Hunter spied on Gentry's practices

[JCSunsfan]

Blanks was Gentry's direct supervisor. I don't see any presumed autonomy there. If Blanks came in an started to run practices, thats one thing, but observing and evaluating is his job. Now I can read between the lines and think that if Gentry felt that Hunter was lying to Blanks about practices, Gentry could have been miffed.

I think Blanks is a horrible talent evaluator, but he was still Gentry's boss.

It is obvious that the level of trust between Gentry and Blanks was non-existant. Blanks obviously had reasons not to trust Gentry. If Gentry really thought his boss was spying on him in a way that was unethical, he should have quit.

I really like Gentry but if these are the facts, he was wrong.

 

[BC867]

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.

We are here to give opinions. The only fact in all of our posts is that we don't know.

But it is a good guess that, if Hunter was a mole for the Front Office looking for a skapegoat, Gentry would have become aware of it ('just an opinion). If so, it was just a matter of time.

 

[Covert Rain]

Blanks was Gentry's direct supervisor. I don't see any presumed autonomy there. If Blanks came in an started to run practices, thats one thing, but observing and evaluating is his job. Now I can read between the lines and think that if Gentry felt that Hunter was lying to Blanks about practices, Gentry could have been miffed.

I think Blanks is a horrible talent evaluator, but he was still Gentry's boss.

It is obvious that the level of trust between Gentry and Blanks was non-existant. Blanks obviously had reasons not to trust Gentry. If Gentry really thought his boss was spying on him in a way that was unethical, he should have quit.

I really like Gentry but if these are the facts, he was wrong.

I think we have seen enough evidence that many front offices give coaches autonomy to coach and not interfere when it comes to practices and games. FO typically don't get involved in any of that day to day.

However, I do agree that if any of this has substance, for some reason there was no level of trust between Gentry and the FO.

 

[CardsSunsDbacks]

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.

 

[elindholm]

Blanks was Gentry's direct supervisor. I don't see any presumed autonomy there. If Blanks came in an started to run practices, thats one thing, but observing and evaluating is his job.

It's his job to evaluate the coach? I don't actually know the answer to this question. I thought it was the GM's job to build the roster, hammer out player contracts, etc., but I didn't think he had any oversight over the coach. When a coach gets fired, who makes the call?

 

[JCSunsfan]

I assumed this would be true. It was Blanks who fired Gentry. I could be wrong.

 

[slinslin]

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.

That is absurd. It is common to have closed practice if you mean closed referring to outsiders. It is certainly not common practice to close practice to the GM and other "team members".

The use of the term "spy" is total non-sense in this case. It is Blanks job to observe what is going on whether he does it by himself or tasks Hunter to observe practice.

This team is playing one of the 5 worse seasons in franchise history, you better take a look at what the team is doing in practice.

 

[slinslin]

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.

He is the father of Nash's black baby.

 

[taz02]

The problem here isn't Gentry removing Hunter from practices. It's an indication of a larger problem. A dysfunctional and divided organization working against each other. Removing Gentry and inserting the GM's puppet will make matters worse.

Once you set the tone of distrust at the top it will trickle down to all aspects of the organization including players. I have a bad feeling this train wreck has only just begun.

 

[SweetD]

Man Gentry is getting more love than any fired coach. Heck it make it seem like he was a Suns great like Paul Westfaul.

 

[95pro]

Man Gentry is getting more love than any fired coach. Heck it make it seem like he was a Suns great like Paul Westfaul.

haha i think many here don't think too much of westphal

 

[Chaz]

The problem here isn't Gentry removing Hunter from practices. It's an indication of a larger problem. A dysfunctional and divided organization working against each other. Removing Gentry and inserting the GM's puppet will make matters worse.

Once you set the tone of distrust at the top it will trickle down to all aspects of the organization including players. I have a bad feeling this train wreck has only just begun.

So the organization is divided and that is a problem but getting everyone on the same page will make things worse?

 

[AzStevenCal]

Man Gentry is getting more love than any fired coach. Heck it make it seem like he was a Suns great like Paul Westfaul.

Where are you picking this up from? I think we're concerned about what might (MIGHT) have gone on behind the scenes but I don't see a lot of tears being shed for Gentry. I didn't have a problem with him but I was never convinced he was a great coach. I'm not sure he deserved to be fired but I'm not sure he deserved to be hired in the first place. Nice guy but I suspect he's just a mediocre coach at best. I love everything I've read about Lindsey Hunter but with this collection of players, I'm not sure coaching can make all that much of a difference.

Steve

 

[AzStevenCal]

The problem here isn't Gentry removing Hunter from practices. It's an indication of a larger problem. A dysfunctional and divided organization working against each other. Removing Gentry and inserting the GM's puppet will make matters worse.

Once you set the tone of distrust at the top it will trickle down to all aspects of the organization including players. I have a bad feeling this train wreck has only just begun.

I think I said something like this earlier but as I think about it, I'm not sure it's all that telling. Sure, there is a problem if Gentry really did kick Hunter out for being a spy but that might only be an indication of a paranoid Head Coach. We just don't know.

Steve

 

[Mainstreet]

Man Gentry is getting more love than any fired coach. Heck it make it seem like he was a Suns great like Paul Westfaul.

I think the reason Gentry does not get a lot of the criticism is because most fans realize he was not the problem... maybe not the answer... but certainly not the problem with Suns.

Anyway, it was time to move on and try something different.

 

[Cheesebeef]

Man Gentry is getting more love than any fired coach. Heck it make it seem like he was a Suns great like Paul Westfaul.

Uh... Is the above implying that Westphaul was a great head coach? That's a good one on a Monday morning.

 

[JCSunsfan]

The problem here isn't Gentry removing Hunter from practices. It's an indication of a larger problem. A dysfunctional and divided organization working against each other. Removing Gentry and inserting the GM's puppet will make matters worse.

Once you set the tone of distrust at the top it will trickle down to all aspects of the organization including players. I have a bad feeling this train wreck has only just begun.

I agree about divided and dysfunctional, but I am not sure hiring Hunter makes it worse. I suppose it does if he is a bad coach.

 

[JCSunsfan]

I think the reason Gentry does not get a lot of the criticism is because most fans realize he was not the problem... maybe not the answer... but certainly not the problem with Suns.

Anyway, it was time to move on and try something different.

I think that we all realize that the Suns lack talent. I am getting the impression that mgmt thought he was coaching like the Suns HAD talent and that was not going to work, either now or for the future.

The stated intentions of mgmt with this whole thing is exactly what most on this board WANT the Suns to do. Play the young guys, develop young talent, plan for the future. Its just the scuttlebut about HOW it all came to pass is a little disconcerting--especially for long time Suns fans who like Majerle and don't think Hunter is qualified.


This is not an unknown thing to the Suns. When Westphal was fired, there were hard feeling then as well.

 

[HooverDam]

I think that we all realize that the Suns lack talent. I am getting the impression that mgmt thought he was coaching like the Suns HAD talent and that was not going to work, either now or for the future.

The stated intentions of mgmt with this whole thing is exactly what most on this board WANT the Suns to do. Play the young guys, develop young talent, plan for the future. Its just the scuttlebut about HOW it all came to pass is a little disconcerting--especially for long time Suns fans who like Majerle and don't think Hunter is qualified.


This is not an unknown thing to the Suns. When Westphal was fired, there were hard feeling then as well.

The issue is if they want Gentry to play all the you g guys and potentially rack up losses they should've extended him. He's not going to make his own record worse when he could very well be looking for a job next year.

They should've said "Alvin this is a lousy roster, we know it, please develop young guys as your #1 priority & we won't hold wins/losses against you. And by the way here is a 3 year contract extension."

 

[JCSunsfan]

The issue is if they want Gentry to play all the you g guys and potentially rack up losses they should've extended him. He's not going to make his own record worse when he could very well be looking for a job next year.

They should've said "Alvin this is a lousy roster, we know it, please develop young guys as your #1 priority & we won't hold wins/losses against you. And by the way here is a 3 year contract extension."

Based upon where this team is right now, I don't think you extend ANYONE. There is no guarantee that Gentry would be the right coach for developing a young team going forward.

Too many unknowns.

 

[elindholm]

Based upon where this team is right now, I don't think you extend ANYONE.

But no good head coach -- or even a decent one -- is going to take a one-year contract this summer. You have to make a commitment to someone. The front office decided that Coach To-Be-Named was a better choice than Gentry to get the Suns reoriented for their next era. I think that's pretty unlikely. Basically they were telling Gentry that they thought he was part of the problem instead of part of the solution. It's a valid opinion, but one that I don't share.

 

[JCSunsfan]

But no good head coach -- or even a decent one -- is going to take a one-year contract this summer. You have to make a commitment to someone. The front office decided that Coach To-Be-Named was a better choice than Gentry to get the Suns reoriented for their next era. I think that's pretty unlikely. Basically they were telling Gentry that they thought he was part of the problem instead of part of the solution. It's a valid opinion, but one that I don't share.

Is it possible to not be part of the problem, but also not be part of the solution?

I think that's about where I was with Gentry. He didn't get the Suns where they were, but he wasn't going to be what they needed to get out of that position either.

 

[Superbone]

I love everything I've read about Lindsey Hunter...

I guess you haven't read the mortgage fraud stuff yet.

 

[Superbone]

haha i think many here don't think too much of westphal

Westphal was a great player for this organization.

 

[AzStevenCal]

I guess you haven't read the mortgage fraud stuff yet.

I didn't read about it in depth. At a first glance it didn't look all that worrisome. Are you saying it's more damning than I'm taking it to be?

Steve