Closed Door Meeting Held After Loss to Bulls

[The Diesel]

Hey guys,

Paul Coro said that a closed door meeting was held after the loss to the Bulls and his article contains comments from Kerr.

Here's part of the article followed by the link.

The Suns have left the building ... about two hours after the 122-111 home loss to Chicago.

Phoenix's seventh loss in 10 games, a defeat that came to a Bulls team playing its third road game in four nights, prompted an unusual postgame sequence of meetings.

Coach Terry Porter did not have his postgame press conference at the usual time. He first met with staff in his office behind a closed door before emerging 20 minutes after the game ended to talk to reporters.

After most of the Suns players had left, Grant Hill and Steve Nash went into Porter's coaches' office at about 10:20 p.m. for another closed-door meeting with coaches, Suns Managing Partner Robert Sarver and Suns General Manager Steve Kerr. Hill and Nash stayed for about 45 minutes before leaving together while the rest of the group wound up meeting for about one hour in whole.

Here is the link to the rest of the article.

http://www.azcentral.com/members/Blog/PaulCoro/45105

Your thoughts on this?

[pidi]

something has to happen. i was one of the only porter supporters - but hey. his time is definitly over. he isn´t getting in the players mind no more. he is a good guy, without a doubt.
but we needed and need a veteran coach.
and we need to work on an ama´re trade. sorry for this guy but right now i would even do a dalamber & miller for ama´re. and that´s enough said.

fire porter and trade ama´re.

[BurningHeart]

LOL. You DO realize that Amare is being marginalized because of Porter's coaching, right?

As for the meeting, good. I mean ****, what is this supposed to mean? But as long as some action is taken to shake up the leadership of this organization, that's all I care about.

[pidi]

ok, the system means less shots for ama´re - but does is says that he should NOT play defense, does is mean NOT to grad some freakin rebounds???
it means to run his **** mouth and tell everybody that he is still in love with d´antoni??
franchise type of players should agree with what the franchise is doing. i don´t see ama´re do that.
of course with another coach he could score about 30 points / night. but at the defensive end he should just wake up and show some improvement..

[BurningHeart]

ok, the system means less shots for ama´re - but does is says that he should NOT play defense, does is mean NOT to grad some freakin rebounds???
it means to run his **** mouth and tell everybody that he is still in love with d´antoni??
franchise type of players should agree with what the franchise is doing. i don´t see ama´re do that.
of course with another coach he could score about 30 points / night. but at the defensive end he should just wake up and show some improvement..

He should, but if he's not comfortable out there, it's going to hinder his performance. Sucks, but that's the type of player he is.

[bballshinobi20]

ok, the system means less shots for ama´re - but does is says that he should NOT play defense, does is mean NOT to grad some freakin rebounds???
it means to run his **** mouth and tell everybody that he is still in love with d´antoni??
franchise type of players should agree with what the franchise is doing. i don´t see ama´re do that.
of course with another coach he could score about 30 points / night. but at the defensive end he should just wake up and show some improvement..

Um... just because you are a franchise player doesn't mean you are a slave to the franchise. If the management is stupid and incompetent then I don't see why you need to sell your soul and run through wall for that franchise.

You try telling other franchise players like Kobe, DWade, LeBron, and Melo that they will no longer be the primary option on offense even though they are clearly the most potent offensive player on the team, and they should just focus on rebounding and defense while they will occasionally run a play for him.

You probably don't play basketball competitively to understand the player's perspective. It's easy to blame the players if they are struggling since obviously they are getting paid a lot of money and people are more critical of people who make more money than they do. However, even if you are more of a management guy (most people that don't really play basketball think this way), then you should also know that it's the management job to properly motivate their people. While Terry Porter has done a great job kissing Shaq's ass and inflate his numbers, you can't argue that he has pretty much lost rest of the team. So... whose fault is it really...? Come on!

[nashill]

After most of the Suns players had left, Grant Hill and Steve Nash went into Porter's coaches' office at about 10:20 p.m. for another closed-door meeting with coaches, Suns Managing Partner Robert Sarver and Suns General Manager Steve Kerr. Hill and Nash stayed for about 45 minutes before leaving together while the rest of the group wound up meeting for about one hour in whole.

i think trade is coming and porter is not going to be fired. i think they asked nash and hill for the go signal of the trade?

[pidi]

i play basketball for something like 14 years. i know the players perspective - and i was a scoring option
for our team. so i think i understand a players opinion.

the thing ama´re is doing is letting his teamates down. i don´t want to sound like a hater or something, but if a teamate goes off you have to feed em. and if you playing on defense than you have to grab a rebound or defend like a man.

the other point is, that ama´re is our franchise player and can tell us that he´s in love with mike.
he can tell this once or twice - but not the whole time. but ok, i have to agree that terry has to go,
sorry for him.

[TXSun]

I'm tired of all these meetings, players-only meeting, staff-meeting, coaches-meeting, upper mgmt-meeting....AND NOTHING IS BEING DONE. HOW ABOUT HAVING A MEETING TO FIRE BOTH KERR & PORTER?

[Mr. Sun]

I think TP has been given the D'Antoni ultimatum.

[rsavaj]

I'm tired of all these meetings, players-only meeting, staff-meeting, coaches-meeting, upper mgmt-meeting....AND NOTHING IS BEING DONE. HOW ABOUT HAVING A MEETING TO FIRE BOTH KERR & PORTER?

CAN I GET AN AMEN?!

[HootieRules]

I'm tired of all these meetings, players-only meeting, staff-meeting, coaches-meeting, upper mgmt-meeting....AND NOTHING IS BEING DONE. HOW ABOUT HAVING A MEETING TO FIRE BOTH KERR & PORTER?

CAN I GET AN AMEN?!

While we're at it, how about Sarver fires himself too and sells the team?

Something has to be done after that disgusting effort last night. I pray to God Amare is not labeled the scapegoat.

[eastsidecrossover]

Some great points guys. All of them are valid and not an over reaction like we usually see on this forum.

I was gathering my thoughts last night after the loss and figured I would write a mid season report in what I thought and encourage others to do the same, agree or to disagree.

But this is some of what I was thinking. First off, we have too many guys who need the ball in their hands to be affective. Forget coach’s and players, we have too many offensive minded players who can not do much unless they have the ball. You have nash, barbs, J-rich, Amare and Shaq. Think of what nash said a while back about feeding so many mouths as the PG and being a scoring option.

We do not have those players that are 3rd and 4th options, that are role players that play both ways.

I think it was good to have another meeting. You have to do this to evaluate your performance. I think unless we see some changes in players and wins, I think the odd man out is Amare. If they are smart, the will bring in a PF that can play D, rebound, shoot outside so Shaq can operate inside. A guy that does not need the ball that much. And get some other pieces or draft picks in exchange. However, this will affect our PnR with amare and nash. Yes, it has not been as prevalent, but it limits nash even more depending on the type of player we bring in.

I personally think Amare should have the ball more, but it is not happening. Diaw might have been the right PF on this team then Amare. I hate to lose him, but I think shaq or Amare has to go if this team wants a chance.

[rsavaj]

Some great points guys. All of them are valid and not an over reaction like we usually see on this forum.

I was gathering my thoughts last night after the loss and figured I would write a mid season report in what I thought and encourage others to do the same, agree or to disagree.

But this is some of what I was thinking. First off, we have too many guys who need the ball in their hands to be affective. Forget coach’s and players, we have too many offensive minded players who can not do much unless they have the ball. You have nash, barbs, J-rich, Amare and Shaq. Think of what nash said a while back about feeding so many mouths as the PG and being a scoring option.

We do not have those players that are 3rd and 4th options, that are role players that play both ways.

I think it was good to have another meeting. You have to do this to evaluate your performance. I think unless we see some changes in players and wins, I think the odd man out is Amare. If they are smart, the will bring in a PF that can play D, rebound, shoot outside so Shaq can operate inside. A guy that does not need the ball that much. And get some other pieces or draft picks in exchange. However, this will affect our PnR with amare and nash. Yes, it has not been as prevalent, but it limits nash even more depending on the type of player we bring in.

I personally think Amare should have the ball more, but it is not happening. Diaw might have been the right PF on this team then Amare. I hate to lose him, but I think shaq or Amare has to go if this team wants a chance.

Word, major friggin word.

We need more role-players, less 'stars'. More defenders, rebounders, less scorers. More facilitators, less receivers.

One of Amare/Shaq has to go...as do both Porter and Kerr.

[Cash]

I'm very intrigued and somewhat encouraged by this closed-door meeting. What I like about it is that it was Nash and Hill -- the two most no-nonsense, team-minded, win-at-all-costs veterans. I'd pay a good bit of money to hear what they had to say. It could have been something as tame as, "You need to tell Porter that playing me for the full 12 minutes in a quarter is really stupid." Or it could have been a strong recommendation to fire Porter. Or it could have been player-oriented: Amare needs to go? Shaq needs to go? Shaq can stay, but needs to be a complimentary player, not the focus?

In any case, I feel like whatever Nash & Hill had to say will help out the team if it's carried out. And there's no one else I'd say that about. Amare is too immature. Shaq would just complain that he's not getting enough touches, and everyone else needs to play better D. J-Rich hasn't been around long enough to really know the team. Barbosa is too reserved. Barnes would probably just challenge Kerr to a fistfight. And Amundsen is just happy to have a spot in an NBA rotation.

[theagent]

You probably don't play basketball competitively to understand the player's perspective. It's easy to blame the players if they are struggling since obviously they are getting paid a lot of money and people are more critical of people who make more money than they do. However, even if you are more of a management guy (most people that don't really play basketball think this way), then you should also know that it's the management job to properly motivate their people. While Terry Porter has done a great job kissing Shaq's ass and inflate his numbers, you can't argue that he has pretty much lost rest of the team. So... whose fault is it really...? Come on!

And this is where your argument goes flat. The fact that these players are getting paid millions to put a ball through a hoop is motivation enough. Grown men getting paid millions sulking because no one is stroking their egos enough???? BS. Why can't he rebound and play D??? You're a franchise player getting paid millions. That's motivation enough to do what you need to do.

[eljayyyyyyyyyy]

the reason why amare dont play defense is because early on and in the beginning of his career all he does is score or dunk. as of late yeah hes getting other stats but he's inconsistent on the defense. before the surgery he was pretty good a shot blocking but after i would've expected him to work a lot more on defense when he was in rehab. then also the season he came back he had a rocky start on both ends but he was more offense again. if we dont trade him, get a coach that is tough on defense like hell and make amare suffer if he wont commit to making the change.

[NashtyNas]

This just means Porter is gone. YESSSSSSS!

[TXSun]

It's Feb 1st! has Porter being fired yet?

[JohnVancouver]

"You try telling other franchise players like Kobe, DWade, LeBron, and Melo that they will no longer be the primary option on offense even though they are clearly the most potent offensive player on the team, and they should just focus on rebounding and defense while they will occasionally run a play for him. ""

--- +1. I'm surprised more people haven't figured this out, rather than just howling to trade Stat. Amare hasn't forgotten how to play - he was his old self on one nice twisting, power move in the Chi game. He just doesn't get the ball where he needs it anymore.
Building the offense around Shaq is a real bad plan - sure, make him part of it, even a big part, but why marginalize and demoralize one of the best young big men in the league?
So - we've developed an offense built around an injury-prone 36 yr old centre and seriously reduced the offensive effectiveness of two perennial all-stars, one of them a double MVP winner. And we're worse than ever defensively. Go figure ....
i understand that this team was not built to be a defensive monster but surely both Kerr and Porter know this. I expected the new coach to come in with some defensive schemes that would minimize or work around the defensive deficiencies on the roster. It seems like common sense that if Nash is never going to be able to guard some players, you work around that.
Speaking of coaches, is Cartwright working with Amar'e?