Hunter spied on Gentry's practices

[elindholm]

Suns insiders say that Gentry more than once had Hunter removed from practices when Hunter was serving in his role as a first-year player development coordinator. Hunter was regarded as a spy for the front office, which was all but confirmed after the Suns fired Gentry and tabbed Hunter over Gentry’s longtime assistants, Elston Turner and Dan Majerle, each of whom was more deserving for the interim post.


http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/b...icking-antoni-howard-article-1.1248569?pgno=1

 

[BC867]

If this is true, the more the Suns front office gets called out for being outrageous, perhaps the closer they get to being run out.

Just as our current weather in the Valley, the sun is not shining on our NBA team. It is ironic that our rainstorms generally come at night rather than during the day. Apparently the Suns storms we see at night have also occurred during the day (at practices).

Included in an article by Paola Boivin recapping recent Suns, D'backs and Cardinals radio interviews was this bit about Tom Chambers telling Lance Blanks that he had an interest in getting into coaching. Tom said . . .

Obviously they didn't want to follow through with that. ... It looks to me like Lance wants to have his core people around that he feels comfortable with that are going to answer to him, and I'm from the old regime. There's not many of us left anymore, is there?

We'll miss you next year, TC.

http://www.azcentral.com/sports/hea...io-shifts-into-overdrive-busy-news-cycle.html

 

[Stop Whining]

That was the plan from the begining. Hunter was the mole the minute after Blanks brought him in. He's got that shifty, dont turn your back on me useless look to him. Still does walking the sidelines. Cant stand him myseif. Leave it to the three to hire one in their own likeness. Gentry was doomed when Babby said he would remain HC thru-out the season. That was the kiss of death which didnt surprise when Gentry got the boot. The rats finally took over the ship.

 

[Mainstreet]

Suns insiders say that Gentry more than once had Hunter removed from practices when Hunter was serving in his role as a first-year player development coordinator. Hunter was regarded as a spy for the front office, which was all but confirmed after the Suns fired Gentry and tabbed Hunter over Gentry’s longtime assistants, Elston Turner and Dan Majerle, each of whom was more deserving for the interim post.


http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/b...icking-antoni-howard-article-1.1248569?pgno=1

Although player development coordinators serve a different role I would not expect it as unusual to find them at practice. At first thought, I would think Gentry would not have much interest in removing Hunter from practice unless he was an interference. Of course if Gentry thought Hunter was a rival with a different agenda, this would be another matter. Still I find it odd Gentry would have Hunter removed from practices.

 

[AzStevenCal]

Although player development coordinators serve a different role I would not expect it as unusual to find them at practice. At first thought, I would think Gentry would not have much interest in removing Hunter from practice unless he was an interference. Of course if Gentry thought Hunter was a rival with a different agenda, this would be another matter. Still I find it odd Gentry would have Hunter removed from practices.

Yeah, this whole thing is pretty strange. Until reading this I would have just assumed that someone like Hunter would have been welcomed at practice as long as he wasn't interfering. I just don't see why or how this situation developed into Head Coach versus the Front Office. This speaks to far greater problems and I guess logically it suggests that it's probably the Front Office that's created this mess. Although, by Front Office, we might be talking about just Blanks.

Steve

 

[Ronin]

It used to be fun to laugh at this team....but now this team seems to be full of slime balls. My Gawd!

 

[JCSunsfan]

Why would mgmt not have full access to practices? What business does a coach have in dismissing the player dev guy from practice? How does Hunter do his job if he doesnt watch practice?

I liked Gentry but if this is true, he should have been fired.

 

[desertdawg]

Who cares? What? Did Gentry's practices expose our lack of talent the same way our friggin broadcasted games do? Hunter shmunter, our problems start up in the offices. I didn't read the article, but practice? We talkin bout practice? Some teams practice in public, was Hunter going and telling the Spurs what we did in practice? Is this our desperate version of Spygate? The Suns are so pathetic now I feel bad for the Phx youth. Phx Soft, Phx Nones, Phx Was's.

 

[Stop Whining]

This probably has more to do wth Gentry knowing Lindsey was Blanks boy and not being underminded or disruptive at practice. If you heard Gentrys interveiw it was painfully obvious of his distain for Lindsey being there without saying it. The front office was often at practices but since Hunter was a lowly player dev guy I can see why Gentry would remove him if needed.

 

[Errntknght]

Why would the FO need to send a spy to watch practices? They could go watch it themselves. Hopefully the whole story is a fabrication.

 

[Covert Rain]

It's common for coaches to have closed practices. This is not unusual. There is a reason good organizations usually let the FO take care of their business while letting coaches take care of theirs. It would be one thing for the FO to pop in every once in awhile but from the sounds of what Gentry was saying, this went way beyond that.

The only way they would have known Hunter was spying is if Hunter was running off at the mouth and it eventually got back to Gentry. Not to mention it sounds more and more like Hunter is getting rewarded for his deeds from this FO. It actually explains alot about this hiring.


What a soap opera.

 

[elindholm]

I should have included "Report:" in the subject header. Given the source, there's no particularly good reason to believe that this is true.

 

[SweetD]

who cares....as stated earlier if the GM wanted I am sure he can go down and watch the practice himself. I would assume a player development person would be at the practices to maybe help develop.

 

[Covert Rain]

who cares....as stated earlier if the GM wanted I am sure he can go down and watch the practice himself. I would assume a player development person would be at the practices to maybe help develop.

Which is perfectly acceptable....if that's all you are doing. I hope there is no truth to this report because it would just show what a tool Hunter is and just add more fuel to the fire that this front office has completely lost it.

 

[KloD]

This report doesn't even make sense. As has been pointed out, why on earth would a player development coach not be welcome at practice? That and the authors nonsense claim that because Hunter was made interim coach, that is somehow proof the spying claim is true. Huh? I call 100% BS to this.

 

[Gaddabout]

The Suns have been at the center of my universe for many years. Lately I've been apathetic, but I've always thought I'd return if they were ever able to be taken seriously again. And by that, I merely meant the front office started acting like a legitimate professional organization.

I'm *this close* to actually rooting against the Suns, all previous allegiances be damned.

 

[elindholm]

I don't know how NBA practices are run, but certainly in other realms, it makes sense to have coaching sessions, run by the players' "boss," closed to the players' employer. You want to give the coach the freedom and privacy to forge a bond with the players without the employer looking over everyone's shoulder. I'm sure that open practices, when teams have them, have a much different flavor from ordinary closed practices. What is said between a coach and a player during practice should be their business, not the business of the front office.

I don't know whether the report in this article is true, but I wouldn't reject it solely on the basis of Gentry wanting to keep his practice closed to people who didn't belong at them. That seems perfectly reasonable to me.

 

[PDXChris]

In other news, Todd Haley wants to bring Gentry to Pittsburgh to be on his staff.

 

[Chaplin]

I don't know how NBA practices are run, but certainly in other realms, it makes sense to have coaching sessions, run by the players' "boss," closed to the players' employer. You want to give the coach the freedom and privacy to forge a bond with the players without the employer looking over everyone's shoulder. I'm sure that open practices, when teams have them, have a much different flavor from ordinary closed practices. What is said between a coach and a player during practice should be their business, not the business of the front office.

I don't know whether the report in this article is true, but I wouldn't reject it solely on the basis of Gentry wanting to keep his practice closed to people who didn't belong at them. That seems perfectly reasonable to me.

Ok, sure, fair enough. But for what reason would a Player Development guy not be allowed at a practice? That doesn't make sense.

 

[Covert Rain]

I guess maybe I took the original report wrong? I didn't get the impression that Hunter at first was not allowed to attend practices. The impression I was under was at some point Gentry discovered he was spying for the FO and had him removed. Sounded more like to me incidents ensued which caused Gentry to start removing him.

It seems everybody is assuming that he NEVER was allowed to attend. I didn't take it that way but maybe I am wrong.

 

[Phrazbit]

Ok, sure, fair enough. But for what reason would a Player Development guy not be allowed at a practice? That doesn't make sense.

If he is viewed by the rest of the staff as under qualified and a stooge for management it makes sense.

 

[JCSunsfan]

No way. I am the CEO of a corp and answer only to a board of directors. If one of my managers kicked someone out of a meeting because he is reporting to me, I would fire that manager immediately.

 

[SweetD]

So was Gentry a spy when they booted Porter?

 

[sunsfan88]

This is beyond stupid.

Their literally just making up stories so that Suns fans have at least something to talk about during the season.

I'm guessing tomorrow there will be an article out about how Gentry had an affair with one of the FO's spouses.

 

[Covert Rain]

No way. I am the CEO of a corp and answer only to a board of directors. If one of my managers kicked someone out of a meeting because he is reporting to me, I would fire that manager immediately.

That doesn't seem to be the case here. It wasn't because someone was reporting to management during the normal course of that person's duties. This goes above and beyond the normal course of duties if this is true. I have never been a CEO but I have been an officer within multiple large corporations. If as an officer I had a manager that was allowed autonomy to perform his job and I hired someone to spy on that other manager....I would have been canned for unethical behavior.