Who Deserves Most of The Blame For This Season?

[NashtyNas]

First of all, let me just get this out there. All this crap everyone's giving about the J-Rich trade being bad is NON SENSE. It was a great trade at the time, and still would be had Amar'e not gotten injured. It only looks bad because he isn't playing and we don't have a PF anymore. Bell's defense had gone WAY DOWN from 2 years ago, and he wasn't right for the "system" we were playing, so that trade does not deserve much blame. What deserves blame is letting D'Antoni go (although he did cause a lot of problems in the first place; Picks, not playing young players, etc.), hiring Porter, and not firing him early enough.

[rsavaj]

First of all, let me just get this out there. All this crap everyone's giving about the J-Rich trade being bad is NON SENSE. It was a great trade at the time, and still would be had Amar'e not gotten injured. It only looks bad because he isn't playing and we don't have a PF anymore. Bell's defense had gone WAY DOWN from 2 years ago, and he wasn't right for the "system" we were playing, so that trade does not deserve much blame. What deserves blame is letting D'Antoni go (although he did cause a lot of problems in the first place; Picks, not playing young players, etc.), hiring Porter, and not firing him early enough.

Raja's not the reason I hated the trade; the fact that we gave up Boris was the real stinger.

[lilfishi22]

First of all, let me just get this out there. All this crap everyone's giving about the J-Rich trade being bad is NON SENSE. It was a great trade at the time, and still would be had Amar'e not gotten injured. It only looks bad because he isn't playing and we don't have a PF anymore. Bell's defense had gone WAY DOWN from 2 years ago, and he wasn't right for the "system" we were playing, so that trade does not deserve much blame. What deserves blame is letting D'Antoni go (although he did cause a lot of problems in the first place; Picks, not playing young players, etc.), hiring Porter, and not firing him early enough.

Like rsavaj, it wasn't because we traded away Raja that ticked me off about the trade, or the fact that gave up Boris as well. It was the fact that Kerr brought in Porter to change the philosophy in Phoenix and dealing away our two best defenders for a no-defense scorer is completely contradictory. One moment Kerr is all for Porter's defense, the next he moves the best defenders for a scorer. If he had followed this mindset, he should've fired Porter long ago and let the Suns get more games under Gentry. Who knows, if we had gotten Gentry a month earlier, we may be fighting for a higher seed right now and not going fishing.

[toucansma]

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.

Your posts get crazier and crazier. Nash tanking?? The dude plays his heart and soul out and you accuse him of tanking and being a prima donna?? Did you actually watch the Suns this year? Did you go to school with Nash and get beaten up by him for your lunch money? Did he steal your wife or something? Seriously!!

My blame goes on Kerr and Porter. Kerr for picking the wrong guy and trading away Raja and Boris. Porter I blame for messing up any semblance of team there was and messing around with the wrong things. I will give Kerr credit for getting rid of Porter. I think that Porter ordeal has mellowed Kerr a bit and I will give him a chance.

All in all there was a end of season coaching chance with some major injuries. This team was never really given time to be what it could have been. I still think with Amare coming back, a training camp, a solid draft pick, and maybe tinkering (a FA and/or jettison of J-Rich) that it would be a solid team. There is some youth (Dudley, Dragic, Amundson, etc) that is showing some real promise. The cap might be looming, but the team is not as bad off as people think.

[impulsenine]

Lou is Legend, and his daddy had super sperm.

I got this on no less authority than the DP09 crew and the senior Amundson himself.

I'll not tolerate smack about a man giving us almost a point, rebound, or block a minute for $700k, not to mention being a classic energy guy.

As for my blame list:

1. Porter, for doing about as badly with this team as could be done. I mean, seriously, this roster had no business being a 42-win team (which I think would've been the final number given the Amare/Leandro injuries, and a general meltdown/tanking at the end that would've occurred with a frustrated, depressed squad).
2. Kerr, for several blown management decisions, foremost being hiring Porter. I recognize this is a very difficult job, and I actually agree with his decision to let D'Antoni go. But Porter was an unmitigated disaster, and the responsibility for that hire lands on him.
3. Me, because I obviously didn't watch enough games. There is a direct proportional relationship between how many games a year I watch, and that the Suns win. When I started working in a bar in 2004, I watched almost every game. 62-win season. I worked there through the beginning of 2006, and afterwards I watched them on crappy streams. Last year, I could only catch occasional games via streams. This year, I've only actually watched one game all the way through -- and I attended two games. So... I'm sorry. Please don't lynch me. Thanks.

...

15. Boris Diaw, who became a 44% 3-point shooter in Charlotte. That's insult to injury.

People who deserve credit:
1. Alan Gentry, who despite losing Amare and Barbosa, gave this team a reason to believe. Think about it: When he came in, the team had no real reason to be optimistic. This season very, very easily could've ended on a much worse note, with the whole team defecting to other teams out of frustration, but the team seems about as happy together as anyone has the right to even imagine, let alone expect.
2. Grant Hill, for being the best bargain in the league and still having fun - if anybody has the right to bitch about salary in the entire NBA, it's him. Remember, his salary is roughly equal to that of our rookies.
3. Shaquille O'Neal, for making that trade look waaaaaaaay better than it did a year ago.
4. The bench, for responding incredibly well to Gentry over the last few weeks.
5. Alan Gentry again, for showing that rookies can, in fact %#@&! play in Phoenix and even do pretty well sometimes.
6. Steve Kerr, for correcting his mistake with Porter.

[realfung]

Matt Barns.

[albasuna]

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.

Its a joke, because that very fact is always overlooked. I remember in the Celtics/Suns game the commentators were all raving about the fact that the Celtics are playing well without Garnett and they ignore the fact that we are without Amare. I think the commentators are all just pissed at the Suns for lynching Porter.

[WTFsunsFTW]

First of all, let me just get this out there. All this crap everyone's giving about the J-Rich trade being bad is NON SENSE. It was a great trade at the time, and still would be had Amar'e not gotten injured. It only looks bad because he isn't playing and we don't have a PF anymore. Bell's defense had gone WAY DOWN from 2 years ago, and he wasn't right for the "system" we were playing, so that trade does not deserve much blame. What deserves blame is letting D'Antoni go (although he did cause a lot of problems in the first place; Picks, not playing young players, etc.), hiring Porter, and not firing him early enough.

Raja's not the reason I hated the trade; the fact that we gave up Boris was the real stinger.

Gave up!?! We found a taker to REMOVE Doris Meow and I still thank the NBA gods on a daily basis.

Did you forget how much he stunk it up for us? Did you forget how many times he would overpass when he was wide open for layups and dunks? Did you forget the times he would come in to camp overweight? Did you forgot the nights where he would put up grotesque numbers, and be photographed later that night wasted with 4 ugly club girls hanging on him? Did you forget the articles where he wouldnt even acknowledge his shortcomings and didn't even hint that he was aiming to improve himself. Did you forget that his stats have decreased every year that he won MIP?



How he performed once he left is irrelevant. He STOLE his paycheck for the last 3 seasons.

[b-ball forever]

Kerr and Sarver. Kerr's responsible for the Porter hiring so he gets some for that.

Epic fail draft, and giving up Diaw and Bell for J-Rich was stupid.

I don't blame the players for the non-existant defense, they were never capable of playing defense in the first place. It's Kerr's fault that he traded away all the defenders on the team for one-dimensional scorers. Hopefully he resigns so that somebody who actually knows how build a team and evaluate players can take over.

[visions]

Robert Horry & David Stern...

[The Diesel]

According to the players, Porter deserves the blame.

Kerr spent SIX weeks looking for a new coach and the best he could come up with was Porter?!

[Mr. Sun]

Porter AND Gentry.

Wrong lineups, leaving Lou rotting away on the bench, etc.

[TASTIC]

In terms of blame this season...I put it

Kerr - just BAD moves all around
Porter - hires him to teach them D and then he trades their 2 best defenders away - that's not Porter's fault, but he HAD the pieces to make a legit run with this team if he changed style, but too stubborn
Sarver - bet this guy tips 5%
The Players - supreme lack of effort in some games

If we'd have played balls to the wall run and gun right out of the gate we wouldn't be having this non-playoff end to the season and we'd be saying how well the Shaq trade worked out. But no, Porter tried to change this square team into a round hole and it didn't fit. Kerr pulled the plug on his own hiring, and watched as his #15 pick struggled mightily and the 2nd best point guard turned out to be nowhere near where they thought he'd be. I don't mind Dragic - you can clearly see improvement in his game, but what they're paying him to do lies squarely on Kerr...Oh the irony - the Spurs waiving Hairston to sign Marcus Williams...

Kerr's a nice guy, but a GM he is NOT...for the Suns at least

[The Diesel]

Trading Boris and Raja was dumb, but Kerr was kind of forced into it because Raja hated playing for Porter and made no secret of it.