Gentry Fired

[HooverDam]

For those saying its not a big deal that Gentry is gone, I disagree. I think its a big deal because it makes the Suns look like a classless organization. It reflects poorly on Sarver and the front office, which already has a bad reputation around the league.

Like others have said, if the FO told Gentry "play the young guys and lose!" while not also giving him a contract extension to give him security, of course he wasn't going to do that. He needed to get the team to keep games as close as he could, so he'd look good for a future job. We all would've done the same thing.

Gentry would've been a fine Coach for the rebuilding phase, he's coached young teams before. Gentry is a nice guy and a class act, I'm disappointed to see him go.

Also, haven't we heard numerous rumors than Gentry and Blanks butt heads a bit? It does seem fairly apparent that Lance Blanks' Basketball IQ can only be described as 'low', so I imagine Gentry was probably pretty fed up w/ Blanks and Sarver dicking him around contract wise.

I hope we play the young guys just to get more ping pong balls. None of the Suns young guys are anything more than role players though, so its not like we're 'developing young talent' here. Markieff Morris might have a ceiling as a 6th or 7th man, hooray! Kendall Marshall is likely out of the league in 3 years, Wes Johnson and Beasley- bleck.

 

[Chaplin]

We were going to lose with or without Gentry. Keeping him around for another 3 months wouldn't have made a difference.

 

[Covert Rain]

For those saying its not a big deal that Gentry is gone, I disagree. I think its a big deal because it makes the Suns look like a classless organization. It reflects poorly on Sarver and the front office, which already has a bad reputation around the league.

I don't think Sarver could look any worse already. Between comments made by other players, tier 1 free agents scoffing at the Suns, teams using the Suns in trades and FA talk, and Sarver announcing to the world he is taking a business approach versus basketball approach when hiring an agent for your FO......this is a blip.

Hence, why I think he needs to fire everyone, bring in a well respected basketball guy and start fixing the Suns image. If Sarver recognized what a cluster he has made of the organization and said basically...let's fix it...I would respect the hell out of that.

I hope we play the young guys just to get more ping pong balls. None of the Suns young guys are anything more than role players though, so its not like we're 'developing young talent' here. Markieff Morris might have a ceiling as a 6th or 7th man, hooray! Kendall Marshall is likely out of the league in 3 years, Wes Johnson and Beasley- bleck.

 

[Neo]

A completely pointless gesture. We are not going to win any more games with another coach. The last time I checked we didn't have any players in the top 70 for PER. I don't care if you have Red Auerbach, Phil Jackson, George Patton, Jesus, or Shiva on the bench coaching, this team is not built to win and we don't have anyone that is going to develop into a franchise player.

A change of coaches is not going to put any more fans into seats. It is not going to win any more games. The only way this helps the team is if they put a complete moron on the bench and it makes us lose more to get better lottery positioning. Blanks anyone?

 

[desertdawg]

I called this before the season started, I'm glad we finally did it.

 

[Chaplin]

A completely pointless gesture. We are not going to win any more games with another coach. The last time I checked we didn't have any players in the top 70 for PER. I don't care if you have Red Auerbach, Phil Jackson, George Patton, Jesus, or Shiva on the bench coaching, this team is not built to win and we don't have anyone that is going to develop into a franchise player.

A change of coaches is not going to put any more fans into seats. It is not going to win any more games. The only way this helps the team is if they put a complete moron on the bench and it makes us lose more to get better lottery positioning. Blanks anyone?

And that is why I have serious doubts that the front office fired Gentry. If you were Gentry, what possible incentive do you have to stay? Name one viable reason.

 

[sunsfan88]

Please let Elston Turner take over...

 

[Covert Rain]

And that is why I have serious doubts that the front office fired Gentry. If you were Gentry, what possible incentive do you have to stay? Name one viable reason.

At the end of last season and during the off season, I could swear I read that Gentry was seeking a contract extension. So, Gentry until recently must have had some incentive to stay. I seriously doubt recent events changed that incentive.

That tells me it probably was a power struggle issue and them wanting Gentry to do something. It's probably one of those things where it was like, well you have to do what we want or we have to let you go. Gentry probably said let me go then. It's still getting fired. You know how these face saving things work. Whenever you hear "mutual" it is code speak for we won't make a big deal we really fired you.

 

[Neo]

And that is why I have serious doubts that the front office fired Gentry. If you were Gentry, what possible incentive do you have to stay? Name one viable reason.

I can think of about 3 million reasons for the average NBA coach to try to keep their job. If he quits, he is probably walking away from a fairly large chunk of money (by my poverty stricken perspective). His rationale may be that he preserves his future earning potential by leaving this trainwreck of a team.

 

[Phrazbit]

And that is why I have serious doubts that the front office fired Gentry. If you were Gentry, what possible incentive do you have to stay? Name one viable reason.

Because quitting looks worse on your resume than sucking. I think he was fired. We have 5 days between now and our next game, if the front office was going to force a change this was probably the time to do it. I dont think Gentry really minded being let go, its probably a relief at this point, but I doubt he was the who pulled the trigger today.

 

[JCSunsfan]

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..

I don't think Majerle belongs in coaching, period. He just does not have the presence for it. He comes across as much less than serious about life, let alone basketball.

 

[JCSunsfan]

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.

Change for change sake. Not sure I like that. Who is to say he would not find someone worse. I like Babby, Blanks seems inept.

I liked Gentry but I do not know the inner workings. The official word is that the FO wants to go young and they did not think that developing young talent is Gentry's strength. That may be true.

Gentry may not want to bother with Beasley and Wes Johnson.

 

[Covert Rain]

Change for change sake. Not sure I like that. Who is to say he would not find someone worse. I like Babby, Blanks seems inept.

I liked Gentry but I do not know the inner workings. The official word is that the FO wants to go young and they did not think that developing young talent is Gentry's strength. That may be true.

Gentry may not want to bother with Beasley and Wes Johnson.

Well that is the risk but not the intent. Change for change sake would be to get rid of our FO guys and purposely try and hire the same caliber guys.

If this team went after top tier management and couldn't get it because of rep.....that is on Sarver. However, I would give him credit for at least trying.

 

[CardsFan88]

I'm a little curious if this has something to do with the playing of young players. A few days ago he made some sort of statement saying he would start playing the young players to start looking towards the future, but in the very next game last night his lineups were the same. Maybe it's just a coincidence, but it seems like maybe they were telling him to play the young guys and he refused. Again just an assumption.

Or it could have been the opposite. Just a guess. The reason why I say the opposite of what you said is that Gentry was discussing it in the media about playing them, and that's something I feel a coach probably wouldn't do if that's not what he wanted to do.

Then I couple that with $arver's public desire to try to win. Because $arver understands now that here in Phx, we don't attend games to teams that suck.

Nevermind he's done everything possible to destroy this team with his pennywise, pound foolish approach and constant flip flopping at the worst times.

Oh we're spending too much, cut costs and weaken the roster, oh we suck, trade more assets away to try to recoup the talent we lost (but of course lesser talent), oh we're spending too much, cut costs and weaken the roster, oh we suck, trade more assets away to try to recoup the talent we lost.......rinse and repeat on a constant, recurring basis for almost a decade and here we are. I said it years ago, in the end we'll only have Nash, and then we'll need to trade him. That's when $arver will really see what he's done....and he is. (and even then in the end, the trade was a gift to us that $arver really didn't deserve, but us fans did)

That's basically been $arver. Which in the end means he destroyed the team and didn't save money, and now no one attends the game leading to ever further loss of money. I'd say he's run the team like most bankers run banks, like a complete moron with no business sense. Relying on a rigged game to make money only in the NBA, it isn't rigged....well not like banks are at least.

So back to Gentry, imo and guess that when Gentry said he wanted to play the young guys more, $arver refused, knowing that we'd suck even more, fewer people would attend games, and the downward trend as we finish the season means, less season ticket renewals.

I say, suck is $arver, you reap what you sow. Firing Gentry doesn't remove the anchor on this franchise, only removing yourself will do that.

The best thing for this franchise IS to find out what the young guys have, and in the process if we happen to lose more games and get a higher pick (and thus better chance at a rebound). So again imo this showcases, if this is the situation, another pennywise pound foolish approach.

Good luck Alvin Gentry, you and any coach deserves better than idiot $arver.

Oh and one more thing, idiot $arver probably feels that he can get a bump from the 'excitement' a new coach will bring. Though it doesn't make sense since it wouldn't help THIS season's gate. Only help after a hire going into NEXT season. Wouldn't surprise me that what the Cards did gave him ideas.

 

[BC867]

Our next game, in five days, will clearly show who wanted to give more playing time to the untested guys -- Gentry or Sarver?

It will be interesting to see if, with four consecutive days to prepare, the interim coach chooses a set lineup and sticks with it for the balance of the season, or plays pot-luck as Gentry had to.

 

[Gaddabout]

There's a very fine line between Gentry Fired and gentrified.

 

[JCSunsfan]

Unless, by young guys, mgmt meant Beasley too. I can see Gentry saying that he would be glad to give the young guys burn but not wanting to play Beasley.

 

[Mainstreet]

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.

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

This is my take as well. If Gentry were to be fired for not making progress with a crap roster, Blanks should have been the first one out the door.

 

[Suns_fan69]

Paul Coro ‏@paulcoro
Babby: "We know we are in transition. It's not as if we had unreal expectations." But brass expected the #Suns to contend for the playoffs.

 

[SunsTzu]

Paul Coro ‏@paulcoro
Babby: "We know we are in transition. It's not as if we had unreal expectations." But brass expected the #Suns to contend for the playoffs.

The 2nd part of that comment contradicts the first part.

 

[desertdawg]

Paul Coro ‏@paulcoro
Babby: "We know we are in transition. It's not as if we had unreal expectations." But brass expected the #Suns to contend for the playoffs.

Babby needs his head examined. Gentry aint no top caliber coach, but this team just aint got no caliber period. Sucka say what? Sucka say the Suns had a chance this year. Shoulda canned Gentry before the season started and brought in nothing but youngins.

 

[Mainstreet]

I'm listening to Babby on the radio (620 AM). He is now saying there was not a difference between Gentry or him on giving younger player more minutes including Marshall. Babby feels the Suns already have a young roster so how Gentry played them didn't matter. Now Babby is saying something vague like winning the press conference and the fans. The only one seemingly safe amid chaos is Blanks. No changes concerning him as he stops this conversation in a hurry.

 

[CardsFan88]

Lemonade stand front office and ownership running an NBA team.

Yeah lets blame Gentry for lack of talent, by claiming there is talent Gentry just wasn't winning to our expectations.

Simply amazing. We believed our suck could win the championship...it's YOUR fault we aren't in position!

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Gentry doesn't sign players, he coaches what the GM and owner sign and pay for.

(or for $arver, more like the players they don't sign or pay for)

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[devilalum]

Paul Coro ‏@paulcoro
Babby: "We know we are in transition. It's not as if we had unreal expectations." But brass expected the #Suns to contend for the playoffs.

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[slinslin]

this is not a young team at all, i hate these freaking lies that Babby serves the fans all the time.

if not for the stupid zeller and garrett signings we would be in the top 10 as far as old goes. Considering that Marshall and Johnson basically don't play either we would be one of the 5 oldest teams.