Igor Fired

[sunsfan88]

maybe you should spend less time on the_donald or wherever you get your 2nd hand knowledge from

Maybe you should continue indulging us in the infamous discussion of how Magic Johnson wasn’t a PG and his trading Marqeese Chriss was such a mistake as he’s been setting the world on fire since leaving the Suns.

 

[JCSunsfan]

Sorry I'm late to the discussion. I just couldn't muster up the desire to talk about this... again. But, here we go again.

Once again the FO proves it's ineptitude. Either they were wrong for hiring Igor in the first place, or they were wrong in firing him after only giving him one year. And say what you want about Igor, but the poor guy took on the worst FO and the worst roster who happened to be the youngest team with a slew of injuries. I'm not sure Red Auerbach or Pop could have done much more under the circumstances.

And whoever we hire next probably will be renting a home here. There's no reason to believe we won't be in the same predicament, again, in 365 days.

That said, I get that James and Jeff have to get their own guy. You have to go into battle with a man you can believe in. They obviously didn't believe in Igor and have their eyes set on Monty. But in all seriousness, if they call themselves friends of Monty, how can they honestly stare him in the eyes and say this is a good place for him to work?

I also get that if you are hired for a new managing position in a dysfunctional office, you have to hand out pink slips to the parties with the biggest blame-share. And since they can't fire Sarver who owns 99 shares, they had to fire Igor who had the remaining 1.

It’s not the same front office. While JJ was there, McD called the shots.

 

[JCSunsfan]

I didn't listen to Gambo but apparently he said that the Suns will only interview black candidates for the HC job as they can supposedly develop better relationships with the players and also communicate better with James Jones. Reddit is hit or miss so did anyone here who listens to Gambo's radio station hear anything like this??

Certainly hope it's not true and I hope they interview the most qualified candidates regardless of what their skin color is. This doesn't need to turn into LeBron 2.0 in Phoenix.

I hope this is not true. Racism is racism either direction.

 

[Folster]

I didn't listen to Gambo but apparently he said that the Suns will only interview black candidates for the HC job as they can supposedly develop better relationships with the players and also communicate better with James Jones. Reddit is hit or miss so did anyone here who listens to Gambo's radio station hear anything like this??

Certainly hope it's not true and I hope they interview the most qualified candidates regardless of what their skin color is. This doesn't need to turn into LeBron 2.0 in Phoenix.

You can't just throw this out there. His show is on demand for free. You should probably fact check that before dropping something like that without certainty. I can't imagine him saying something like that or the front office making that decision.

 

[CardsSunsDbacks]

You can't just throw this out there. His show is on demand for free. You should probably fact check that before dropping something like that without certainty. I can't imagine him saying something like that or the front office making that decision.

Not to mention it really handcuffs them in searching for a coach. You should always be trying to get the best coach you can get regardless of race or nationality. Getting a coach that meshes with your roster is very important, but race shouldn’t be a factor in that.

 

[Covert Rain]

F

'Good point!

The "attack" should be on the guy at the top who hires bargain basement General Managers and Head Coaches
and goes through them like water. Booker would have every right to be pissed off at that lack of support.

And now, it continues into next season at the GM setup . . . and is there any reason to believe it won't be the
same with the next Coach selection? Time will tell.

The problem isn't that Igor was fired. It's the ineptitude of this organization starting with Sarver. What 5 coaches in 5 seasons? The root of the problem is we have not been able to make a good hire for a coach let alone establish a stable front office. The team doesn't have the reputation it once had. The best we can hope for is an ambitious assistant or college coach who wants to take on the world. Other than that we are not getting a top tier coach.

There is zero reason as you state to believe things are going to change as long as Sarver is at the helm. All we can do is fans is hope that someone excellent falls into our lap and go from there.

 

[AzStevenCal]

You can't just throw this out there. His show is on demand for free. You should probably fact check that before dropping something like that without certainty. I can't imagine him saying something like that or the front office making that decision.

I've felt that way with some of the stuff that's been brought to this board but 88's post came across like an effort to fact check to me. I know I use this board as a resource for that kind of thing.

 

[AzStevenCal]

correction. apparently both me and 1sun were singled out for banning because of our reactions to other posters hounding us and telling us to leave.

man, between the two of us, a couple thousand posts and hundreds of hours contributing, but no level of appreciation. ultimately, the bullies got their way. there's been a lot of that going on in the country this year

peace out

Leave if you want but no one is forcing you out. And this forum doesn't allow name calling. It's a strange rule IMO in that you can get pretty darned personal here and there are no consequences but calling someone a name crosses the ban line. That's what cost 1Sun a week from what I've read here.

I know I'm probably wasting my time with this post but I'll give it a shot. IMO, you have missed nuance in posts on several occasions that led you to believe you were being attacked (when that wasn't the case) and it resulted in you going into confrontation mode and when you're doing that, you're likely to find that confrontation. And then it snowballs as other posters start responding in kind.You may not be responsible for all the board fights you've been involved in but you are not an innocent party even though you seem to think that's the case.

I do believe we've been trolled on this board a lot this past season but I never thought that applied to you. I never doubted that you were a passionate Suns fan and believed in what you were saying. I put you on ignore for a long time because you were so defensive at times that it made it difficult to have a conversation with you.

I know I feel like I've clashed with you almost every time I've taken you off ignore. Which is strange because I agree with a significant portion of your posts. Anyway, it's like any group, to get along you have to give a little too. There's no law that says you have to get along, that's your choice, but if you make an effort I'd wager you'd find your time here more enjoyable.

 

[JerkFace]

I didn't listen to Gambo but apparently he said that the Suns will only interview black candidates for the HC job as they can supposedly develop better relationships with the players and also communicate better with James Jones. Reddit is hit or miss so did anyone here who listens to Gambo's radio station hear anything like this??

Certainly hope it's not true and I hope they interview the most qualified candidates regardless of what their skin color is. This doesn't need to turn into LeBron 2.0 in Phoenix.

I listened to about 80% of the show yesterday and didn’t hear anything remotely like this. I stopped listening around 5pm though.

 

[sunsfan88]

You can't just throw this out there. His show is on demand for free. You should probably fact check that before dropping something like that without certainty. I can't imagine him saying something like that or the front office making that decision.

It sounds too stupid to be true and I don’t think any professsional franchise (or any professional business organization for that matter) would do it.

I didn’t throw it out there as a fact, I wanted to know if there was any credibility to it. No one else has said they heard it and offset just said he watched nearly the full show and didn’t hear about it. So it’s likely just BS.

 

[Mainstreet]

Maybe. I'm just hoping that it didn't involve Booker in any way. I'd hate to learn that Devin or really, any of the players, refused to buy in to Koko's plans. I think it would be an obvious risk when you have an untested head coach, a very young team and a lack of veteran leadership. Crawford can only do so much.

I'm with you on this. I want to believe the best... that Booker was not involved in Kokoskov being replaced.

 

[Mainstreet]

I know I took jobs I thought I really wanted, and then later totally didn't want the job anymore. It wasn't what I thought the job was going to be like. Just thinking maybe the head coach job wasn't what he thought it would be.

This is a good point. I'm guessing a lot of us have found out the top position is not worth the extra pay but it's something we wanted to find out.

I have no idea how Kokoskov felt about being a head coach.

 

[slinslin]

Kokoskov failed by his own criteria

one of the major things he first mentioned is that he has no system and that his players determine the system and how they have to play. He showed none of that. We were the worst 3pt-shooting team in 2017/2018 but Kokoskov made it a goal to shoot 30 3s per game. We finished 20th in 3pt attempts while being again the worst 3pt-shooting team in the league. At the same time the Clippers and Spurs showed that you can win with taking fewer 3s.

At no point did it look like Kokoskov developed a game plan offensively to play to the teams strength in Booker and Ayton instead Josh Jackson and Kelly Oubre who are not efficient offensive players took a lot of the opportunities.

It took Kokoskov 60 or more games to figure out that maybe he should stop playing small forwards at power forward. It took him 70 or so games to figure out that maybe he should actually try to play our best shooter in Troy Daniels some bench minutes.

 

[Hoop Head]

Kokoskov failed by his own criteria

one of the major things he first mentioned is that he has no system and that his players determine the system and how they have to play. He showed none of that. We were the worst 3pt-shooting team in 2017/2018 but Kokoskov made it a goal to shoot 30 3s per game. We finished 20th in 3pt attempts while being again the worst 3pt-shooting team in the league. At the same time the Clippers and Spurs showed that you can win with taking fewer 3s.

At no point did it look like Kokoskov developed a game plan offensively to play to the teams strength in Booker and Ayton instead Josh Jackson and Kelly Oubre who are not efficient offensive players took a lot of the opportunities.

It took Kokoskov 60 or more games to figure out that maybe he should stop playing small forwards at power forward. It took him 70 or so games to figure out that maybe he should actually try to play our best shooter in Troy Daniels some bench minutes.

I've seen this mentioned a few times, that Kokoskov had some 30-30-30 gameplan that involved 30 3's, 30 assists, and something else but I haven't heard that from Kokoskov himself or anyone with the team. I'm not saying it's not true but I'd like to see some sort of statement from the Suns or Igor that said that was the gameplan. Where did you hear that, initially?

 

[95pro]

Idk what Igor's plan was early on, he stuck with the old guys too long when it was obvious they weren't productive.

 

[Yuma]

I've seen this mentioned a few times, that Kokoskov had some 30-30-30 gameplan that involved 30 3's, 30 assists, and something else but I haven't heard that from Kokoskov himself or anyone with the team. I'm not saying it's not true but I'd like to see some sort of statement from the Suns or Igor that said that was the gameplan. Where did you hear that, initially?

I remember him saying that to the media. I don't know where you find it. It was close to the beginning of the season.

 

[slinslin]

I've seen this mentioned a few times, that Kokoskov had some 30-30-30 gameplan that involved 30 3's, 30 assists, and something else but I haven't heard that from Kokoskov himself or anyone with the team. I'm not saying it's not true but I'd like to see some sort of statement from the Suns or Igor that said that was the gameplan. Where did you hear that, initially?

Kokoskov himself said this in post game interviews multiple times

 

[Yuma]

https://valleyofthesuns.com/2018/10/16/igor-kokoskovs-3-point-shooting-dream-number/

Here's an article on just the 3 point part.

 

[sunsfan88]

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[Mainstreet]

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So who was supposed to be the point guard?

It makes some sense in regard to Kokoskov wanted Ariza.

 

[Proximo]

I mean this team of vets thing I find beyond ridiculous.

The suns knew chandler was shot. They acquired Anderson for garbage, so they should have known he was shot.

Canaan never did anything, Crawford statistically stunk with the wolves.

The only vet they should have thought could be a legit contributor is ariza.

This line is just bs justification for why Igor failed.

 

[Cheesebeef]

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This is a mind-boggling statement that makes me lean towards Jones being a complete moron. The idea that ANYONE thought this was going to be a "veteran team" because of that trifecta of scrubs is REALLY scary.

 

[Hoop Head]

I mean this team of vets thing I find beyond ridiculous.

The suns knew chandler was shot. They acquired Anderson for garbage, so they should have known he was shot.

Canaan never did anything, Crawford statistically stunk with the wolves.

The only vet they should have thought could be a legit contributor is ariza.

This line is just bs justification for why Igor failed.

It really doesn't make sense. Best case scenario the starting 5 was the opening game starting 5, Canaan, Booker, Ariza, Anderson, and Ayton. That's a team of vets? Who is coming off the bench? Warren, Jackson, and Chandler? They added Crawford but that's still not a veteran rotation. I know the average age of those players might be high 20's but that is because Chandler, Ariza, Crawford, and Anderson are all old as dirt. Booker is in his 4th year, Warren his 5th, Ayton a rookie, Jackson 2nd year, and Canaan was in his 4th or 5th. Canaan is the oldest of the youngsters at 27 but the rest need TJ to buy them beer. That's not a team of veterans, at all.

 

[Yuma]

I am thinking they, meaning Bower, James Jones, Sarver, etc., just wanted to make a change. It sounds better to blame the circumstances rather than the coach. "He was brought in for veterans, but that changed. (not his fault)" I think most likely Bower knew about Monty Williams, and reached out to him, or his agent, and a discussion was had. I would not put anything past our front office ineptitude, but if it was me, I would be pretty sure there was a LOT of interest by Monty before firing Igor.

 

[Hoop Head]

I am thinking they, meaning Bower, James Jones, Sarver, etc., just wanted to make a change. It sounds better to blame the circumstances rather than the coach. "He was brought in for veterans, but that changed. (not his fault)" I think most likely Bower knew about Monty Williams, and reached out to him, or his agent, and a discussion was had. I would not put anything past our front office ineptitude, but if it was me, I would be pretty sure there was a LOT of interest by Monty before firing Igor.

That makes sense and can also be used as the reason for firing McD. He was supposed to build a veteran roster for Igor and failed. That's two firings with one simple spinning of the truth. It makes McD and Igor look bad for thinking that was a veteran roster but that won't be remembered by the time the playoffs are over.