Who Deserves Most of The Blame For This Season?

[The Diesel]

Hey guys,

I was just wondering who you feel deserves the most blame for this disastrous season; a season in which the Suns will most likely miss the playoffs.

For me, it goes in this order:

1. Steve Kerr; he's the one who ran out D'Antoni (one of the best coaches in the NBA) who made the Shaq trade work towards the end of last season when the Suns went 15-5 to end the season and were a Tim Duncan 3 pointer away from winning Game 1 and getting home-court advantage.

He replaced him with his buddy Terry Porter who got fired after just two years in Milwaukee thinking he would improve the defense even though the Bucks were AWFUL defensively under Porter.

Kerr also lied to us when he said Porter would keep the up-tempo offense.

Kerr also screwed up by trading Raja and Boris; Charlotte won that trade.

This team could REALLY use Boris now that Amare is out injured.

Kerr should have either kept D'Antoni, made Gentry the head-coach from the beginning, or hired a more proven coach like Flip Saunders.

2. Terry Porter; he failed to improve the defense, failed to develop the younger players, ruined the best offense in the NBA, failed to command the respect of the team, and pissed off half the team with the way he was running the team.

He turned superstars like Nash and Amare into role players, took away the running game, took away the Nash/Amare pick and roll, and gave Shaq the ball all the time while the 4 others on the court just stood around and watched him.

Porter is a nice guy and a good assistant coach, but his system was the wrong fit for this team. He deserves the blame for not adjusting to the team from the beginning and Kerr deserves the blame for thinking his system would be a good fit for this team.

EVERYONE is already blaming the Shaq trade for this mess even though he's playing great this year and even though he's outplayed Marion this year.

However, just as a reminder, just remember that if you believe the Shaq trade IS the reason for this mess (like many people do), DON'T blame Kerr because he was actually very reluctant to make the trade and had to be talked into it by Sarver, D'Antoni, and some of the players.

Sarver said Kerr actually wanted to keep Marion.

What do you guys think? Who deserves the blame for this mess?

To me, it's without a doubt Kerr and Porter. If Gentry was coach from the beginning, Raja and Boris would still be in Phoenix because Raja never would have spoken out against Gentry over the offense because Gentry has re-installed the up-tempo offense and Shaq showed late last season and this season that he could fit in to an up-tempo offense.

Obviously, it's probably not the perfect situation for him playing that style at his age, but he's made the adjustment.

Your thoughts on this post?

Thanks.

Looking forward to reading everyone's opinions on this issue.

[MaryvalesFinest]

Yeah Steve Kerr and Sarver deserves most of the blame for the poor draft choices, selling draft picks, trades, signings, etc but as for Terry Porter Alot of Suns fans like to blame Terry Porter but I would actually pin it on Steve Nash because he looked like he was purposely tanking games to get Porter fired, not to mention he is the captain of the team and is supposed to lead by example. Don't get me wrong, Porter was hired at the wrong place at the wrong time. Porter is a tough blue collar coach who doesn't put up with nonsense but when he had to deal with primma donas like Steve Nash and Louis Amundson who is more concerned about going to the salon to get his hair done you can't put all the blame on Porter. Yeah he was the wrong hire but Nash was purposely tanking games to get him fired you can't really deny that.

Now as for the trade I would have to disagree with it. That seems like the one thing Kerr has done right, he got rid of Doris Meow who basically retired after he got that huge 9M contract and Bell who was trying to get extended even though he was declining and getting older. People can make the case and say Doris is playing better now but if you look at it the Bobcats are basically running their offense throughout and really how long will he keep that up he will get lazy and come to camp out of shape next season probally. Not to mention if he was still with the Suns he would be the same old Doris who was more concerned about getting Scottsdale cougars and french crassaunts than playing basketball.

[The Diesel]

The players definitely deserve some of the blame for not buying into the system (Nash and Raja), but they also knew that Porter was dumb to try and fix something that wasn't broken which was the offense.

Don't forget that article that came out during the All-Star weekend revealing that Nash/Shaq/Hill wanted Porter fired and the article said that two players (who weren't named) "strongly" blamed Porter.

Porter lost the team. Plain and simple.

Dragic, Nash, Raja, Barnes, and Amare all complained publicly and Boris was unhappy under Porter.

[Inconspicuous]

One sole person can't be blamed for the season, it's a lot of people.

Kerr & Sarver for obvious reasons
The Suns veterans for not buying into the system
Porter for failing to keep the veterans committed in his system

[The Diesel]

I don't think Sarver deserves any blame for this season. The team kept their draft picks and he stayed out of personnel decisions.

Kerr made the Richardson trade, said Dragic was the 2nd best PG in the draft, and apparently said Robin Lopez would be better than Brook Lopez.

Kerr also ran out D'Antoni and hired the wrong guy to replace him. Porter might be a good Head-Coach one day, but he was the wrong fit for this team.

Kerr deserves most of the blame followed by Porter.

[Inconspicuous]

I don't think Sarver deserves any blame for this season. The team kept their draft picks and he stayed out of personnel decisions.

Kerr made the Richardson trade, said Dragic was the 2nd best PG in the draft, and apparently said Robin Lopez would be better than Brook Lopez.

Kerr also ran out D'Antoni and hired the wrong guy to replace him. Porter might be a good Head-Coach one day, but he was the wrong fit for this team.

Kerr deserves most of the blame followed by Porter.

sarver's cheapass nearly made the suns trade away amare/shaq for expirings, and you can't deny that it affected chemistry

[eastsidecrossover]

First I would put the blame on Mary. She deserves it all.

Ok, for real. I think one person you all are forgetting and that is Mike D'Antoni had a lot to do with the make up of this team. Lets look at the facts. I know we want to put the blame on Sarver (and he gets some too), but who is the guy who said to Griff and Sarver he would not play these rookies? Thats right, D'Antoni. So why would Sarver spend 3 mil on a guy that is not going to play???? there is a reason why the suns have picked 4 guys the past 2 years.

The players. I think the players get MOST of the blame. No matter what decisions with draft picks trades etc, the players are the ones on the court. This team has a lot of talent and should be in the playoffs. I do not think they were ever contenders after last year, but they had enough talent to get in and they failed. They complained about the new coach and never gave him a chance. The guy was hired to get them to pay more D, and they would not listen. Wrong coach, wrong team, wrong time.

Kerr and Sarver. Sarver is the owner and should have took some of those picks anyways and trusted his scout team and assistant GM in griff. He has been one of the top teams payroll wise so I do not blame him for not spending enough, he has. He gets his fare share of the blame as the owner.

Kerr just seems like a moron at times with his statements of RoLo and Tragic. I though they did have a good pick last year in Tuck and DJ, but that did not work out. He has not fully put together a good team, but he inherited a lot of this from D'Antoni.

Those are my four categories of blame of why we are at this position.

[TXSun]

Kerr. and I guess Sarver for trusting Kerr.

[dantian]

D'Antoni. Were he to swallow his pride and accepted Kerr's input to play more difference, he'd still be the coach and we'd have been using SSOS all season without the feud between Nash and Porter which ultimately ruined the season. I don't buy Nash can't play half court bulls. In any series against Spurs, he had to because we were forced to.

[Kerrsed]

First post sums it all up. nice work!

[The Diesel]

It's just so surprising to me as to what a poor job Kerr has done so far considering he comes off as a VERY intelligent guy.

[WTFsunsFTW]

100% Porter's fault helps me sleep at night

How do you ruin the best offense in the game?

[The Diesel]

It pissed me off when I heard one of the commentators during the Suns/Rockets game defend Porter by saying, "They're not winning more under Gentry than they did under Porter."

THAT'S BECAUSE AMARE IS INJURED!

If Amare was healthy, this team would have a much better record. No doubt about it.

Porter has NO excuses for the way the team underperformed under him.

Too bad Diaw is gone. We could really use him right now.

Barnes is not a PF.

[lilfishi22]

Kerr.

Firing D'Antoni was a mistake. In my opinion, we were only one training camp away from creating the type of chemistry between our guys that we need to take it all the way. Couple the chemistry with a rejuvenated Shaq, and we would be unstoppable.

Hiring Porter was a mistake. No need to comment further.

Not firing Porter sooner was a big mistake. There were stretches earlier in the season when the Suns were just stinking everything up and had trouble beating crap team. He should've been fired and replaced by Gentry there and then. Kerr lagged, and now we are fighting for our playoff lives.

Not hiring Gentry in the beginning was a huge mistake. He knew the Suns like the back of his hand, and Kerr decides to hire someone from the outside.

JRich trade was a mistake. Yeah, I like JRich but losing Raja and Diaw meant that we lose whatever defense we had left. Diaw has shown that if he's the main offensive low post option he can put up numbers, with Amare out, his presence is what we're missing.

My ranking on who should take most of the blame:

1. Kerr
2. Porter
3. Sarver
4. Players.

[JohnVancouver]

Just curious, Mary - what do you base your assertion on that Nash "tanked" under Porter?

from today's Coro article: "Since (coach) Alvin (Gentry) has taken over, I've been able to be more aggressive and just had more opportunities," Nash said. "I tried to do exactly what (previous coach) Terry (Porter) wanted. At times, I was probably too conservative, but also with Shaq and Amaré (Stoudemire) on the court, they'd trap pick-and-rolls, so I didn't really get the space, and we weren't in the open court. In some ways, I was marginalized."

So - based on what we've all seen of Nash, I can't imagine anyone else who would believe he purposely played badly. It's a ridiculous statement given what we've seen of the guy's competitive nature. Add in that you have some problem with Amundson that amounts to little more than dismissal of the guy based on his hairstyle, and I just have to shake my head.

Talk to your doctor - you really need to take the medication *every day* for it to control your symptoms.

[krac36]

Porter.

[holidayhell]

Everybody. The Suns lost games to much weaker opponents and playoff teams all year long because of front office decisions, bad coaching and lackluster effort/boneheaded decisions from the players.

Same problems as the last couple of years.

[rsavaj]

The Sarver/Kerr/Porter brain trust.

[chrice]

All 3, Kerr / Porter / Sarver.

[360]

All 3, Kerr / Porter / Sarver.

Hey. Can you explain your sig to me?