Earl Watson FIRED!!!!

[lilfishi22]

My guess is, until we've found a suitable replacement, we will continue to back him. Once we find a suitable replacement there will be a mutual decision to move on.

[denial]

My guess is, until we've found a suitable replacement, we will continue to back him. Once we find a suitable replacement there will be a mutual decision to move on.

Which would be a reasonable and professional way to move forward. They don't need to be overemotional like me (and most of the people here). That's why we're not GM's. I recognize their job is not as simple as most of us would like to believe, with our, "just fire him now" attitude.
As long as the FO is honest and proactive, I have no problem with proper diplomacy, as long as it doesn't drag on too long. We have a couple of future stars on our hands and if they get too discouraged, you can get ready for rebuild #17 when they bolt.

[RaisingArizona]

Watch on YouTube

[TheBobster]

Let’s wait more games to judge Watson.


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Worst Coaches in Suns History -

Red Kerr - 31-89, .258
Earl Watson - 33-83, .284
Lindsey Hunter - 12-29, .293
John Wetzel - 28-54, .341
Butch van Breda Kolff - 3-4, .429
Frank Johnson - 63-71, .470
Jeff Hornacek - 101-112, .474
Jerry Colangelo - 59-60, .496


How much longer do you want to wait?

[Jdiddy701]

Let’s wait more games to judge Watson.


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Worst Coaches in Suns History -

Red Kerr - 31-89, .258
Earl Watson - 33-83, .284
Lindsey Hunter - 12-29, .293
John Wetzel - 28-54, .341
Butch van Breda Kolff - 3-4, .429
Frank Johnson - 63-71, .470
Jeff Hornacek - 101-112, .474
Jerry Colangelo - 59-60, .496


How much longer do you want to wait?

Do you expect the Suns to be winning games? Last year we were in a lot of games when we shouldn’t have been. Everyone is reacting to the loss from last night. Give it a couple more games this season and I’m sure McD will pull the plug, if needed.

The only thing I’m worried about with firing Watson is how the players will react to it and who would replace him. It might boot Booker outta here quick. Second coaching change in three years for him is not good. I just think we gotta give it at least 10-15 games this season to really judge if the team is improving.



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[Puff]

Let’s wait more games to judge Watson.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Worst Coaches in Suns History -

Red Kerr - 31-89, .258
Earl Watson - 33-83, .284
Lindsey Hunter - 12-29, .293
John Wetzel - 28-54, .341
Butch van Breda Kolff - 3-4, .429
Frank Johnson - 63-71, .470
Jeff Hornacek - 101-112, .474
Jerry Colangelo - 59-60, .496


How much longer do you want to wait?

Do you expect the Suns to be winning games? Last year we were in a lot of games when we shouldn’t have been. Everyone is reacting to the loss from last night. Give it a couple more games this season and I’m sure McD will pull the plug, if needed.

The only thing I’m worried about with firing Watson is how the players will react to it and who would replace him. It might boot Booker outta here quick. Second coaching change in three years for him is not good. I just think we gotta give it at least 10-15 games this season to really judge if the team is improving.



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What a joke.

We have not been in the playoffs since McDonough has been our GM and every year seem to be getting further away from respectability. Why did we extend his contract this summer.

McDonough is the one that hired the last series of horrible coaches as well as draft picks that cannot play basketball.

I would fire both of them today.

[TheBobster]

McDonough is still here because the team is profitable and Sarver isn't paying him a huge amount of money. Sarver may also by into the whole "Timeline" nonsense.

And the Suns aren't getting any more competitive - if you've watched them this preseason it's obvious that Bender and Chriss have shown little progress and Len's improvement comes as much from them no longer misusing him like they have the last couple of years as much as anything else.

I hate the thought of having Watson and his staff in charge of developing these players for the next couple of years.

[bwgood77]

McDonough is still here because the team is profitable and Sarver isn't paying him a huge amount of money. Sarver may also by into the whole "Timeline" nonsense.

And the Suns aren't getting any more competitive - if you've watched them this preseason it's obvious that Bender and Chriss have shown little progress and Len's improvement comes as much from them no longer misusing him like they have the last couple of years as much as anything else.

I hate the thought of having Watson and his staff in charge of developing these players for the next couple of years.

It seems there are so many good coaches across the league it's just frustrating to see such incompetence.

[WeekapaugGroove]

Worst Coaches in Suns History -

Red Kerr - 31-89, .258
Earl Watson - 33-83, .284
Lindsey Hunter - 12-29, .293
John Wetzel - 28-54, .341
Butch van Breda Kolff - 3-4, .429
Frank Johnson - 63-71, .470
Jeff Hornacek - 101-112, .474
Jerry Colangelo - 59-60, .496


How much longer do you want to wait?

Do you expect the Suns to be winning games? Last year we were in a lot of games when we shouldn’t have been. Everyone is reacting to the loss from last night. Give it a couple more games this season and I’m sure McD will pull the plug, if needed.

The only thing I’m worried about with firing Watson is how the players will react to it and who would replace him. It might boot Booker outta here quick. Second coaching change in three years for him is not good. I just think we gotta give it at least 10-15 games this season to really judge if the team is improving.



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What a joke.

We have not been in the playoffs since McDonough has been our GM and every year seem to be getting further away from respectability. Why did we extend his contract this summer.

McDonough is the one that hired the last series of horrible coaches as well as draft picks that cannot play basketball.

I would fire both of them today.

This is the real tricky thing. Sure Watson might need the ax soon but are they really going to let McD hire a 3rd head coach? That seems crazy.

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[denial]

Do you expect the Suns to be winning games? Last year we were in a lot of games when we shouldn’t have been.

I agree with your post as a whole. But on this point, I just want to reiterate something I said last season.
You take this same exact squad, without making any changes, and send them to San Antonio, replacing their entire team. Give them a full pre-season with popavich. And tell me the results are not DRASTICALLY different.

when I said this last year, it was pointed out that I was stupid for thinking we could get pop. Obviously we cannot just go out and get a coach of that caliber in one day. But it does not change my argument. Which is that our team is actually much more talented than we act. And with better coaching, the would play better basketball. Much better, imo.
Everyone acts like we are just young and bad and supposed to be bad. I don't buy it. When a team is together for several years with several early draft picks, if they are not winning it is either bad coaching or bad drafts/trades. And I like our player personnel. I think they are crazy talented.

[WeekapaugGroove]

I don't expect this team to win. Young teams just dont in the NBA. But I do expect to see improvement. If your young guys aren't getting better this whole thing is just a waste of time.

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[bwgood77]

Do you expect the Suns to be winning games? Last year we were in a lot of games when we shouldn’t have been. Everyone is reacting to the loss from last night. Give it a couple more games this season and I’m sure McD will pull the plug, if needed.

The only thing I’m worried about with firing Watson is how the players will react to it and who would replace him. It might boot Booker outta here quick. Second coaching change in three years for him is not good. I just think we gotta give it at least 10-15 games this season to really judge if the team is improving.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

What a joke.

We have not been in the playoffs since McDonough has been our GM and every year seem to be getting further away from respectability. Why did we extend his contract this summer.

McDonough is the one that hired the last series of horrible coaches as well as draft picks that cannot play basketball.

I would fire both of them today.

This is the real tricky thing. Sure Watson might need the ax soon but are they really going to let McD hire a 3rd head coach? That seems crazy.

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Well how long did they extend McD for? Because Watson only has one more year after this one.

[denial]

I don't expect this team to win. Young teams just dont in the NBA.

Portland is basically the same age as us. A tad older, but not 50 points worth.

https://www.hoopsrumors.com/2017/10/nbas-youngest-oldest-opening-night-rosters.html

However, the list clearly makes your point overall. Young teams generally lose a lot. Just not sure if the way we lost, at home, on opening night, can be placed on the players shoulders.

The lakers are also basically the same age as us. Tomorrow will tell us a lot.

[kennydorglas]

Reached Hornacek's level for me.
It'll be a good day when he's gone.

If we're supposed to be a freestyle team, anyone on this forum can coach them.

[carey]

Reached Hornacek's level for me.
It'll be a good day when he's gone.

If we're supposed to be a freestyle team, anyone on this forum can coach them.

Not me. Maybe that guy from BSotS that runs @SunsFilm could.

[LukasBMW]

Let us remember that all the Suns players were on the same page about keeping Watson when Hornacek was shown the door.

The players seem to like him. And I do think he has the right personality for our young guys. BUT, we AT LEAST need to add an offensive coordinator, because Watson's plays suck and our offense is awful.

No one moves without the ball! That's just bad coaching.

[carey]

Of course the players love him. He's a player's coach. Doesn't work them too hard. They do a lot of non-basketball activities. That said, they are going to get tired of losing and demand more VERY soon.

[Kerrsed]

Watson did what he was supposed to do in McD's eyes, not coach and get us high draft picks, so he has been successful in that fact.

We were in a very bad place when McD was brought in. We were at the end of the Gentry era, constantly winning enough games to just miss out on the playoffs, yet not enough for a good draft pick. McD came in and we had a rather....what is the word.....**** team in place. Seriously, look at our roster at the time of McD's hiring:



McD was brought in for a rebuild. A REAL REBUILD! Not a re-tooling like Kerr or Babby was attempting to do. Im still amazed that when you look at the roster we had at the time of McD's hiring, how he turned that whole situation around. No longer in the dead zone of the NBA, he knew that we needed to be bad before we could be good again. He made some great trades to help establish our future, while also loosing enough games to get actually decent draft picks that have been used to draft actually decent players.

But now we are at the crossroads of needing to really develop these youngsters brimming with talent, but also continuing to lose for this one final season to get us that last franchise player while the NBA still allows it. They changed the draft/tanking situation for a reason. That reason was because it was effective, and even though they tried to say that teams dont tank, they deep down knew that they do, hence why they made the rule change. If it didnt work or teams didnt do it, they wouldnt have changed anything.

I think we keep our eyes open and on who we want to lead our youngsters, but wait out 3-5 months for us to pile on the losses, that way when the new coach does come in and our players start playing for real and running real plays, no matter how many games we win it wont ruin the tank job that Watson's course set us on. New coach would have roughly a 20 or so games to start instilling a real system and start developing our guys, while the 60 games that Watson coached would still ensure we get that final piece in the draft that we need.

I really think this is whats happening, and would be the smartest play for the future of our franchise.

Keep losing games, trade whoever we can (Besides Jackson/Booker/Warren). See what those assets can get us in return to start actually winning games. Go into the draft with a high pick for one of the top 3 players. Use the offseason to instill the new coaches system and development of players (Like actual basketball and not yoga/team hikes/spin class/beach frollicking).

I see a lot of people trying to bring McD down right now, but he has done what has been needed to be done, made smart moves, made great draft choices, and im still 100% behind him.

[Frank Lee]

I see a lot of people trying to bring McD down right now, but he has done what has been needed to be done, made smart moves, made great draft choices, and im still 100% behind him.

smart moves .... great draft choices ?

Don't get me McStarted

[bwgood77]

I'm not against McD, but he's made as many questionable or simply bad moves as he has good ones. Two of his draft picks were no brainer consensus picks (Booker, Jackson).

Him hiring bad coaches in order to lose games shouldn't be applauded. Obviously if that was really what he was trying to do though, it didn't work so well in the first year.

But his mistakes far outweigh his successes. Just trading the Lakers pick alone for Knight and giving Knight a $70 million contract alone was a disaster. That whole situation never comes to fruition probably if we didn't sign IT. IT was a nice value signing but the situation wasn't managed well and/or not thought out well ahead of time.

Sure we ended up with some picks from Dragic but who knows how good those will be? One is still a long ways off and the other Miami pick will likely be late teens. Though, he did do well in what he got for Dragic considering he was going to leave in a few months. But I'd rather have that Lakers pick back and out of the Knight contract even if it meant Dragic just walked. We could have kept IT too instead of what we got.

Taking Ennis over Harris/Hood was another crazy thing. And it looked like he was trying to pry an asset out of Toronto for their pick and Ennis, and they called his bluff. If that wasn't what he was doing, then it's worse, because that was just a terrible pick.

I will say I like what he has done ever since last summer. I would have been completely happy drafting Bender and keeping 13 (and taking Juancho Hernangomez or Caris LeVert) and keeping Bogdan and also the 27th pick where we could have taken Skal, Dejounte Murray, or others. There were some good players. We consolidated assets to move up, but we could have used the young depth. I really liked Chriss going into the draft though, so hopefully he pans out.

I do like that we haven't wasted money or chased vet free agents like when we did in previous summers though. We already sunk too much money into Chandler, Knight and Dudley. We obviously were not going anywhere soon anyway.

I do think we need to have a real plan at PG. I do like the idea of Doncic and positionless basketball with Jackson, Booker, Doncic and Bender passing enough that maybe we don't need another pure PG. Of course I like the idea of a solid big, but those seem so less valuable today unless they are premier defenders and shot blockers like Gobert, or even Draymond Green...he doesn't have typical center size but he has the wingspan and is a perfect small ball center.

We've seen how some of the high rated centers like Okafor, etc, have just not been worth much. Even the teams with the great bigs going high in fantasy drafts and those bigs putting up great numbers....it's not leading to any or many wins for those teams...

Edit:

I see a lot of people trying to bring McD down right now, but he has done what has been needed to be done, made smart moves, made great draft choices, and im still 100% behind him.

smart moves .... great draft choices ?

Don't get me McStarted

I got McStarted before seeing your post, though I know we don't completely agree on McD or what the team should do but yes, he has made tons of questionable moves.

Smart moves and great draft choices...that would be a guy like Tim Connelly....or most of Sam Presti's work...or countless others.