Earl Watson Press Conference

[sunsfan88]

If the Suns can't get at the very worst at least a top 3 pick this season after all the pathetic and embarrassing events of the season then this franchise is doomed. It's top 3 pick or bust.

 

[Catlover]

If the Suns can't get at the very worst at least a top 3 pick this season after all the pathetic and embarrassing events of the season then this franchise is doomed. It's top 3 pick or bust.

Suck lemons much? They aren't in control of the universe. They could finish with the worst record in the league and still not get a top 3 pick. Luck happens, good and bad. They won't be "doomed" whichever way it goes. So what's next, are you going to predict zombies will soon be at the door?

 

[sunsfan88]

Maybe I've misremembered the process? Aren't the first 3 spots open for lottery winners or is the 3rd spot reserved for worst record?

Actually, yea you are right. It's at least a guaranteed top 6 pick.

That said, I stand by my comments that the Suns need a top 3 pick, most likely a top 1 pick. The best way for the Suns to become a contender in at least the next 3 years is by landing Simmons.

And I'm not blaming the Suns for bad luck. I'm just saying it would absolutely be awful. I would only blame the Suns for it if they win meaningless games and don't give themselves good odds at it.

 

[Catlover]

Actually, yea you are right. It's at least a guaranteed top 6 pick.

That said, I stand by my comments that the Suns need a top 3 pick, most likely a top 1 pick. The best way for the Suns to become a contender in at least the next 3 years is by landing Simmons.

And I'm not blaming the Suns for bad luck. I'm just saying it would absolutely be awful. I would only blame the Suns for it if they win meaningless games and don't give themselves good odds at it.

I agree. This season will be even more disheartening if we don't get the first or second pick. But it looks like it's more than a 2 person draft so we'll just have to find a way to make lemonade out of whatever we're handed. We have a lot of young talent, at some point it's counter-productive to add more youth. But it would be nice if we had at least one more young player that appears to have stardom in their future.

 

[BC867]

Don't you just know the team is going to play far over their heads the rest of the way to make sure that we maintain our 48 year string of not getting the number 1 pick... Number 14 is out of reach so I'm thinking like 9-11...

Realistically, the only thing Watson can hope to improve is players' attitude. The Suns came out on fire tonight, which is not unusual after a coaching change.

With this roster, we are still going to lose a lot of games over the rest of the season. Even if Bledsoe and Knight were in the lineup tonight.

 

[Chaplin]

Hmm, Earl Watson compared Archie Goodwin to Gary Payton. Now, I'm not so sure that he isn't a psychopath.

 

[JCSunsfan]

Horny was old school coaching, like Jerry Sloan. Quiet, a little grumpy, quick with corrections, especially for the young guys. (the opposite of how BC sees him)

EW is new school. Nurturing, loving, complimenting, slap on the butt, you are wonderful, everyone gets a trophy type of thing.

Its what the young guys want, but

GAG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


I am officially old.

 

[StreetTruckinTitan]

Horny was old school coaching, like Jerry Sloan. Quiet, a little grumpy, quick with corrections, especially for the young guys. (the opposite of how BC sees him)

EW is new school. Nurturing, loving, complimenting, slap on the butt, you are wonderful, everyone gets a trophy type of thing.

Its what the young guys want, but

GAG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


I am officially old.

Makes me sick. Doug & Wolf are just oozing over the guy I finally had enough and turned the channel. Coach Earl "Kumbaya" has the vocal ability of laying it on thick. Says all the things all new interim coaches say to overcompensate his lack of HC experience or ability. He's a name dropper at best.

 

[slinslin]

Maybe Hornacek was just that disconnected from his players.

I mean it is not just Kieff's performance. We overall played a solid game, shared the ball and Archie had 12 assists.

The way JC described Hornacek is 100% right. Grumpy, quiet, skeptical...

Look what 1 day with Watson, clear roles and encouragement seems to have done for these players.

 

[JCSunsfan]

Maybe Hornacek was just that disconnected from his players.

I mean it is not just Kieff's performance. We overall played a solid game, shared the ball and Archie had 12 assists.

The way JC described Hornacek is 100% right. Grumpy, quiet, skeptical...

Look what 1 day with Watson, clear roles and encouragement seems to have done for these players.

Probably disconnected. Watson's approach might work in the short term, maybe even longer. But I don't have to like it. Its probably why Sloan retired. He could deal with Stockton, Malone, Hornacek, but when younger players like Deron Williams came along, it was over and he knew it.

Again, its probably an age thing. Funny how people think of Horny as a young, inexperienced coach. He was 52 years old. 20 years older than McD.

 

[StreetTruckinTitan]

Maybe Hornacek was just that disconnected from his players.

I mean it is not just Kieff's performance. We overall played a solid game, shared the ball and Archie had 12 assists.

The way JC described Hornacek is 100% right. Grumpy, quiet, skeptical...

Look what 1 day with Watson, clear roles and encouragement seems to have done for these players.

The team played one game with renewed effort. Dont read anymore into it than it was. Same thing happened when Lindsey Hunter took over as interim coach for Gentry. In fact, the Suns beat the Kings in Hunters debut. EW is just a seat warmer until Mike comes in. Thats all.

 

[Catlover]

The team played one game with renewed effort. Dont read anymore into it than it was. Same thing happened when Lindsey Hunter took over as interim coach for Gentry. In fact, the Suns beat the Kings in Hunters debut. EW is just a seat warmer until Mike comes in. Thats all.

I don't know about "Mike" (one way or the other) but I agree with everything else. I don't think Earl is here for the long haul and I'm pretty sure he knows it too. I can't imagine he'd have immediately switched to Rich Paul as his agent if he thought he was in the driver's seat for the permanent job. Ryan even said something to the effect that at this point they didn't even know if he was a serious candidate or just another person to look at.

 

[Mainstreet]

The interesting thing in talking about the millennial communication problem, Devin Booker is old school all the way. It is so refreshing to see his maturity at such a young age.

 

[JCSunsfan]

The interesting thing in talking about the millennial communication problem, Devin Booker is old school all the way. It is so refreshing to see his maturity at such a young age.

His primary basketball influence was his father, not an AAU coach. You can't dump your dad and choose someone else.

BTW. It may be a trend. Steph and Dell Curry, Klay and Mychal Thompson, Kobe and Jelly Bean, even the Waltons.

The dad doesn't have to be GOAT, just there, as a dad. Ben Simmons has that kind of influence too.

 

[BC867]

Horny was old school coaching, like Jerry Sloan. Quiet, a little grumpy, quick with corrections, especially for the young guys. (the opposite of how BC sees him).

Within "old school", there are diverse personalities. Someone posted that one of Jeff's traits was sarcasm. I heard a great definition about that. "Sarcasm is a coward's way of insulting." That does not win respect.

Horny clearly did not take charge after the towel throwing incident. The perception was clearly that Markieff won. Even when Horny haphazardly benched him, then played him, then benched him, etc. And spited himself.

And McDonough did not help by keeping his distance. They should have had it out with Morris behind closed doors and either reconcile or banish. Not the wishy-washy situation that has existed.

Markieff is one of the most skilled basketball players on our unskilled team. Hornacek only doomed himself by not taking charge.

Which is a lot more specific than labeling him "old school" or otherwise. Jeff simply showed weak leadership skills when elevated to the top spot. It happens.

And we all know that Sarver will not spend the money for proven coaching talent.

 

[JCSunsfan]

Within "old school", there are diverse personalities. Someone posted that one of Jeff's traits was sarcasm. I heard a great definition about that. "Sarcasm is a coward's way of insulting." That does not win respect.

Horny clearly did not take charge after the towel throwing incident. The perception was clearly that Markieff won. Even when Horny haphazardly benched him, then played him, then benched him, etc. And spited himself.

And McDonough did not help by keeping his distance. They should have had it out with Morris behind closed doors and either reconcile or banish. Not the wishy-washy situation that has existed.

Markieff is one of the most skilled basketball players on our unskilled team. Hornacek only doomed himself by not taking charge.

Which is a lot more specific than labeling him "old school" or otherwise. Jeff simply showed weak leadership skills when elevated to the top spot. It happens.

And we all know that Sarver will not spend the money for proven coaching talent.

OK. I agree with you on what sarcasm is. I have never seen anything that says Horny used it often or at all as a coaching tool or in relationships with players.

I do not see Horny as "not taking charge" after the benching incident. Benching is the way he took charge. Old time players would get that. Seems Kieff didn't care.

None of us know what did or did not take place behind closed doors. Markieff was suspended and issued an apology. Obviously something took place behind closed doors. I have seen no one anywhere say anything about Markieff "winning" that incident. Some may say it now, because Horny was fired and EW is "nurturing and loving" him. Yikes, that sounds bad.

Please identify "proven coaching talent" for us. Give a name. I guarantee, either that coach is millennial touchy feely or has been fired for nearly the same reasons Horny has.

I think your opinion of Horny is absolutely backwards. He was fired for not being soft enough, not coddling his players enough, not slapping them on the butt enough, and not "nurturing" them enough (which sounds strangly like nursing a baby).

 

[sunsfan88]

Hmm, Earl Watson compared Archie Goodwin to Gary Payton. Now, I'm not so sure that he isn't a psychopath.

https://twitter.com/DunlapSports/status/694742728039493633

I just hope he doesn't compare Knight or anyone else on the Suns for that matter to Steve Nash.

 

[BC867]

I think your opinion of Horny is absolutely backwards. He was fired for not being soft enough, not coddling his players enough, not slapping them on the butt enough, and not "nurturing" them enough (which sounds strangly like nursing a baby).

I know the importance of positive motivation.

But when it gets to the point of not assigning roles (changing starting lineups regularly) for fear of hurting players' feelings (except for injuries, which were not prevalent early in the season), that's weak. Jeff should have made decisions coming out of training camp, but it seems he did not.

 

[leclerc]

Good luck to Coach Watson. His success must not result in wins. We need a top 2 pick this year. Hope he improves the culture of this team so they work harder and play together. As long as they don't win!

 

[JCSunsfan]

I know the importance of positive motivation.

But when it gets to the point of not assigning roles (changing starting lineups regularly) for fear of hurting players' feelings (except for injuries, which were not prevalent early in the season), that's weak. Jeff should have made decisions coming out of training camp, but it seems he did not.

Man. That's the thing I hate about your opinions. You assume things you cannot possibly know. In this case assuming that Jeff was afraid of hurting people's feelings. Not only can you not know it, Jeff had been pretty candid in public about players. He was quite frank about Kieff's lack of production and why he benched TJ.

You get an idea in your head and it just stays there whether true or not.

I do think it is quite possible that Jeff had just checked out early because he knew his contract was not going to be renewed. In that case it's easy to see mgmt deciding the team would be better served by a coach who is auditioning for a job rather than one certain to be fired.

It's speculation but I think it squares with what we were seeing.

 

[devilalum]

This team needed some positive energy. You can't just continue to beat these guys down even when they are in the middle of a colossal losing streak.

 

[Catlover]

I know the importance of positive motivation.

But when it gets to the point of not assigning roles (changing starting lineups regularly) for fear of hurting players' feelings (except for injuries, which were not prevalent early in the season), that's weak. Jeff should have made decisions coming out of training camp, but it seems he did not.

Maybe you're thinking of a different coach or a different team or a different season, maybe a different sport? We started the same 5 players through the first 8 games until Markieff sprained his knee against the Clippers. Keef sat out 2 games because of the injury and then returned to the starting lineup. Our next lineup change was in game 14 against the Spurs when Eric sat out having banged his knee the night before. And so on. Jeff did eventually sit Markieff for reasons other than injury and when the losses piled up he gave Tucker a break too but injuries were behind our first several lineup changes.

 

[BC867]

Maybe you're thinking of a different coach or a different team or a different season, maybe a different sport? We started the same 5 players through the first 8 games until Markieff sprained his knee against the Clippers. Keef sat out 2 games because of the injury and then returned to the starting lineup. Our next lineup change was in game 14 against the Spurs when Eric sat out having banged his knee the night before. And so on. Jeff did eventually sit Markieff for reasons other than injury and when the losses piled up he gave Tucker a break too but injuries were behind our first several lineup changes.

C'mon, now. People have been posting all season long about how Jeff puts a new combination together, it looks good, then he abandons it after a game or two. Or, until the current injuries, a player will have a good performance and be out of the rotation the next game.

OK, I'll give you this. At the least, Jeff's strategy is to play match-up. You're not going to become a strong team by trying to keep up. The two teams for whom Jeff primarily played have never won a championship. That's his basketball DNA.

 

[Catlover]

C'mon, now. People have been posting all season long about how Jeff puts a new combination together, it looks good, then he abandons it after a game or two. Or, until the current injuries, a player will have a good performance and be out of the rotation the next game.

No, they haven't and even if they had been they would have been wrong, at least as far as starting goes. That didn't happen until after the season had already fallen apart. He had defined roles for players and players didn't perform to expectations, mainly Chandler and our starting forwards. I didn't make up the information I presented, if you doubt it at all it's very easy to check it yourself. People complained about a lot of things, some real and some imagined, but frivolous changes to the starting lineup from the start of the season on simply wasn't one of them.

 

[CardsSunsDbacks]

I wish people would understand that all Watson said in comparing Goodwin and Payton is that they have a similar physique. They both have kind of a wiry build, but are much stronger than they look. That is all he compared about the 2...