Suns Fire Johnson

[Town Drunk]

That's right, it's official, Frank is gone. Was just announced on ESPN. More details to follow.

 

[Dr. Dumas]

Woooooooooooooooooooo-hooooooooooooooooooooooooooo. That's the best news I've heard all day.

 

[Town Drunk]

AP NewsBreak: Suns fire coach Frank Johnson

By BOB BAUM, AP Sports Writer
December 10, 2003
PHOENIX (AP) -- Frank Johnson was fired as coach of the Phoenix Suns after an 8-13 start to the season, a team source told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

The Suns said they would have a news conference but did not say why. The source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the AP an interim coach would be announced Wednesday but would not reveal his name.

 

[Town Drunk]

Lets hope they bring in someone from outside the organization.

 

[schutd]

Interim means current assistant. Lets hope its a TRUE interim coach, and they also announce a FULL BORE national hunt for a full-time replacement.

 

[Town Drunk]

Most likely D'Atoni will take over. It would be nice if they actually looked outside the organization for a more stable coach, but my guess is D'Atoni will be the one for the rest of the season.

 

[Joe Mama]

On the radio they just said the interim coach will be Mike D'Antoni. That means they did not give him any long-term contract which makes me happy.

Joe Mama

 

[slinslin]

Lets break down the candidates

Feel free to tell me otherwise, I didn't look up everything , just my impressions.

Rudy T

positives
- coached Hakeem Olajuwon
- has a very good record, should get respect
- experience
- comes from outside of the organisation

negatives
- his health
- the rockets in his last season didn't play well

Mike Fratello

positives
- lots of experience
- defensive minded
- seems to be intrigued with the Suns on TNT

negatives
- Seemed to have a "Scott Skiles" attitude
- Teams were never really good scoring teams
- Hasn't coached in a while

Doc Rivers

positives
- Lead a team of scrubs to the playoffs before the Magic got TMac
- Seems to be a very likeable person

negatives
- not a lot of coaching experience
- his own team had just as much trouble beating a zone as the suns
- never coached a real good big man

Pat Riley

positives
- teams usually play very good defense
- coached Pat Riley, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, Patrick Ewing, Alonzo Mourning....
- Probably the most outstanding coach in the league outside of Phil Jackson.

negatives
- might not be available
- how many years does he have left in the tank?

George Karl

positives
- maybe familiar with the Suns, coached with Grguric already
- offensive minded coach, said to be a good X's and O's guy

negatives
- made some horrible trades for his team lately
- was fired by a horrible team
- Probably never got as much out of Shawn Kemp as he should have

Eddie Johnson

positives
- Says all the right things on the radio
- Is familiar with the team

negatives
- Another former guard that played for the Suns
- No coaching experience

Doug Collins

positives
- familiar with the Suns

negatives
- lately a horrible track record
- "Scott Skiles" - attitude
- Maybe one reason why Kwame Brown couldn't get it done so far


Anymore?

I wouldn't mind an experienced and respected college coach as they might be more familiar with zone defenses.
Coach K would be good obviously but hasn't accepted any offers in the past.

 

[SweetD]

Originally posted by slinslin
Lets break down the candidates

Feel free to tell me otherwise, I didn't look up everything , just my impressions.

[Eddie Johnson

positives
- Says all the right things on the radio
- Is familiar with the team

negatives
- Another former guard that played for the Suns
- No coaching experience

He was a Forward in a few year we will have Mark West or Tom Chambers on the bench.

 

[slinslin]

Ok, SG or SF doesn't really make a difference to me. He was a shooter.

 

[Chaplin]

Eddie Johnson is only a "candidate" because people on this board thinks he sounds good on radio.

 

[kps0001]

gee how bout Barkley. That is so far out there I know. But I had to go with it. Would get butts back in the seats though.


I seriously think Tom Chambers will play some sort of coaching role with this team which, as I stated before, would be great for Amare, imo.

 

[slinslin]

I remember him saying that he wants to coach eventually.

And I also thought that he was considered at some point already.

 

[jbeecham]

Well D'Antoni is not an interim coach. He will continue with his initial contract which goes through next season. The Suns could of course fire him before then. It's a shame that they didn't just make him an interim and look for a real coach. Then again, why would the players listen to an interim coach that they know will be gone at the end of the season?

 

[Joe Mama]

Originally posted by jbeecham
Well D'Antoni is not an interim coach. He will continue with his initial contract which goes through next season. The Suns could of course fire him before then. It's a shame that they didn't just make him an interim and look for a real coach. Then again, why would the players listen to an interim coach that they know will be gone at the end of the season?

Yes, he is an interim coach. Bryan Colangelo might not have felt like labeling him as one, but he hardly endorsed D'Antoni as the long-term solution. I mean Frank Johnson had a longer contract as well.

I'm confident the Phoenix Suns will be looking for another head coach. If D'Antoni does a fantastic job he'll probably be considered as well.

Joe Mama

 

[newfan101]

I would vote for Pat Riley, if he still wants to coach. Of course, he has the one drawback of being a former Suns guard. It is an absolute mystery to me why the position of the coach during his playing days is such an issue with people. The list of winningest coaches is almost entirely made up of former guards, forwards, and guys who never played in the NBA. In addition, Bill Russell was easily one of the worst coaches ever. I guess I just don't see why it matters.

 

[slinslin]

Didn't Bill Russell win like 3 rings as a coach?

And how many head coaches were former big man compared to the amount of guards that ended up coaching.


Btw, Svetislav Pesic would be a very good coach. He is quite possibly the best european coach ever.
I think he is currently coaching Zarko's national team and FC Barcelona.

 

[fordronken]

Yes, what exactly made Russell such a bad coach? He was a bit before my time, but I think he had a pretty good record.

 

[newfan101]

Originally posted by slinslin
Didn't Bill Russell win like 3 rings as a coach?

And how many head coaches were former big man compared to the amount of guards that ended up coaching.

He won two as a player coach. I guess I should give him credit for that. But when he didn't have himself playing center for himself, he did a pretty horrible job.

His stint with Sacramento in the mid 80's was terrible. However, maybe I went overboard saying he was "easily" one of the worst.

As for your second question, correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe Bill Cartwright and Paul Silas were the only big men coaching in the NBA at the beginning of the year. Cartwright was fired. With the entire NBA now basically being coached by guards, forwards, and non-NBA guys, I just don't understand why people have such an issue with the Suns hiring a former guard.

 

[Gee!]

Originally posted by Joe Mama
Yes, he is an interim coach. Bryan Colangelo might not have felt like labeling him as one, but he hardly endorsed D'Antoni as the long-term solution.

How did you come to that conclusion? In the press conference they specifcally asked if he was an intern coach. They said no. He is under contract till his contract expires.

 

[arthurracoon]

Finally...

I would love to get Pat Riley. He would be able to get alot out of the Suns' big three, and he would have lots of talent to develop game plans around.

 

[Joe Mama]

Originally posted by SameOleGee
How did you come to that conclusion? In the press conference they specifcally asked if he was an intern coach. They said no. He is under contract till his contract expires.

I guess it was my own take on the way Bryan Colangelo answered the question. They are not saying that there will be a coaching change at the end of this season, but I think they will looking for a better, long-term solution. Those are just my feelings.

Joe Mama

 

[thegrahamcrackr]

im still betting that he is finishing this contrat because it was the only way the suns would give him a 2 year deal.

Interim coaches always want to lock up an extra year. The suns most likely didnt want to, but by leting his current contract finish, they get a Head Coach at an assistant coach salary.

Sounds like the Cs to me.

 

[SweetD]

IMO they will try to keep Mike as an assitant next year as well.

 

[SirStefan32]

Finally!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank God they fired this moron.