Who Do You Want as the Next Head Coach?

[SwingMan]

I missed Swing and Carey's banter.

Thank you for being polite.

[specialsauce]

Thunder Dan!! Can't believe he's not an option. Is it because the Suns burned their bridges with him when they went with Hunter?

[SwingMan]

Thunder Dan!! Can't believe he's not an option. Is it because the Suns burned their bridges with him when they went with Hunter?

The way he ended up being treated, Dan likely wants nothing to do with this organization - at least, this regime.....

[AmareIsGod]

Thunder Dan!! Can't believe he's not an option. Is it because the Suns burned their bridges with him when they went with Hunter?

The way he ended up being treated, Dan likely wants nothing to do with this organization - at least, this regime.....

And this goes back to the question I presented earlier:

Who wants to be the head coach of this team? Management is a laughingstock. Our roster is stockpiled with garbage outside of 2-3 players and is toxic from the Morris Twins disaster (and the mismanagement by the Suns brass). Majerle, Hammon, Thabs, etc. Even if we canned Hornacek, who's licking their chops at the opportunity to coach this team?

[pickle]

So... we all agree that the Morris situation has been and continues to be toxic, and first order of business is to move him out.

Say that happens (among all available rumors I guess I'll go with the Terrence Jones/Corey Brewer one), are there any other players that we think are cancerous? Or is the rest of the roster okay to be fixed by the (new) coaching staff?

I have always liked Hornacek as a player and as a person, and have been reasonably patient with him during his coaching tenure, but for things that aren't entirely on him, he's no longer the right option for this team and we are ready to move on. To me, his major failures are an inability to reach the players, be it the development of a specific skill set, the execution of an on court strategy, or just overall effort on the court. Assuming that all the players listened to what Hornacek asks of them, he's proven that he has good basketball mind and can lead the team to success. Having said that, are we so sure that a young coach without prior NBA head coaching experience is able to avoid the problems that dragged Hornacek down?

I have my reasons for not wanting Thibs on this team, but I do think that coaches with proven track records like him are more able to command respect than someone like Hammond. I don't know how Hammond is as an Xs and Os coach, but I would say the Suns organization needs to go under the radar for a while rather than be the focal point of the media for having the first ever female head coach, and then for the rest of the league to microscopically study every single move and analyze every single mistake. Methinks some of the players on this team don't have the thick skin for that sort of thing. We'd essentially be setting ourselves up to be a small market team with big market scrutiny.

Of all the available coaches out there, I might prefer SVG, if he were willing to move back to the bench.

[pickle]

Thunder Dan!! Can't believe he's not an option. Is it because the Suns burned their bridges with him when they went with Hunter?

The way he ended up being treated, Dan likely wants nothing to do with this organization - at least, this regime.....

What happened with the Hunter/Dan situation? Terry Porter was fired and then...?

Why does Majerle think that he's justified to hold a head coaching position? Was he on the bench then and wanted to be the interim?

[carey]

Of all the available coaches out there, I might prefer SVG, if he were willing to move back to the bench.

I assume you mean Jeff? You could be right about the media, but I'd like to think it would die down quickly if that's the move we make.

[carey]

Why does Majerle think that he's justified to hold a head coaching position? Was he on the bench then and wanted to be the interim?

Sort of. He was an assistant, but he was passed over for Hunter as interim coach when Gentry was fired. Dan was insulted and furious at how it all went down so he quit. He became the basketball coach at Grand Canyon University the following season. You might not know this, but Jerry Colangelo is also a "special consultant" at GCU. Considering what we know about the Sarver-Colangelo-Majerle relationship I would not expect a Suns reunion anytime soon.

[SDC]

[pickle]

Of all the available coaches out there, I might prefer SVG, if he were willing to move back to the bench.

I assume you mean Jeff? You could be right about the media, but I'd like to think it would die down quickly if that's the move we make.

Sorry, yes, I meant Jeff Van Gundy.

I am concerned that another young coach will suffer the same fate. Any team needs a strong leadership personality somewhere, and we lack that on our roster. Chandler was supposed to fill that role but I think he's not quite it. So that kind of has to come from the coach, with the current personnel on the roster... And that's why I'm not huge on another inexperienced coach on the bench.

[pickle]

Why does Majerle think that he's justified to hold a head coaching position? Was he on the bench then and wanted to be the interim?

Sort of. He was an assistant, but he was passed over for Hunter as interim coach when Gentry was fired. Dan was insulted and furious at how it all went down so he quit. He became the basketball coach at Grand Canyon University the following season. You might not know this, but Jerry Colangelo is also a "special consultant" at GCU. Considering what we know about the Sarver-Colangelo-Majerle relationship I would not expect a Suns reunion anytime soon.

Was there a pecking order of assistant coaches? Did Hunter have more or less experience than Majerle on the bench? Why do we say that Majerle was "passed over"? Because he used to play here? Sorry I really haven't followed the team enough over the past few years, so I guess what I'm asking might be common knowledge...

[carey]

Was there a pecking order of assistant coaches? Did Hunter have more or less experience than Majerle on the bench? Why do we say that Majerle was "passed over"? Because he used to play here? Sorry I really haven't followed the team enough over the past few years, so I guess what I'm asking might be common knowledge...

Hunter wasn't even on the bench. There was a position created for him by Blanks which basically had him in charge of "player development." Majerle would have been fine with one of the other assistants getting the job supposedly, but they didn't. First Sean Rooks quit his role as developmental assistant, then Majerle quit, and a couple days after that lead assistant, Elston Turner, quit as well. So all in all the Suns lost 4 coaches in January of '13.

[pickle]

Jesus, and that didn't lead to the immediate dismissal of Blanks?

[Indy]

Jesus, and that didn't lead to the immediate dismissal of Blanks?

Babby is still here...

[Indy]

Of all the available coaches out there, I might prefer SVG, if he were willing to move back to the bench.

I assume you mean Jeff? You could be right about the media, but I'd like to think it would die down quickly if that's the move we make.

Sorry, yes, I meant Jeff Van Gundy.

I am concerned that another young coach will suffer the same fate. Any team needs a strong leadership personality somewhere, and we lack that on our roster. Chandler was supposed to fill that role but I think he's not quite it. So that kind of has to come from the coach, with the current personnel on the roster... And that's why I'm not huge on another inexperienced coach on the bench.

I am on the exact same page, Pickle.

[Nodack]

Chandler hasn't impressed me very much. For a Defensive player of the year he hasn't been that great and he only has one offensive move which is the lob that everybody in the NBA knows about that none of our guys are able to execute anyway.

[Mori Chu]

Chandler was great for his first 10 games or so. Then he hurt his hamstring and the team was starting to fall apart, and he hasn't looked the same since. Hard to tell how much of it is health, effort, or the whole team just being messed up.

[Superbone]

Chandler was great for his first 10 games or so. Then he hurt his hamstring and the team was starting to fall apart, and he hasn't looked the same since. Hard to tell how much of it is health, effort, or the whole team just being messed up.

Yup.

[pickle]

Chandler has never been that much of an individual talent. He's a guy who can put a decent group of players over the top, but absolutely not someone who could change the tempo of a team by his lonesome. Dallas has the spacing and player/ball movement to create space for him on offense, where his activity and length nets him offensive rebounds and scoring opportunities, and as Mori said, the pick and roll/lob game is a strong weapon of his.

In New York he wasn't able to hold the last line of defense with Amare and Melo pretending to care, and here his offense is completely neutralized with guards that regularly aim for his shins when threading the needle, and otherwise clogging the lane with aimless drives where he has much less space to juggle for the rebound. On defense, there's only so much he can do when the guards not only miss assignments but don't bother making an effort to recover.

Chandler's not not worth the 13 million. He can still thrive for a couple of years in the right situation. This just isn't the right situation. Imagine if he were on the Pelicans instead of Asik, switching with AD on defense and getting feeds from Jrue Holiday or Tyreke Evans on offense...

[BlaCkAdDa]

I missed Swing and Carey's banter.

More spirit than the Suns team right now.