My initial thoughts on Hornacek being fired:
Why? What about this timing makes sense? This is probably one of the biggest problems I have with Horny being fired. You’re firing a coach whose contract ends this season, then replacing him with a young, recently promoted assistant coach. You’re not trying to win basketball games. You’re trying to develop your youngsters. You really think Horny is going to impede the development of this team? No, you don’t, so why now?
Either:
- You’ve decided you want to pursue a head coach between now and season’s end (highly unlikely)
- The personnel changes you’re making between now and the deadline mean you’d rather not have the guys you bring in to get comfy with a coach you plan to fire
- You’re panicking and need to make some sort of move to please Sarver and save face.
Horny himself:
People look at the 13-14 season where we surprised so many as evidence of how good quality a coach Horny is. I’m not sure I agree with that. Yes, there is some value to making a bunch of misfits hella-overachieve in a speed demon offense. But in reflection it’s possible the team literally just surprised the opposition, unscouted for and underestimated the Slash Bros.
I don’t think there are many doubts over Horny’s offense, it was very pretty and predicated on finding mismatches with fast pace and exploiting those mismatches.
Kieff:
Why does Kieff have so much to do with Horny’s demise? When my friends ask what’s up with the Suns, I say it’s Kieff’s fault. I still think plenty of blame should go to this clown. He was Horny’s most valuable piece to the offense. He played downhill from the top of the key, was an above average passer for his size and had the only low post offense which half of Horny’s offense relies on. We get absolutely none of that this season, and instead couple it with bad defense and buckets of negativity produced by the clown both on and off the court, he left Horny to drown in quicksand.
Speaking of defense, this is probably Horny’s biggest problem. And I believe if he does get another head coaching gig, unless he has a superior defensive player to anchor the defense (a Dwight, a Marc Gasol etc) he’s going to face the exact same problems that he had with his Suns iterations. Even then there’s no guarantees. Alvin Gentry is a fairly similar coach in the way he handles his players AND he has AD, yet, they’re a bottom 5 defense in the league.
Never did he have a team play above average defense and i don’t think he has the capacity to implement a defensive scheme which will change that. He’s a passive coach who is a friend and a mentor more than he is a grumpy dad. And sometimes you need the grumpy dad to get the best out of you. At the start of this season, a few of us thought this team would be a defense first team with PJ, Bled and Chandler starting. Yeah, about that.
Rotations:
I put bad rotations down to (extended) growing pains. However I do give him partial blame for the amount of games this team simply took off (we actually opened our season against the Mavs, at least so I’m told). Again, I put that down to him being passive, not in your face, not brave enough to take this team on and challenge their egos. McD tried to make up for this with Chandler, the guy that was supposed to keep everyone accountable and in line. Instead, this team now has one of the worst contracts in the NBA. If Horny had at least some sort of authority about him I think he could have got even more out of his offense, and perhaps even some effort on D (a big ask, I know).
Where to now?
Well, we need a Sarver pleaser. We need a coach that will actually bring some buzz back to the Suns. MDA, yeah whatever, please no. Blatt? That would cause a fair bit of buzz. Brooks? A bit boring.
Do I agree with the firing?
No not at all. The timing is a minor problem. The fact that you gain absolutely nothing out of firing him is a bigger problem. The fact that you plan to promote an assistant makes even less sense. The fact that you are somehow NOW more convinced that Horny can’t coach, after this team has lost half its guys to injury and been fleeced of its experienced assistants. It. Makes. No. Sense.
Ryan McDonough, you say these last few weeks have been time for self-reflection and that you are your harshest critic. Yet you fail to see the poo-fest you’ve created here and use your handtied coach as the way out of this mess. Except you’re no closer to being out of this mess, and now you have no coach.
Please forgive the dodgy English in places, I’m tired and grumpy (maybe I should be a candidate for the Suns HC).
