST OF ITS CONFIDENCE and then started Morris. Now he's starting Price just so that his favorite player Telfair can get some playing time behind Nash.

He's ALWAYS LATE when switching up the starting lineups.

How long til he realizes that Brown should start over Price?

[mybloodisorange]

The right move is to keep Gentry for this season and next while we blow up and start the rebuild, then based on what we have to rebuild WITH look for a coach that fits the players and styles. Finding a new coach right now seems kind of meaningless to be honest as the team transitions to the post Nash era. Once we know what the next era will be then go for a coach.

Porter for example was a defensive coach but the players werent defensive players and it was a disaster; he slowed down the game and tried to run the offense through shaq in the post. If a coach has a philosophy and is rigid you cant really blame him. It's the front offices job to find a coach that fits the team and nobody knows what this team will look like in 2 years not even the front office.

You build a solid ship first then you can attract a good captain.

[RunDogGun]

The right move is to keep Gentry for this season and next while we blow up and start the rebuild, then based on what we have to rebuild WITH look for a coach that fits the players and styles. Finding a new coach right now seems kind of meaningless to be honest as the team transitions to the post Nash era. Once we know what the next era will be then go for a coach.

Porter for example was a defensive coach but the players werent defensive players and it was a disaster; he slowed down the game and tried to run the offense through shaq in the post. If a coach has a philosophy and is rigid you cant really blame him. It's the front offices job to find a coach that fits the team and nobody knows what this team will look like in 2 years not even the front office.

You build a solid ship first then you can attract a good captain.

Spurs had Pops take the wheel in the middle of their tank year, and it worked out pretty well. In a way, I agree that getting a coach once we know who is on the team, but really it would be a good time to get a coach and have him get the players he knows will be able to run his team. We really only have a few guys under contract.

Plus the right coach might attract players, because if we don't have Nash, there is really nothing we have that will attract players, well other than money we COULD spend.

[mybloodisorange]

Any benefit we get by having a reputable coach is isntantly washed out by the negative of Sarver being the owner. Build the team then worry about coach-especially since nobody but miss Cleo knows how long the rebuild will take. Let say they fire Gentry next month and bring in a big name coach. Then lets say next year doesnt work out..or the next. That is a waste of a top tier coaching talent the same as having Nash as the point guard of this club is wasting his skills. Very similar if you think about it.

[RunDogGun]

Any benefit we get by having a reputable coach is isntantly washed out by the negative of Sarver being the owner. Build the team then worry about coach-especially since nobody but miss Cleo knows how long the rebuild will take. Let say they fire Gentry next month and bring in a big name coach. Then lets say next year doesnt work out..or the next. That is a waste of a top tier coaching talent the same as having Nash as the point guard of this club is wasting his skills. Very similar if you think about it.

So who are we letting build this team? Sarver? Babby? Blanks? They did a great job signing Chilldress, Warrick and Frye to long term deals, making them our future.

I just don't know if I can trust our FO to build a ship that won't sink when it leaves the dock. Maybe a new coach, who knows players and can see certain guys fitting his system (as long as that system includes defense) is the way to go. Plus that coach may have been scouting guys that he feels could do good things, and we get them cheap, and they fit nicely.

I am not saying there is a perfect way to dot his, or someone would have done it. It will take a bunch of luck. But I do know that the coach usually takes the fall before the players. The coach doesn't count against the cap and make less money than most players. Gentry doesn't make a lot of money, so he is an easy target for an owner like Sarver, who likes to put bandaides on major wounds.

[Cutter]

Throughout this Gentry discussion I have remained somewhat neutral as to how much he is responsible for the current situation of the Suns. One area I do fault him 100% is on the development of our rookie talent.

At this point in his development, Morris has no business starting at PF, he is much better coming off the bench. Yes, I know Frye has been in major suck mode all season, but starting a rookie who had hardly any offseason to learn and grow is irresponsible. Gentry even said as much we he recently was quoted saying "i'm not doing Morris any favors" by starting him.

Morris was in a mini-beast mode early in the season coming off the bench playing limited minutes.

Morris Bench stats




As a starter his production (and confidence) fell off significantly.

Morris Starter Stats


Gentry was flailing around when he decided to start Morris over Frye. I know he is desparate for production from the PF position, but he should have known that Morris is not ready yet to start, and he risked damaging Morris' confidence by starting him to early.

[mrorng]

I could not disagree more. Alvin knows what he is doing, there is just a lot more to the situation than people know. Last season he had a number of major trades and so many different players to work with and then this season speaks for itself. I know this is pretty vague, but there is more going on behind the scenes. Alvin is beyond able to lead this team once the franchise gets where they are wanting to go.

[Cutter]

Alvin knows what he is doing, there is just a lot more to the situation than people know.

Like what. There are always things going on behind the scenes of every franchise. That doesn't change the facts of whether a coach is doing a good job or not.

Last season he had a number of major trades and so many different players to work with and then this season speaks for itself.

+1

I know this is pretty vague

+1

but there is more going on behind the scenes

If you know something you need to inform this board. But to just say 'things are going on behind the scenes' and provide no further claification will hurt your credibility very quickly. We all know things are going on behind the scenes. It happens for every team, every day.

[Frank Lee]

Careful MrO.... once the info jackals catch scent that you might have some inside meat, they'll hound you right off this board.

Pay no matter to such yelping

[RunDogGun]

I could not disagree more. Alvin knows what he is doing, there is just a lot more to the situation than people know. Last season he had a number of major trades and so many different players to work with and then this season speaks for itself. I know this is pretty vague, but there is more going on behind the scenes. Alvin is beyond able to lead this team once the franchise gets where they are wanting to go.

I believe that you are a true fan of the team, but your assessment of Gentry is highly questionable. Either you can tell us that you know for sure that Gentry has been purposely trying to lose games, or I have to believe that he has no idea what he is doing as a head coach. Like I've said throughout this thread, I think he is a good assistant coach, and I really liked the way he worked with Goran, but last year he made some of the dumbest moves, and continued to do it throughout the year. This year, same old same old. We have winnable games, and Gentry subs out the guys that are playing well, in favor of guys that are just out there for themselves. He lets the other team go on huge runs, and then calls a timeout (way too late) but makes no change.

The year he stepped in for Porter, he really just let the Suns go back to running, and they played better. It seemed more liase faire then actual coaching. Let Nash be Nash, and offense will be the result. Then he lucked out the next year, by having the practice squad give enough energy to keep leads we had when the starters sat. Plus he only had two black holes on offense in LB and Amare, and keeping them on different squads kept good ball movement. However, he still made poor rotation moves, and kept trying to take guys out of the game when they were rolling. If it wasn't for our starters taking the initiative of returning to the bench when their understudy was rolling, Gentry would have effed it up.

Granted he has had less to work with the past two years, but when we had Gortat in the starting lineup, we dramatically played better as a team, and he kept starting a terrible Lopez. And it was quite clear that VC didn't want to play here, and Gentry kept rewarding this by starting and playing him. But Chilldress, who kept good spirits even while glued to the bench, sat and watched that bs. Gentry would often take out a guy who shot great, waited twenty minutes or so, and then tried him again. By then the guy was cold, and the game was lost. He just starts the same guys in the second half, as he starts the game, even when a guy can't hit water if they fell out of a boat. It doesn't reward the hustle, it just makes for bad basketball.

So unless you can explain all of this, I still have to fall back on Gentry being inept as a head coach.

[mybloodisorange]

I will explain it in 1 sentence. Gentry is not as bad as you think and Childress is not as good as you think.

[RunDogGun]

I will explain it in 1 sentence. Gentry is not as bad as you think and Childress is not as good as you think.

Wow, that really explained it. Doesn't cut it for me. In no way shape or form does it explain the long list of issues I expressed. And where did I say Chilldress was good? I just said it would be a good idea to try him if the other guys completely suck. He isn't a cancer, and often was seen cheering on his teammates from way down the bench. He didn't break doors, bump refs, kick over water coolers, or anything like that. He hustles almost every minute that I've seen him play had a knack for getting tips and deflections, and played smart, so with all that, why wouldn't you play him?

[Tricky_Kid]

I would like to see George Karl here. This guy is a decent coach - he build great sonics team ( Kemp/Payton era). BTW Shawn was my NBA icon - his dunks was powerful , a lot of class not like Blake... Blake who??? (White trash)his dunking above a car wasn't so great like Dominik Wilkins slam dunks or Kemp's dunk almost from free throw line. Anyway Karl always watch on good, team defense a lot of strategy in attack too.
Few coaches who could rebuild this team - P.Jackson, Larry Brown ... with experiences ... but no we stick with Gentry till he is resign himself ... we can wait years....