Gentry Fired

[Stop Whining]

lol actually sounds like it is the other way around and Gentry not wanting to play the young guys.. Gentry was all about trying to win instead of developing young guys.

Cmon they talked about playing young guys, next game Gentry sits Marshall and Johnson again and plays the exact same rotation.

What sounds more likely for Saver? Selling seats or playing youth? Remember he's a banker.

 

[slinslin]

Gentry said he had to clear it with the Suns FO about his plan to play younger players. It sounds like the FO did not approve.

@WojYahooNBA: After firing of Alvin Gentry today, top candidates to become Suns interim coach: assistants Elston Turner and Lindsey Hunter, sources say.

@WojYahooNBA: Suns front office installed Hunter into organization and see him as future head coach there. Turner is a favorite of owner, Robert Sarver.

@sam_amick: Despite Suns owner Robert Sarver telling me last month that Alvin Gentry was safe for the season, he has indeed been fired. Story to come.

@WojYahooNBA: Part of Suns thinking w/ holding back Hunter as interim coach has been hope of giving him clean slate to take over in offseason, sources say

@paulcoro: A #Suns press release says the team & Gentry "mutually agreed to part ways." Team president Lon Babby will talk to the media at 3:30 p.m.

Oh please it was clearly Gentry not playing the young guys. If Gentry was the one wanting to play they young guys he could have done it ALL THE TIME BUT DID NOT. He got fired because he refused to play the young guys.

It was Lon Babby who first came out and said they should go young, Gentry refused.

 

[slinslin]

What sounds more likely for Saver? Selling seats or playing youth? Remember he's a banker.

Sarver sucks but the notion of him being "cheap" is lame, overblown and untrue. Suns have spend more money than most other NBA teams since Sarver owns the Suns.

Many of the worst Suns moves were made by others.

Colangelo traded Deng/Iggy to sign Q-Rich which snowballed into the Kurt Thomas situation ultimately.

D'Antoni was the one signing Banks and trading Rondo.

 

[TruCard]

Who was saying PHX ownership is a joke?

Oh yeah...

http://www.arizonasportsfans.com/vb...orts-please-keep-away-if-offended-190391.html

Couldn't have been me.

 

[Rab]

Like was said earlier, Gentry was set up to fail. The FO has done nothing to help him out since blowing up the 2010 WCF's team. I like Gentry, and I wish him well.

 

[wagon mound 464]

jmo

Please no Dan Majerle....

The Suns need a real headcoach in the offseason. Handing the job to Dan Majerle is the next disaster.

Why has Blanks not been fired yet? That guy is an obvious *******.

Agree,,,Majerle should just stay in his restaurant. I can't see where he has brought anything to the Suns, with his time on the bench.
Same thought on Blank Bullets,,,,,just a yes man to Babby, who can also hit the front door. When Kerr left, the future picture of this team was clear > Dead End.

I know you guys are going to dawg pile on me,,,,,but wait an see if Mike D'Antoni gets fired by the Lakers for 'not' making the playoffs,,,he might be in the hunt to get back to Phx? Sarver would love it,,,,he would only have to pay for seven large contract players, 'cause Mike doesn't play more than that number, the rest being minimum salary/minimum quality players. Seven seconds or less would be more entertaining than Goran or Tell-Star dribbling for 22 seconds before launching. Face it,,,,lots of empty seats at that arena, because 13 & 28 isn't worth the price of the tickets.

 

[slinslin]

Pringles who refuses to play and develop young guys as the head of a rebuilding team - brilliant..

 

[jagu]

If only some of these truly crappy Eastern Conference teams would shape up and play better. Suns need that #1 pick more than Iman Shumpert needs a haircut.

 

[Mainstreet]

Oh please it was clearly Gentry not playing the young guys. If Gentry was the one wanting to play they young guys he could have done it ALL THE TIME BUT DID NOT. He got fired because he refused to play the young guys.

It was Lon Babby who first came out and said they should go young, Gentry refused.

You might want to read by thread posted on 1-16-13 again.

Gentry now wants to look to future by playing younger players


It seems the Suns will change directions and start looking at the younger players for development if Gentry has his way. This is refreshing in my opinion as the Suns can now concentrate on who belongs on the roster next season and give them playing time accordingly. See link to article by Bob Young at azcentral dated 1-15-13.

Quote:
“You know, somewhere along the line we’re going to have to start looking at some of the young guys, be able to play Wesley Johnson more minutes, and get more minutes for Markieff (Morris) on the foor and obviously get (rookie) Kendall (Marshall) out there.”
Quote:
“I think you’ve got to do it (by) saying that obviously this season isn’t going the way we anticipated, and now we’re in a situation where we’ve got to start looking to the future,” Gentry said.

“And if we’re looking to the future, we’ve got to play young guys and get them in a situation where we figure out exactly what we have for the future, and see if they can show improvement for the next 30 games or whatever it ends up being that we decide to do this.

http://www.azcentral.com/sports/suns...ng-future.html

 

[slinslin]

Gambo says what makes sense..

Suns FO brought in Beasley to play him minutes and develop him even if it is painful. Same for Marshall.

Gentry is all about winning and competing and having players earn playing time. Clearly Gentry refused to tank but the Suns FO might be realistic enough right now that tanking is the only option.

Gentry's contract expires, he has no interest in developing players right now instead of winning.

They parted ways, this makes sense if the Suns want to tank.

 

[slinslin]

You might want to read by thread posted on 1-16-13 again.

The point is Gentry only said that AFTER Babby was on the radio saying they should play the young guys.

Babby was the one initiating the conference call with Gentry about playing young guys.

 

[jagu]

Gentry never played the young guys. I want to see the Suns just run their young players now and bench Scola and the others. Give Morris the starting job. What can you possibly lose? Games? That's already taking place!

 

[Chaplin]

Bottom line is nobody knows for sure what the criteria was for the "firing", if it really was a firing in the first place.

Play young, don't play young, who the hell cares? It's not like we have anything with our young players. Again, Gentry is a good player's coach, but this team has zero chemistry--doesn't that reflect a little on the so-called "player's coach"? There are problems throughout this entire team. The only non-problem I see might be Jared Dudley. And to a lesser extent Luis Scola. EVERYTHING else, from management to ownership to coaching to starters to bench players, has some need for major improvement or changes.

Gentry fired? Who cares?

 

[slinslin]

Telfair needs to be traded for a pick so they can play Marshall and still cash in on Telfair's improvement since Telfair is FA anyway and won't be back.

 

[Griffin]

I agree the Suns should be developing the young guys. It's just unfortunate that the team doesn't have any young guys worth developing. I doubt anyone on the current roster will still be here two, three years from now when their current contracts expire.

 

[Chaplin]

I don't even see what incentive Gentry has to stay, honestly. The guy's contract is up in the summer, with all indications saying he won't get resigned, so what does "playing the young guys" do to help his situation in finding a new job? Nothing at all. So, he coaches to win simply because in the NBA, winning is everything.

 

[jagu]

I want Robert Sarvar to be the next head coach for the Suns.

 

[elindholm]

I don't even see what incentive Gentry has to stay, honestly. The guy's contract is up in the summer, with all indications saying he won't get resigned, so what does "playing the young guys" do to help his situation in finding a new job? Nothing at all.

Right, exactly. It was inane for the front office to tell Gentry, "Lose games by playing these young guys so that the Phoenix Suns may have a brighter future, which you won't be here for, since we've already decided to have a new coach next season." No matter how much of a dutiful soldier Gentry is, that directive made no sense.

 

[Covert Rain]

I don't see how this is really a big deal. Gentry was no title caliber coach. I remember all the talk about hiring him was that he could work with a veteran team without rocking the boat. That time has passed. I liked Gentry and even though I was not calling for his head, I am not broken up about it either.

Was this because the Suns FO want to secure a higher draft position and Gentry would not play game? Possibly. However, if that was the case for once I am siding with ownership. We know tier one free agents are not clamoring to play here. Our trade acquisitions have not turned out much better. What is left?

This team needs to bring in people who are good at developing young talent and who have an eye for drafting talent. Until this team starts drafting and developing better, it doesn't matter who the coach is.

Now having confidence this FO can do that is another topic all together.

 

[Phrazbit]

The Suns should have either extended Gentry or let him go ages ago. By leaving him on a lame duck contract and with a roster thats utterly hopeless he was in a position with zero chance of success, especially with the idiotic hype the management attached to this crap roster. He was setup to take the fall... and now he has.

I sure as hell would not want to take over as the "interim" coach though, talk about an axe job. I wouldnt accept it unless they gave me a 3 year deal. This team has probably about 7 wins left this year, less if they players totally give up (and this Gentry firing will probably encourage that). Its going to be really tough for the "interim" guy to win the job after going 7-34 the rest of the way.

 

[Phrazbit]

And let me add that its absolutely ridiculous that Blanks didnt get the axe today too.

 

[Chaplin]

I'd like to know what Blanks actually does. We never see him and it's always Babby (who I do like) that does all the press conferences and interviews. If Blanks is making the basketball decisions, he deserves 90% of the blame here, but the guy either hides in fear from the media or is told by his bosses to not bother opening his mouth for fear of him making a fool of himself and/or the organization.

What a waste of money.

 

[Covert Rain]

Sarver would make my day if he would just clean out the FO. Get rid of Babby. Get rid of Blanks. Start fresh.

Hire a strong GM and let him find the next coach.

 

[Phrazbit]

I'd like to know what Blanks actually does. We never see him and it's always Babby (who I do like) that does all the press conferences and interviews. If Blanks is making the basketball decisions, he deserves 90% of the blame here, but the guy either hides in fear from the media or is told by his bosses to not bother opening his mouth for fear of him making a fool of himself and/or the organization.

What a waste of money.

He scourers the league for hugely deficient players that are bringing their teams down, then offers them 3 year contracts.

 

[BC867]

No matter what opinion you have about Gentry, good or bad, he is a good guy.

As I've watched his pained expression on the sidelines, it looked like being relieved of the Suns dysfunctional situation would be a relief.

For that, I am happy for him. And especially for last season when he had them playing better than expected.

As far as Majerle as Head Coach, why not name him team doctor as well? He is just as qualified.