Alvin Gentry new assistant Coach

[slinslin]

Alvin Gentry, who was the Hornets' top assistant on Tim Floyd's staff last season, said Saturday he has accepted an assistant coaching job with the Phoenix Suns.

Gentry was an early candidate for the Hornets' head coaching job, but was not interviewed. Former New Jersey Nets coach Byron Scott was hired Friday to replace Floyd.


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"I think a lot of positive things are going on right now with the Suns," Gentry said. "I've had a great time in New Orleans, it's a good city. But we didn't have a lot of leeway, because nobody is talking about the injuries we had last season.

"I thought under the given circumstances we had a good season. But it would be difficult for anybody when your second-best player (Jamal Mashburn) was out for the entire season. I hope Byron will do a good job, because he definitely deserves another chance."

Gentry said the Suns would formally announce his hiring Tuesday. Suns officials were unavailable for comment Saturday.

Before he was hired last summer by the Hornets, Gentry spent 2 ½ seasons as the Los Angeles Clippers head coach and finished with an 89-133 record. Gentry also was the head coach of the Detroit Pistons from 1997 to 2000.

After Floyd was fired May 7, Gentry said he asked the Hornets for permission to pursue other jobs.

Hornets assistants Jeff Bower, Kenny Gattison and Jan van Breda Kolff remain on the team's payroll. Last week they assisted with the team's pre-draft workouts at the Alario Center.

Scott said he will begin the process of hiring a staff soon, and the Hornets' current assistants will be considered. Gattison was the only assistant attending Friday's news conference at New Orleans Arena. Gattison and Scott were teammates with the Vancouver Grizzlies in the 1995-96 season.



Link on www.hoopshype.com/rumors.htm

 

[elindholm]

Whew, that's a relief. I was wondering who the coach will be after D'Antoni gets fired.

I think Gentry did a good job with the hand he was dealt in L.A. and I'm optimistic about what he'll do as head coach of the Suns, when that time comes.

 

[F-Dog]

Dunno. I don't like it that most of his quote was excuses for getting fired from his last job--reminds me of FJ.

Does Gentry have some sort of specialty? From the Hornets' performance in the playoffs, I'm guessing that it's not X's and O's...

 

[George O'Brien]

Dunno. I don't like it that most of his quote was excuses for getting fired from his last job--reminds me of FJ.

Does Gentry have some sort of specialty? From the Hornets' performance in the playoffs, I'm guessing that it's not X's and O's...

I HOPE he knows something about defense.

 

[hcsilla]

Whew, that's a relief. I was wondering who the coach will be after D'Antoni gets fired.

I think Gentry did a good job with the hand he was dealt in L.A. and I'm optimistic about what he'll do as head coach of the Suns, when that time comes.

LOL

 

[Chaplin]

This is a great hire for the Suns. Gentry was a pretty good coach who was limited by ownership in Clipperland. Unfortunately, he got all the blame, but he will be a great assistant for us.

 

[George O'Brien]

This is a great hire for the Suns. Gentry was a pretty good coach who was limited by ownership in Clipperland. Unfortunately, he got all the blame, but he will be a great assistant for us.

What was his previous background? Who did he work for prior to the Clips?

 

[Evil Ash]

What was his previous background? Who did he work for prior to the Clips?

http://www.nba.com/coachfile/alvin_gentry/?nav=page

Alvin Gentry
College - Appalachian State '77
In just his first season as the team's head coach, Alvin Gentry guided the Clippers, the NBA's second-youngest team, to a 16-win improvement over the 1999-2000 season. The Clippers' turnaround was the best in the NBA last season and the second-best in franchise history. In just their second season in STAPLES Center, Gentry led the Clippers to their first winning home mark (22-19) since the 1992-93 campaign. The Clippers' 31 wins in the 2000 season also represented their highest win total since the 1996-97 campaign. Gentry's accomplishments were recognized at the end of the season when he finished tied for fifth (George Karl, Milwaukee) in NBA Coach of the Year voting.

Actually, last season marked Gentry's second stint with the Clippers, but his first as a head coach after serving as a Clippers assistant coach under Mike Schuler during the 1990-91 season. Prior to becoming the Clippers' head coach on August 10, 2000, Gentry spent three seasons as the head coach of the Detroit Pistons, compiling a mark of 73-72 (.503) over that stretch. Replacing Doug Collins on February 2, 1998, Gentry guided the Pistons to a 16-21 (.432) record during the remainder of the season. His record improved to 29-21 (.580) during the lockout shortened 1998-99 campaign when he led Detroit to a third place finish in the Central Division, losing to Atlanta (2-3) in the first round of the playoffs. Gentry was replaced in Detroit midway through the 1999-2000 season after guiding the Pistons to a record of 28-30 (.483).

Gentry received his first head coaching opportunity with the Miami Heat, taking over as interim head coach on February 14, 1995, and finishing the season with a record of 15-21 (.417).

Prior to earning his first head coaching job, Gentry worked his way up from the bench, serving as an NBA assistant coach for ten seasons under Larry Brown, Kevin Loughery and Doug Collins, a trio who have combined to total 1,520 NBA victories.

Gentry's first NBA assistant coaching opportunity came with the San Antonio Spurs, where he spent the 1988-89 and 1989-90 seasons. Gentry then moved to the Clippers for the 1990-91 season before taking a job working on the bench for the Heat from 1991 through 1995. After leaving the Heat, Gentry moved to Detroit where he served as an assistant for almost three seasons before being promoted to head coach.

After an unsuccessful tryout with the Denver Nuggets in 1977, Gentry began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at the University of Colorado during the 1977-78 season. After spending one year away from coaching while working in private business, he returned to the bench when he received his first full-time collegiate assistant coaching job at Baylor in 1980. Gentry then returned to Colorado, where he first got his feet wet in the coaching profession, only this time as an assistant coach from 1981-1985.

He moved on to the University of Kansas as an assistant under then Head Coach Larry Brown from 1985-1988, and was instrumental in helping lead the Jayhawks to the 1988 NCAA Championship before leaving with Brown for the Spurs prior to the start of the 1988-89 season.

Before his coaching days, Gentry played collegiately at Appalachian State for Press Maravich and former Georgia Tech Head Coach Bobby Cremins. Gentry graduated from Appalachian State with a degree in Management in 1977.

The 46-year old Gentry and his wife Suzanne have two children, Ryan Marcus (4) and Matthew Jackson (1). Gentry also has one daughter, Alexis (17).

CAREER COACHING
REGULAR SEASON POST SEASON
YEAR TEAM WINS LOSSES PCT WINS LOSSES PCT
1994 Miami 15 21 .417 0 0 .000
1997 Detroit 16 21 .432 0 0 .000
1998 Detroit 29 21 .580 2 3 .400
1999 Detroit 28 30 .483 0 0 .000
2000 L.A. Clippers 31 51 .378 0 0 .000
2001 L.A. Clippers 39 43 .476 0 0 .000
2002 L.A. Clippers 19 39 .328 0 0 .000
TOTALS 177 226 .439 2 3 .400

 

[F-Dog]

Here's another article, from Gentry's salad days with the Clips:

Los Angeles Magazine


Here are the basics, as I see them:

--PG as a player, topped out at Appalachian State
--part of the Larry Brown coaching tree, despite starting out with other guys
--his first HC job was as 'interim' coach when Doug Collins was fired in Detroit; lasted two seasons before the players turned on him for being 'too soft'
--Andre Miller quit on him in LA, and rumor has it that the Charlotte players didn't give 100% for their coaching staff last year.

The 48-year-old Gentry seems comfortable in the background. The journeyman coach doesn't make outlandish predictions, nor does he play mind games with the media. He loves to preach from the Gospel of Coachspeak: "patience," "hard work," "doing the dirty work of defense and rebounding." In many ways he comes across as the anti-Phil Jackson, without a whiff of irony, patchouli, or triangle-offense musings.

Perhaps his own greatest strength is his patience. John Hammond, who was an assistant under Gentry in Detroit and L.A., says he "stays with young players and helps them develop when veteran coaches would have pulled them off the court."

Gentry has his critics. Many question his substitution patterns. Others say he doesn't have "the aura"--that he can't flash championship rings or talk about his own NBA career--to hold his young athletes' attention. For now the team backs him. "He works us and pushes us," says reserve guard Keyon Dooling, "and then gives us the freedom to be ourselves. I think he utilizes people's strengths. Shooters get open shots, the post players get touches on the block, and the guards get a chance to create."

Sounds to me like a poor man's Lenny Wilkens. I don't think that Iavaroni will be pushed out of the on-deck circle quite yet.

My guess is that Gentry will work mainly with the guards, since he's a former PG and that's what's missing from the coaching staff--Iavaroni is a former big man, and Grgrich is kind of a jack-of-all-trades. I can't guess how the pecking order will shake out, or what kind of input D'Antoni had in the hiring process...

 

[George O'Brien]

Some of the best assistant coaches are former head coaches that realize they are better as assistants. John Bach was Jackson's assistant coach during the Jordan era (I think he's back with them) was briefly a head coach with Golden State. He returned to being one of the top assistant coaches ever.

It sounds like he is good working with young players, which is probably why the Suns brought him in. The Suns are likely to continue being one of the youngest teams in the NBA for a while, so teaching continues to be a high priority.

 

[Errntknght]

Definitely an unusual hire for the Suns with all that experience coaching in the NBA. Unless he has decided he doesn't want to be a head coach again, then it's not so surprising.

I don't think he's a defensive guru since Detroit hired Carlisle, who is one, to replace him.

Is anyone else wondering what is up with Iavaroni - last year he was talked about as a candidate for a number of head coaching vacancies but I haven't seen his name mentioned yet this year. I suppose being an assistant to FJ and D'Antoni is not considered to be first rate training for a would be head coach... but he should figure that out and move on if he aspires to the job.

 

[George O'Brien]

Is anyone else wondering what is up with Iavaroni - last year he was talked about as a candidate for a number of head coaching vacancies but I haven't seen his name mentioned yet this year. I suppose being an assistant to FJ and D'Antoni is not considered to be first rate training for a would be head coach... but he should figure that out and move on if he aspires to the job.

Why leave when you can be head coach in a year or so.

Seriously, I don't know why Iavaroni isn't getting more play, but these things go in cycles. Right now it seems like taking other guys head coaches is really popular: O'Brien to the Sixers and Scott to the Hornets come immediately to mind.

 

[thegrahamcrackr]

Why leave when you can be head coach in a year or so.

Seriously, I don't know why Iavaroni isn't getting more play, but these things go in cycles. Right now it seems like taking other guys head coaches is really popular: O'Brien to the Sixers and Scott to the Hornets come immediately to mind.

That is definitely my idea of whats happening. The entire eatern conference was fired in the past year, so there are plenty of semi established coaches available.