Phoenix Suns Coaching Search

[Griffin]

Let's keep track of all the candidates the Suns interview for their coaching vacancy.

Terry Porter
Interviewed: 05/15/2008

• Age: 45
• Current position: Pistons assistant
• Coaching experience: 5 years
  • Kings assistant: 1 season (2002-2003)
  • Bucks head coach: 2 seasons (2003-2005)
  • Pistons assistant: 2 seasons (2006-current)
• Head coaching record: 2 years, 71-93, 1-4 playoffs

Mark Jackson
Interviewed: 05/16/2008

• Age: 43
• Current position: TV analyst
• Coaching experience: none

Brian Shaw
Interviewed: 05/18/2008

1. Age: 42
2. Current position: Lakers assistant
3. Coaching experience: 4 years
   • Lakers assistant: 4 seasons (2004-current)
4. Head coaching record: none

Elston Turner
Interviewed: 05/21/2008

• Age: 48
• Current position: Rockets assistant
• Coaching experience: 11 years
  • Blazers assistant: 4 seasons
  • Kings assistant: 6 seasons (2001-2006)
  • Rockets assistant: 1 season (2007-current)
• Head coaching record: none

Jeff Hornacek
Interviewed: 05/22/2008

• Age: 45
• Current position: none
• Coaching experience: none

Tyrone Corbin
Interviewed: 05/23/2008

• Age: 45
• Current position: Jazz assistant
• Coaching experience: 4 years
  • Jazz assistant: 4 seasons (2004-current)
• Head coaching record: none

Vinny Del Negro
Interviewed: 05/23/2008

• Age: 41
• Current position: Suns assistant GM
• Coaching experience: none

Mike Budenholzer
Interviewed: 06/03/2008

• Age: 38
• Current position: Spurs assistant
• Coaching experience: 12 years
  • Spurs assistant: 12 seasons (1996-current)

 

[wsupkid]

Thanks for the info!

 

[Cheesewater]

Agreed. Excellent idea.

 

[Andrew]

Yay...I like this idea

 

[wsupkid]

Griffin now you have to live up to this till we have a coach.

 

[FArting]

Good idea

 

[DeAnna]

Any updates?

http://www.arizonasportsfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=112422

Yikes, 20 years as Sloan's top assistant? I think time has passed him by.

 

[HooverDam]

Of those three listed I like Porter the most, then Turner, and I hate the idea of Jackson. Porter didn't really succeed in Milwaukee, but no one has, so you can't hold that against him (D'Antoni didn't do well in Denver, but had great records here).

I'm not sure how married Turner is to Adelmans Princeton style offense. With the current personnel it may work (turning Shaq into more of a passer), but they'd need to find a Brad Miller type guy fairly soon to plant in the middle.

 

[Mainstreet]

Right now I like Porter and Turner as well. I think they are both about 48 which I view as a postive. Porter having been a HC has to help.

 

[Errntknght]

It isn't often we get to praise Kerr, but I really like the way he proceeding on his search for a head coach. Now, the outcome may be another story but for the moment its great - it always ticked me off that JC wouldn't use this sort of method when he hired coaches.

 

[dodie53]

Amare for head coach!

 

[Goldfield]

I like Porter...

 

[JCSunsfan]

Of those three listed I like Porter the most, then Turner, and I hate the idea of Jackson. Porter didn't really succeed in Milwaukee, but no one has, so you can't hold that against him (D'Antoni didn't do well in Denver, but had great records here).

I'm not sure how married Turner is to Adelmans Princeton style offense. With the current personnel it may work (turning Shaq into more of a passer), but they'd need to find a Brad Miller type guy fairly soon to plant in the middle.

I remember that team in Milwaukee. It had no talent and Porter took them to the playoffs. Then Milwaukee messed with the roster and decided to blow it up. I think they knew they overachieved and were not going to improve on that. The Milwaukee stint is a huge plus in my book for Porter.

 

[Andrew]

Who will they be interviewing on the Spurs bench? I just heard on ESPN, Steve Kerr will...

 

[D-Dogg]

Any updates?

http://www.arizonasportsfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=112422

Yikes, 20 years as Sloan's top assistant? I think time has passed him by.

He is a very good coach, and has learned from one of the very best coaches and alltime hardasses in the league.

he'd be an excellent coach for the Suns, I'd guess. If anything, he'd instill a hardcore attitude. Overall though, the dude is very smart and would command respect. Plus, he knows the Jazz inside and out (as well as great knowledge of the western conference teams) and since the Suns seem to struggle with Utah, it would be a plus in the West.

 

[Griffin]

The Turner interview hasn't actually happened yet and is scheduled for Wednesday. They will probably talk with Phil Johnson soon, now that the Jazz have been eliminated. Kerr also spoke with Silas on the phone, but the indication is that the Suns want him as an assistant only.

 

[ArizonaSportsFan]

He is a very good coach, and has learned from one of the very best coaches and alltime hardasses in the league.

he'd be an excellent coach for the Suns, I'd guess. If anything, he'd instill a hardcore attitude. Overall though, the dude is very smart and would command respect. Plus, he knows the Jazz inside and out (as well as great knowledge of the western conference teams) and since the Suns seem to struggle with Utah, it would be a plus in the West.

Much respect to Utah for letting the Suns speak with Phil. He has been the heir apparent to Sloan for a while now, and would have been the head man when Sloan's wife died a few years back but Sloan decided to stay in coaching for a while. I think that Phil Johnson would be an excellent head coach, though probably more in the endless pick and roll style and defensive accountability than an offensive genius.

 

[Mainstreet]

I do not want to come over negative but this never ending list of coaching candidates is starting to get on my nerves. If the Suns already had a short list of candidates and they were just waiting to interview one or two more candidates, perhaps like Thibodeau, I could understand. However, this long list tells me that Kerr never had a short list of candidates in mind to replace D'Antoni.

IMO, a good GM should have a mental list of top coaching candidates from just being in the league (even if he is not searching for a coach). This seemingly long list of candidates ranging from TV analysts to assistant coaches just smacks that he is being more than methodical. Perhaps he never had any coaching candidates in mind when he let D'Antoni go.

In another perspective, I would think most Suns fans would have a short list of FA or available players they would like to see on the Suns roster. Also this applies to the NBA draft as well. Sure you want to know all the players in the draft but the scouting department should already be focusing on who might be available at #15. This sort of reminds me of Kerr's methodical screening of NBA draft picks last season only to come up shooting blanks. Think about it, if you were a quality coach wouldn't it bother you that the team interviewing you has this long list of candidates including TV analysts?

 

[YouJustGotSUNSD]

Long list? Never ending? This thread is dedicated to the short list of candidates who are worth being interviewed.

 

[tobiazz]

http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/116512

If the Suns settle on a coach long on NBA experience but short on head-coaching chops - be it Terry Porter, Elston Turner or Mark Jackson - Paul Silas would relish the opportunity to play the role of mentor as a lead assistant.

 

[YouJustGotSUNSD]

"I don't want to rule anything out, but I would be comfortable as an assistant if that's where it goes," said Silas, who played for the Suns from 1970-74 and was an assistant coach under Paul Westphal from 1995-97. "I've coached some good teams, but I've never been in a position to reach that ultimate prize the way I did as a player (with Boston in 1974 and 1976 and Seattle in 1979). This Phoenix team has what it takes to get there."

 

[Mainstreet]

Long list? Never ending? This thread is dedicated to the short list of candidates who are worth being interviewed.

I never knew there was a short list. I've heard a lot of names mentioned in regard to the Suns coaching position.

See link from Paul Coro of Arizona Central:

http://www.azcentral.com/sports/suns/articles/2008/05/16/20080516suns.html

 

[TheHopToad]

http://www.arizonasportsfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=112422

Yikes, 20 years as Sloan's top assistant? I think time has passed him by.

Geez, if we're going to reach into the geriatric ward, maybe we should just add Tex Winter to the list...

 

[Irish]

IMHO, Terry Porter will be the guy. However, that cannot be determined until after the Pistons are out of the playoffs. As it goes now I would not bet on them NOT getting to the finals. This could mean a long wait.

It is a ll pretty bizzare. Kerr cannot say anything, but "not" interviewing would tend up being a statement. If these end up as courtesty interviews, this might seem disrespectful of the candidates but refusing to interview them is not really all that great either.

Why do I think it's Porter? He's the only guy so far that really fits the profile they stated at the start of the process: head coaching experience (two years in Milwuakee), experience with an up tempo style (105 ppg In Milwuakee and much of his career with the very up tempo Blazers of the Drezler era), understands defense (he's the #2 coach with the Pistons which have a great defense) - plus he has a great repuation as a person.

Mark Jackson lacks coaching experience and Turner has not been a head coach nor has he been part of a running team. I don't know enough about Hornacek's coaching except that he's a shooting consultant for the Jazz. (Eddie Johnson runs shooting camps and sells videos on shooting and I don't think he's ready either). Corbin is not the top assistant for the Jazz but is a real assistant coach. These guys remain popular with the fans because of their playing experience with Phoenix, but nothing I've read makes me think they have anything close to the background Porter brings.

Still, it doesn't hurt to talk to these guys. Nothing is final until it's final.

 

[YouJustGotSUNSD]

How uber would a porter, silas, EJ, porter's assistants combo be?