Suns, Gentry closing in on deal

[Roca Dolla]

Interviews could not tell the Suns any more about Alvin Gentry than they knew from having him in the organization for five years. The final 31 games of the 2008-09 Suns' season was essentially Gentry's tryout as an interim head coach. After internal uneasiness with previous coach Terry Porter, the players all put in votes for Gentry to remain coach, and the front office was in concert.
The only thing that remained were negotiations with Gentry, who met with Suns General Manager Steve Kerr over the past two days to bring the sides closer to lifting the interim tag from his head coach title. "It's all going well," Kerr said. "We've had productive conversations the last couple days. Hopefully, we'll get something done. We've got the ball rolling. We just have to keep the discussion going and hopefully get something done soon."
Gentry is not looking elsewhere and the Suns are not pursuing other candidates. There had been time off, casual daily conversations and e-mail proposals with Gentry's agent in the three weeks since the season ended. The process also was delayed by Gentry going to North Carolina twice to be with his ailing father, and Gentry's agent, Warren LeGarie, attending the Euroleague final four. LeGarie was due in Phoenix on Thursday night.
A deal could be done by the weekend. The Suns and Gentry are talking about a two-year contract after Phoenix gave Porter a three-year contract a year ago. Porter was fired in February, when Gentry was elevated from lead assistant. The Suns still owe Porter about $4.5 million, leaving a smaller money pool for the new coach.
After the Suns went 18-13 under Gentry despite losing Amaré Stoudemire, Kerr said it was his hope to retain Gentry and that it would be the Suns' first order of off-season business. Gentry wanted the job and liked Phoenix and the organization enough to be the lone assistant who remained after Mike D'Antoni's departure a year ago.
Gentry's expected return to the Suns is an endorsement of how he reinstated the Suns' quick-tempo style (117.7 per game under him) but he also has been firm about the need to improve the team defensively.
This is Gentry's fourth turn as a head coach and the third time it at least began as an interim gig. He kept the job in Detroit after starting as an interim and led the Pistons to a 29-21 record in the next season, a lockout-shortened one. Gentry went 15-21 in his first head coaching shot in an interim role in Miami in 1995, stayed 2 1/2 seasons in Detroit (73-72) and was head coach of the Los Angles Clippers for 2 1/2 seasons (89-133). Other than Detroit and Phoenix, he's inherited weak teams to make up most of his 195-239 coaching record.
"The talks have been very productive," Kerr said. "I don't see anything getting in our way."

http://www.azcentral.com/sports/suns/articles/2009/05/07/20090507spt-suns.html
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[Shzm13]

This blows..

As much as Gentry is a "players" coach, this team needs somebody else soon as the year is over. The guy has never been a winner, needs to stick to being an assistant

 

[YouJustGotSUNSD]

That's a pretty shortsighted way to look at it.

 

[Shzm13]

You're a pretty short-sighted person, works perfectly.

Now lets hug it out

 

[Roca Dolla]

This blows..

As much as Gentry is a "players" coach, this team needs somebody else soon as the year is over. The guy has never been a winner, needs to stick to being an assistant

who would u rather see as the next suns coach?

 

[mojorizen7]

Any good news......?
I like Gentry and all but, I wonder exactly "how" he plans on getting this old , slow,offensive minded team to get better defensively?
Meh, i have never been more down on the SUNS than I am now, i should probably stop posting. Frickin clueless organization.

 

[mojorizen7]

who would u rather see as the next suns coach?

You didn't ask me but thats not the point. This has been the most clueless transition from
>contender('07)
>pretender('08 pre Shaq)
>re-tool(D'Antoni walks....Nash & co stays/Porter/Gentry/more SSOL)
>rebuild???(extend Nash/Gentry) that i've ever witnessed.
What a joke.


My football team still sucks but at least they know what rebuilding means and have a vision as to how and when to cash in your chips, go home and try to improve in the areas needed to get better.

 

[Ninjafish]

You didn't ask me but thats not the point. This has been the most clueless transition from
>contender('07)
>pretender('08 pre Shaq)
>re-tool(D'Antoni walks....Nash & co stays/Porter/Gentry/more SSOL)
>rebuild???(extend Nash/Gentry) that i've ever witnessed.
What a joke.


My football team still sucks but at least they know what rebuilding means and have a vision as to how and when to cash in your chips, go home and try to improve in the areas needed to get better.

The goal is to get back to this point
-contender('07)

To do that, Kerr must do the best job he can to make moves to un-do the mistakes that got us to this point
-rebuild???(extend Nash/Gentry)

Ditching Nash and SSOL doesn't get us back to the 07 point. That would only take us to the 5th stage of decline.

 

[elindholm]

I like Gentry and all but, I wonder exactly "how" he plans on getting this old , slow,offensive minded team to get better defensively?

Maybe by gradually acquiring players who aren't old, aren't slow, and aren't defensively incompetent?

I hope you weren't counting on a new coach making this team young again. That would have been a tall order.

It's time to stop looking for a quick fix. The problems with this team can't be solved in one summer or with coaching changes. And, at times, we saw the Suns' second unit defending pretty well toward the end of last season, so I think it's unfair to claim that Gentry can't teach defense. It is clear that he can't teach defense to Nash and O'Neal -- but no one can, so cut Gentry some slack.

 

[asudevil83]

Any good news......?
I like Gentry and all but, I wonder exactly "how" he plans on getting this old , slow,offensive minded team to get better defensively?
Meh, i have never been more down on the SUNS than I am now, i should probably stop posting. Frickin clueless organization.

with this roster its not going to ever happen. might as well forget about defense. they brought in Porter to do it.....it didnt work.

bringing in a defensive minded coach isnt going to magically turn guys like Nash/Amare/Richardson into good defenders.

it would be like trying to get Majerle to turn Shaq into a 3pt shooter. just because you have a good coach for it, doesnt mean the players are going to magically be good at it.

 

[MigratingOsprey]

it shows the organizations focus on the future of the team - nash isn't going anywhere

last year they tried to bring in a hard nosed, defensive minded coach and it didn't work out - there was about a mutiny with the players to the point where they had to go gentry

so given the same circumstance of players are you going to try again to bring in a defensive guy? - a guy who would want to install a disciplined half court offense?

it's tough

gentry is not a good head coach ...... never has been ... there is a reason why he's almost always the interim replacement and not retained as the HC

however, given the makeup of this team it's the best they're going to get

 

[Mainstreet]

The following statement is really key:

The Suns still owe Porter about $4.5 million, leaving a smaller money pool for the new coach.

The Suns can't get a better coach on the cheap. Besides I liked how the Suns played under Gentry. He also got the team playing better defense towards the end of the season.

Also what Elinholm said is correct:

Maybe by gradually acquiring players who aren't old, aren't slow, and aren't defensively incompetent?

The Suns need to start acquiring players that can play some defense like a younger Raja Bell. It will take time but this is how the Suns defense can be improved.

 

[HooverDam]

This blows..

As much as Gentry is a "players" coach, this team needs somebody else soon as the year is over. The guy has never been a winner, needs to stick to being an assistant

I don't know how much him never being a winner is really a fair assessment. Put Phil Jackson in coaching control of the teams Alvins had, his record wouldn't be great either.

 

[mojorizen7]

The goal is to get back to this point
-contender('07)

To do that, Kerr must do the best job he can to make moves to un-do the mistakes that got us to this point
-rebuild???(extend Nash/Gentry)

Ditching Nash and SSOL doesn't get us back to the 07 point. That would only take us to the 5th stage of decline.

I agree, but not in the same mold as that team.

 

[mojorizen7]

Maybe by gradually acquiring players who aren't old, aren't slow, and aren't defensively incompetent?

I hope you weren't counting on a new coach making this team young again. That would have been a tall order.

It's time to stop looking for a quick fix. The problems with this team can't be solved in one summer or with coaching changes. And, at times, we saw the Suns' second unit defending pretty well toward the end of last season, so I think it's unfair to claim that Gentry can't teach defense. It is clear that he can't teach defense to Nash and O'Neal -- but no one can, so cut Gentry some slack.

-Of course not.

-I agree. A quick fix is unrealistic and impossible. However, if the SUNS plan is to rebuild and get better defensively....why bring back Gentry and extend Nash respectively?

-I didn't claim that Gentry couldn't coach defense. He said that he believes the team needs to get better in that area. My question is...how?
Either blow up the roster and give Gentry a chance , keep re-tooling and bring in a real defensive coach, or both meaning hire a proven defensive head coach AND blow up the roster.

This SUNS current plan thus far seems very wishy washy to me Elindholm.

 

[elindholm]

However, if the SUNS plan is to rebuild and get better defensively....why bring back Gentry

Why ask that question, unless you doubt Gentry's ability to coach defense?

and extend Nash respectively?

I don't know. I personally think that extending Nash is a mistake, but I don't have strong feelings about it, and I can see both sides of the argument. I also think it's important to remember that Nash may not agree to an extension. The comments he made about "looking forward to the conversation" were in February, and a lot has changed since then.

He said that he believes the team needs to get better in that area. My question is...how?

As I already said, gradually add players who have the potential to be good defenders.

Either blow up the roster and give Gentry a chance

Blowing up the roster isn't an option, because the entire roster has negative trade value, except for Barbosa and a couple of the small-salary guys. There simply aren't any realistic blow-up trades that are a better option than just letting some of the big contracts expire.

keep re-tooling and bring in a real defensive coach

What makes you think Gentry isn't a "real defensive coach"? Do you actually think there's a coach out there who can turn Nash, O'Neal, and Stoudemire into good defenders?

This SUNS current plan thus far seems very wishy washy to me Elindholm.

They don't have much of a choice.

 

[Andrew]

I think this is a good thing, he seemed to be endorsed my the entire roster right off the bat and helped implement the old style and we won more games because of it. Give it a go with him, it couldn't hurt anything....

 

[YouJustGotSUNSD]

Alvin Gentry has agreed to terms with the Suns and is expected to sign a two-year contract.

-AZCentral

 

[LV-Suns]

3 year deal*

 

[Mainstreet]

Here is the link:

http://www.azcentral.com/sports/suns/articles/2009/05/09/20090509gentryonline.html

There is a team option for a third year.

 

[lou_skywalker]

good to see that he accepted such a low paying contract, not like Flip Saunders who rips off 18M in 4 years.

 

[JS22]

This team is a 5-7 seed IMO once Amare returns. If they dump Shaq for a defensive center, like Chandler, it gives them at outside chance of being dangerous in the West.

A few smart modifications here and there and the Suns can still at least have a slim chance at contending.

 

[mojorizen7]

Why ask that question, unless you doubt Gentry's ability to coach defense?

I do.

I don't know. I personally think that extending Nash is a mistake, but I don't have strong feelings about it, and I can see both sides of the argument. I also think it's important to remember that Nash may not agree to an extension. The comments he made about "looking forward to the conversation" were in February, and a lot has changed since then.



As I already said, gradually add players who have the potential to be good defenders.

Sounds good. Again, extending Nash does nothing in terms of working towards this goal. Its about as counter-productive as you can get in fact.

Blowing up the roster isn't an option, because the entire roster has negative trade value, except for Barbosa and a couple of the small-salary guys. There simply aren't any realistic blow-up trades that are a better option than just letting some of the big contracts expire.

I realize this is the NBA and not the NFL where you can't just cut guys, however if the plan is truly to rebuild then you can't expect to move your older pieces and always get fair trade value. Addition by subtraction persay. If they decide to ride out Nash and Shaq's contract's and all we have is Barbosa plus a ton of cap space thats great, but it's not a given that money will be the top priority in FA's decisions to come here....and play for Alvin Gentry with a bunch of guys that can't play any defense.
We'll just have to agree to disagree, the SUNS are in a difficult spot without a #1 pick next year but to claim that they couldn't blow up the roster and start rebuilding around a philosophy after jettisoning Nash,Shaq,JRich is simply not true.
IMO the SUNS are afraid of bottoming out and are unwilling to truly start over...plain and simple.

What makes you think Gentry isn't a "real defensive coach"? >>Do you actually think there's a coach out there who can turn Nash, O'Neal, and Stoudemire into good defenders?

For the one millionth time(directed at everybody not just you )....no. The roster needed a makeover last year.....its way overdue now.

They don't have much of a choice.

They do have a choice, imo they're making the wrong choice.

 

[mojorizen7]

This team is a 5-7 seed IMO once Amare returns. If they dump Shaq for a defensive center, like Chandler, it gives them at outside chance of being dangerous in the West.

A few smart modifications here and there and the Suns can still at least have a slim chance at contending.

I hope you're right. I'm still in the trade Nash party. You've got to be able to defend strongly both at the point of attack(on ball) and at the rim. Chandler would definately help at the rim.

 

[TJ]

This team is a 5-7 seed IMO once Amare returns. If they dump Shaq for a defensive center, like Chandler, it gives them at outside chance of being dangerous in the West.

A few smart modifications here and there and the Suns can still at least have a slim chance at contending.

Chandler is very injury prone. More so than Shaq.

Im interested to see what a full season of Gentry-Ball will look like, including a full offseason of preparation under his tutelage. 5-7 is a realistic goal. Just wish we can go back to the days of being a top 2 seed and a championship contender year after year