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The Suns felt like they got their team back Monday afternoon when they practiced for the first time under interim coach Alvin Gentry.

With orders to return to a "breakneck pace," there were non-stop scrimmages with a five-second backcourt rule reinstalled. Talking and walking was gone. Running and gunning was in.

The session marked the return of an unabashed desire to push the tempo, one that remained after the addition of center Shaquille O'Neal last season. In their final 20 games last season, the Suns averaged 112.5 points and were 15-5.

[snip]
"This is a move we had to make in order to give our team the best chance for success," Kerr said.

To that end, the Suns were willing to swallow millions of dollars for Porter's three-year, guaranteed contact and a new head coach's deal despite the franchise's frail finances.

The Suns have lost a major sponsor, expect season-ticket sales to drop and project a $30 million loss for next season.
[snip]

Gentry returned the Suns to the practice style of D'Antoni, which was scrimmage-heavy to establish the conditioning and fast-break structure needed. They played two seven-minute games and a five-minute game.

"If you can survive that, the games never go that long without a break," Suns forward Matt Barnes said. "That first team looked really good. Steve looked great. Amaré looked great. This is what I came to Phoenix for, to be a part of a team that has this style."

Gentry talked to the team as the head coach on "a multi-week contract" and declared that to be the last team meeting he would have following a winter of fix-it gatherings for the unraveling squad.

"I don't know what else we can talk about, unless we start talking about what's going on in Afghanistan," said Gentry, who called his fourth head-coaching appointment "bittersweet."

He was an assistant to D'Antoni for four years but stayed in Phoenix for his family when D'Antoni went to New York to coach the Knicks. Talking to New York reporters Monday, D'Antoni joked that he did not feel vindicated.

"It's interesting, that's for sure," D'Antoni said. "But in this business, I don't think we're shocked at anything. It's tough. They had high expectations (and) didn't live up to them. Usually, something happens, a trade or a firing . . . (Gentry) is a great guy, and he'll step in and try to get them back on line."

Nash said the team has felt like the "weight of the world" has been on it for four months, starting with an awkward training camp under Porter.

For a day at least, the Suns felt freed but must turn around their season with consistency. They have not won more than three games in a row after win streaks of 11 (twice), 15 and 17 the previous two seasons.

"Considering the circumstances and what we've been through, he's probably the perfect person to take over at this time," forward Grant Hill said of Gentry. "We're going to get up and down, similar to what you saw last year. If we're going to go down, we're going to go down doing what we do and being who we are."

http://www.azcentral.com/sports/suns/ar ... r0217.html

Pistonsfanbase wrote:LOL, back to run and gun with grant hill , shaq and steve nash?? You guys should call MJ out of retirment as well for this system to work kah kah kah kah kah kah

Pistonsfanbase wrote:LOL, back to run and gun with grant hill , shaq and steve nash?? You guys should call MJ out of retirment as well for this system to work kah kah kah kah kah kah

Pistonsfanbase wrote:LOL, back to run and gun with grant hill , shaq and steve nash?? You guys should call MJ out of retirment as well for this system to work kah kah kah kah kah kah

sonic-ben wrote:so is SUNS going to trade Shaq

Mr. Sun wrote:

sonic-ben wrote:so is SUNS going to trade Shaq

They could, but Shaq can fit right into a faced paced offense. The West the other nite was very fast paced with Shaq on the floor.