Stein: Sources say Hornacek's job is "under immediate threat"

Barkley_34 · Post #61 » by **Barkley_34** » Mon Dec 28, 2015 5:09 am

Marc Stein ‏@ESPNSteinLine 3 minHá 3 minutos Ver tradução
By deciding to shake up its bench, Phoenix appears to be giving Jeff Hornacek one more chance to turn this team around

Barkley_34 · Post #62 » by **Barkley_34** » Mon Dec 28, 2015 5:09 am

Marc Stein ‏@ESPNSteinLine 4 minHá 4 minutos Ver tradução
ESPN sources say Suns are promoting Nate Bjorgken and Earl Watson to the bench and dismissing Mike Longabardi and Jerry Sichting

Mulhollanddrive · Post #63 » by **Mulhollanddrive** » Mon Dec 28, 2015 5:22 am

That's such a Phoenix Suns thing to do.

pidi · Post #64 » by **pidi** » Mon Dec 28, 2015 5:24 am

Nate Bjorkgren likely to replace Hornacek

Via Suns Insider on Twitter

Gesendet von meinem SM-G920F mit Tapatalk

Post #65 » by **bwgood77** » Mon Dec 28, 2015 5:24 am

Barkley_34 wrote:Adrian Wojnarowski ‏@WojYahooNBA 4 minHá 4 minutos Ver tradução
The Suns are firing assistant coaches Mike Longabardi and Jerry Sichting, league sources tell Yahoo. Jeff Hornacek future unclear.

Well, I'm pretty certain they won't be going after Thibs.

Mulhollanddrive · Post #66 » by **Mulhollanddrive** » Mon Dec 28, 2015 5:36 am

If it is Bjorkgren we're going to go young. Could be a good sign, we'll see.

Also by keeping Hornacek, what do we really expect playing Cavs, Spurs, OKC without Bledsoe. We're going to lose them by 10-20 points even if we play better. Maybe we're just biding time to get our plan B into place with the Bjorkgren and Watson promotions, must be odd for Jeff now, hi I'm promoted to take your job soon, what can I do for you today.

letsgosuns · Post #67 » by **letsgosuns** » Mon Dec 28, 2015 5:49 am

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/14449023/phoenix-suns-keep-jeff-hornacek-shake-staff

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/sources--suns-owner--gm-hold-individual-meetings-with-players-to-assess-problems-212607403.html

This is a disgrace. Idk what else to say. This team is lost. You are lost Mr. Sarver. Your entire organization is lost and you have brought shame upon this once great organization. Hornacek is a clueless, soft, embarrassingly bad coach and you are refusing to do what is necessary and you are ridiculous. There is nothing else to say. Fire the assistant coaches and keep Hornacek. What a joke. I hate what this team has become. I hate it.

i505 · Post #68 » by **i505** » Mon Dec 28, 2015 6:01 am

letsgosuns wrote:I hate it.

Well that's a shocker. :roll:

........................................

I'm down to give him one last shot with some new coordinators and see what happens for the rest of the year. Hopefully the playcalling and defense improves.

Revived · Post #69 » by **Revived** » Mon Dec 28, 2015 6:20 am

The Suns fired top assistant, Mike Longabardi, along with Jerry Sichting on Sunday night, and Hornacek's future is teetering on the brink, league sources said.

Hornacek was adamantly against the dismissal of his staff, but appears that he’ll decide to continue on the job, league sources told Yahoo Sports.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/sources--suns-owner--gm-hold-individual-meetings-with-players-to-assess-problems-212607403.html

saintEscaton · Post #70 » by **saintEscaton** » Mon Dec 28, 2015 6:24 am

Well Bjorken has little when it comes to credentials and he's definitely not HC material. Could be a serviceable interim though.We can't promote from within. He's a encouraging player development guy who will hopefully give the youngins more minutes. He has a D-league track record with the Bakersfield Jam and also lead the Summer League team to the championship

blacksun · Post #71 » by **blacksun** » Mon Dec 28, 2015 6:40 am

taiyed wrote:Wait until you hear what the Suns' "solution" is. Just found out about an hour ago...doesn't seem like it has hit the media yet.

You all are going to laugh...

You have inside knowledge on the suns?

Post #72 » by **batsmasher** » Mon Dec 28, 2015 6:44 am

Some dead wood goes.

PS: @InsiderSuns is trash.

blacksun · Post #73 » by **blacksun** » Mon Dec 28, 2015 6:47 am

Im not happy or mad about the firings. I dont feel anything about it.

You gotta wonder though, why hasnt Kieff been traded yet? it seems that the suns brass wants something to change and we all thought itd be a Kieff trade, but no news on that front. Maybe he really is untradeable at the moment?

thamadkant · Post #74 » by **thamadkant** » Mon Dec 28, 2015 6:48 am

Lol

Just lol

So much for Longabardi taking over...

Does that mean, the assistant coach were dictating the abysmal chuck fest offense and non-existent defense?

Puff · Post #75 » by **Puff** » Mon Dec 28, 2015 6:48 am

I actually kind of like it, I seem to always be different.

I have no problem with dumping those two guys and keeping Hornacek at this point, at least we did something.

I have questioned numerous times what did Longabardi do and really had forgotten Sichting even existed. My question is why it took so long and in the end who's decision was it. If it was Hornacek's decision why did it take so long?

I would rather have Hornacek as coach than either of the two guys we whacked. I don't know who Bjorkgren is but I thought it was a good move this summer when he added Watson to the staff. Now it appears that he gets a much bigger voice which could be a very good thing.

I am anxious to see the energy level tomorrow night. All I am asking at this point is full effort while giving the young guys a real chance. I am hoping to see both Booker and Goodwin get some consistent court time. I am not that concerned about Warren's court time. Quite frankly I am not all that impressed by him. He has a lot to prove IMO. Hopefully the change will be good for all of our young guys.

The offense also needs to be tweaked to get our bigs legitimately involved on the offensive end. At this point they seem to be an afterthought. We cannot live and die by the 3 point shot, IMO.

Attitude can be a game changer - Go Suns

garrick · Post #76 » by **garrick** » Mon Dec 28, 2015 6:56 am

I really felt our assistant coaches were too inexperienced and we could have used some with actual coaching experience given how this is Hornacek's first coaching gig.

This fiasco has Sarver's fingerprints all over it expecting too much out of a young and unproven team and a inexperienced coach, any head coach would have had trouble with this team with the Dragic situation and the Morris twins and expecting to make the playoffs was an unrealistic goal with all that has gone on with the team the last two seasons.

Hiring Luke Walton is probably not going to make a difference either and I doubt he would want to join a young team like the Suns next season so whoever is coaching the Suns next season or this season probably would not take us to the next level without better assistant coaches and a much upgraded roster in the tough Western conference.

Grots · Post #77 » by **Grots** » Mon Dec 28, 2015 6:56 am

Unless the Suns are keeping Hornacek til the end of the season no matter what, this "one last chance" for him doesn't make much sense to me. I have no idea how they expect Hornacek to right the ship without Bledsoe and when the schedule is about to get much harder.

blacksun wrote:Im not happy or mad about the firings. I dont feel anything about it.

You gotta wonder though, why hasnt Kieff been traded yet? it seems that the suns brass wants something to change and we all thought itd be a Kieff trade, but no news on that front. Maybe he really is untradeable at the moment?

the Suns may be waiting for Jan 14th (or 15th?) for the Rockets deal. Though at this point (post-towel incident) the Suns may need to give the Cavs pick or rights to Bogdan for the great honor of taking on Corey Brewer's contract. Yay.

WeekapaugGroove · Post #78 » by **WeekapaugGroove** » Mon Dec 28, 2015 6:59 am

Kerrsed wrote:
The Phoenix Suns' 5-15 nosedive, which included a home loss Saturday night to the Philadelphia 76ers, has put the job of coach Jeff Hornacek under immediate threat, league sources told ESPN.

Sources told ESPN.com that the Suns have been forced to contemplate a coaching change far sooner than they hoped to because of a slide that has dropped them to 12-20 and 11th in the Western Conference, with fears growing within the organization that the team is no longer responding to Hornacek.

Phoenix began the season with playoff aspirations after posting records of 48-34 and 39-43 in Hornacek's first two seasons and the marquee offseason signing of center Tyson Chandler. But the Suns have dropped 15 of 20 games since opening up at 7-5, seemingly bottoming out in Saturday night's home loss to the Sixers in which star guard Eric Bledsoe also exited with a sprained left knee in the second quarter.

The Arizona Republic reported Sunday that Bledsoe is expected to miss "extended time" because of the injury, with results of an MRI exam forthcoming.

Adding to the sting of the Philadelphia loss: it was the first game on the Sixers' bench for former Suns coach Mike D'Antoni, who was hired recently by new Philadelphia chairman of basketball operations and former Suns owner Jerry Colangelo to serve as associate head coach to the Sixers' Brett Brown.

"Obviously it's probably a low point for us," Hornacek told reporters after the game. "Now the confidence is lacking."

It was Philadelphia's first road win since last March as well as the first game of a two-game suspension for Suns forward Markieff Morris, who threw a towel in Hornacek's direction after being pulled from a home loss Wednesday to 12-18 Denver. Morris has been angling for a trade since the offseason.

"Pretty embarrassing, point blank, period," Suns forward P.J. Tucker told the Arizona Republic on Saturday night.

"If something doesn't change quick, it could get really ugly, really fast."

This is the final guaranteed season on Hornacek's original four-year contract. Questions about his future with the club have been in circulation in coaching circles since the Suns elected not to pick up their team option on Hornacek for 2016-17 entering this season.

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/14443554/jeff-hornacek-phoenix-suns-jeopardy-losing-job

Good read. This should put an end to those who were saying there was no way we would fire him because Sarver wont want to continue to pay him for the rest of his contract. This was the last guaranteed year of his deal anyways.

My favorite part is pj saying "it could get really ugly" umm dude its already gotten really ugly.

At this point it's all just deck chairs on the Titanic level. There literally 0 chance Jeff coaches this team next year.. might as well just put the dude out of his misery at this point it's the humane thing to do. I guess it comes down to if they still believe in mcd because if they don't then maybe you just wait until this summer and fire everyone and let the new gm pick his coach.

I was a big mcd supporter but starting with the knight trade then the foolish chandler signing and capped of with criminal negligence of having keif on this roster to start the season he's been abismal as a gm the past 10 months. Just awful.

blacksun · Post #79 » by **blacksun** » Mon Dec 28, 2015 6:59 am

Puff wrote:I actually kind of like it, I seem to always be different.

I have no problem with dumping those two guys and keeping Hornacek at this point, at least we did something.

I have questioned numerous times what did Longabardi do and really had forgotten Sichting even existed. My question is why it took so long and in the end who's decision was it. If it was Hornacek's decision why did it take so long?

I would rather have Hornacek as coach than either of the two guys we whacked. I don't know who Bjorkgren is but I thought it was a good move this summer when he added Watson to the staff. Now it appears that he gets a much bigger voice which could be a very good thing.

I am anxious to see the energy level tomorrow night. All I am asking at this point is full effort while giving the young guys a real chance. I am hoping to see both Booker and Goodwin get some consistent court time. I am not that concerned about Warren's court time. Quite frankly I am not all that impressed by him. He has a lot to prove IMO. Hopefully the change will be good for all of our young guys.

The offense also needs to be tweaked to get our bigs legitimately involved on the offensive end. At this point they seem to be an afterthought. We cannot live and die by the 3 point shot, IMO.

Attitude can be a game changer - Go Suns

There were reports that Hornacek was against firing those two, so i guess its Sarver's idea. Fans are certainly pressuring him to do something, and he did. Bjorkgren is the coach of our D-League team IIRC. He also coached the summer suns this July. I think we also have Corey Gaines in there. FWIW i guess we have to be happy to know that they arent happy. They certainly have their work cut out for them.

As for Warren I agree. To me its crazy that Warren is universally loved while Goodwin is hated. Both dudes didnt improve much since getting into the league.Its just Warren already has an NBA ready skill. If were gonna go young, there is no reason to leave Goodwin out.

GMATCallahan · Post #80 » by **GMATCallahan** » Mon Dec 28, 2015 7:02 am

Cutter wrote:
kennydorglas wrote:I'll lose my mind if Longabardi gets the interim job.

No way should Longabardi be elevated to HC. He is supposed to be the defensive assistant, and if anything has regressed this year it is the Suns defense. We aren't playing any defense at all anymore.

Perceptions aside, where the Suns have regressed has been on offense.

'13-'14:

Offensive Rating (points scored per 100 possessions): 109.5 (eighth in the NBA)

Defensive Rating (points allowed per 100 possessions): 106.7 (fifteenth in the NBA)

http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/PHO/2014.html

'14-'15:

Offensive Rating: 105.3 (sixteenth in the NBA)

Defensive Rating: 106.2 (seventeenth in the NBA)

http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/PHO/2015.html

'15-'16:

Offensive Rating: 104.0 (nineteenth in the NBA)

Defensive Rating: 105.7 (seventeenth in the NBA)

http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/PHO/2016.html

One can nitpick this or that, but at the end of the day, the team's defensive performance has remained the same. The offense, conversely, has really faltered, but Hornacek is hardly to blame: Goran Dragic, Isaiah Thomas, Channing Frye, Gerald Green, and Marcus Morris are all gone, and the departure of one Morris twin apparently derailed the other one.

In retrospect, shedding Isaiah Thomas looks like a major mistake. The Dragic trade proved understandable given his looming free agency, but Thomas was under contract for years to come. Those two guys represented Phoenix's best half-court offensive players: Dragic with the mid-range game and Thomas with the pick-and-roll game and free throw ability (combing volume with excellent efficiency). With Bledsoe and Knight, you have two guards who are explosive in the open court yet spotty in the half court.