Is Jeff Hornacek the right choice for the Suns?

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sunsfan88

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I would encourage you to care, young man. Whether it's a basketball forum, a professional environment, or something else, proper grammar gives you more credibility.

Writing on a basketball forum is a very good practice for writing things that matter (resumes, cover letters, business plans, or any kind of professional correspondence.)

Don't be like everyone else. Be better!

I'm not too bad for being a Suns fan ;)

http://ftw.usatoday.com/2015/11/nba-fan-base-grammar-rankings-grammarly
 
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sunsfan88

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Ugh that is pretty sad. I wonder if the coach even cares anymore?


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Doubt he does. Hard to blame him when most of the fans don't either.
 

slinslin

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No he is not, over the last 2 seasons red flags turned up everywhere regarding his coaching

- last season he lost the locker room
- he clearly did not have the respect of his players (Marcus Morris incident)
- inconsistent rotations
- undefined player roles
- no visible improvement in terms of strategy, game plan
- team consitently failing plays after timeouts
- team consistenly falling apart in the 4th quarter
- little development of young players
- team consistently among league leaders in turnovers

It all comes back to coaching.

These are just objective facts.

Personally I see more problems than that. He does not seem inspirational, his standard answers are always along the lines of "players have to play better", "playing defense to get minutes", "offense will take care of itself if we play better".... this kind of stuff. I am pretty sure the players tuned him out by now.
 
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TJ

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Hornacek lacks creativity, loyalty, and instructional control over his team. When players start tuning you out, it shows a problem with leadership.

Hornacek should be fired.
 

Chaplin

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#1 priority is to get a guy with head coaching experience, no more of this assistant business--I'm tired of giving rookie coaches a chance. Gentry could have been described as a former head coach, but he was D'Antoni's assistant for a long time and had Steve Nash, so I don't think his head coaching experience really mattered. Other than that, time to get an established coach in here, someone who has shown at least SOME success at the professional or even college head coaching level.
 

Mainstreet

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#1 priority is to get a guy with head coaching experience, no more of this assistant business--I'm tired of giving rookie coaches a chance. Gentry could have been described as a former head coach, but he was D'Antoni's assistant for a long time and had Steve Nash, so I don't think his head coaching experience really mattered. Other than that, time to get an established coach in here, someone who has shown at least SOME success at the professional or even college head coaching level.

Also the Suns must be willing to pay the salary for an established head coach and quit looking at the wallet.
 
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sunsfan88

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I don't think Thibs is a realistic possibility but I do wonder if Jeff Van Gundy would have interest in returning to coaching. Would definitely give him a shot IMO.
 

JustWinBaby

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Don't know a lot about the guy but Messina in San Antonio has reportedly won several championships in Europe and is in Popovich's farm system.

Does anyone have any information on this guy, good or bad?
 

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I've said it before and was bashed but Thibodaux is the type of coach this team needs. A bunch of young guys that need discipline not a nice guy whom they can walk all over. Thibs would also provide some semblance of hope as he did a pretty good job in CHI and the Bulls haven't been the same since he was fired.

Can you imagine being Hornacek's shoes? He has to know he is on borrowed time plus his team doesn't respect him and the guy who publically humiliated him by throwing a towel in his face is still on the team.
 

leclerc

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Thibs or Van Gundy. Not Walton.


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Also trade Bledsoe and Knight. Get a "pure PG" and a starting material PF.
 
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StreetTruckinTitan

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Marc Stein ✔ @ESPNSteinLine
Fresh 2016 NBA bench rumble: There is active buzz in coaching circles that Mike D'Antoni will be on Suns' list if/when that job comes open
7:24 AM - 4 Jan 2016

Yes please!
 

elindholm

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Marc Stein ✔ @ESPNSteinLine
Fresh 2016 NBA bench rumble: There is active buzz in coaching circles that Mike D'Antoni will be on Suns' list if/when that job comes open
7:24 AM - 4 Jan 2016

Yeah, I'm really hoping this is bogus. Otherwise we can look for another growth period that culminates in a few 50-and-fade seasons, a whole bunch of anguish about how the Suns can never get over the top, and a chorus of people saying "Well at least they're relevant again." You can build a quick house out of plywood, but it's never going to be as strong as one that's constructed properly, even if the proper one takes a lot more time and planning.
 

StreetTruckinTitan

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Yeah, I'm really hoping this is bogus. Otherwise we can look for another growth period that culminates in a few 50-and-fade seasons, a whole bunch of anguish about how the Suns can never get over the top, and a chorus of people saying "Well at least they're relevant again." You can build a quick house out of plywood, but it's never going to be as strong as one that's constructed properly, even if the proper one takes a lot more time and planning.

Yeah that would be terrible. This Suns team is a dumpster fire with little redeeming qualities except for Warren, Booker and maybe Knight. I say bring in Mike and his coaches and turn this team back into a respectful franchise. I could care less what happened in NY or LA. Those teams didnt buy into Mikes philosophy and he didnt have a chance from the get go. You say we dont have Nash? Fine, bring back Nash's apprentice Goran. He about as close to Nash as you can get running Mikes system. But, Ill probably get bashed by wanting him back, so be it. Id rather the Suns be relevant again than the pos that this team is now.
 

Phrazbit

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Yeah, I'm really hoping this is bogus. Otherwise we can look for another growth period that culminates in a few 50-and-fade seasons, a whole bunch of anguish about how the Suns can never get over the top, and a chorus of people saying "Well at least they're relevant again." You can build a quick house out of plywood, but it's never going to be as strong as one that's constructed properly, even if the proper one takes a lot more time and planning.

Do you honestly think they'd make it that far? He needs the perfect mix of players to make a team competitive. In LA he had 4 all-stars and barely made the playoffs. In New York his firing made Mike Woodson look like Pat Riley.

If we hired Mike D'Antoni and didn't find Steve Nash's clone out there then we'd be more entertaining and pleasing to the eye... and we'd also win about 25-35 games per year.
 

Mainstreet

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Some 50 win seasons sound good right now. I don't worry what happened in LA with D'Antoni because Howard was not a fit, Nash was injured, Kobe needed to have the ball to be effective and Gasol seemed to want to go elsewhere.
 

Phrazbit

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Some 50 win seasons sound good right now. I don't worry what happened in LA with D'Antoni because Howard was not a fit, Nash was injured, Kobe needed to have the ball to be effective and Gasol seemed to want to go elsewhere.

They had FOUR ALL-STARS and barley squeaked into the playoffs. Gasol wanted to go elsewhere entirely because D'Antoni was so vapid as to think Earl Clark was the better fit for the team. There are quotes from Mike in April of that season where he acknowledges that it took him almost the full season to realize that playing Bynum (who was still really good) and Gasol at the same time was a feasible rotation.

And even more damning was his time in New York. The East in those seasons was wretched and he again was barley squeaking into the playoffs, when they fired him Mike Woodson (a terrible coach in his own right) took over and was immensely more successful with the exact same roster.

Even his record in Phoenix was something like 3-17 in games where Steve Nash didn't play.

He cannot achieve any remote level of success without an MVP quality point guard on his roster.
 

StreetTruckinTitan

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They had FOUR ALL-STARS and barley squeaked into the playoffs. Gasol wanted to go elsewhere entirely because D'Antoni was so vapid as to think Earl Clark was the better fit for the team. There are quotes from Mike in April of that season where he acknowledges that it took him almost the full season to realize that playing Bynum (who was still really good) and Gasol at the same time was a feasible rotation.

And even more damning was his time in New York. The East in those seasons was wretched and he again was barley squeaking into the playoffs, when they fired him Mike Woodson (a terrible coach in his own right) took over and was immensely more successful with the exact same roster.

Even his record in Phoenix was something like 3-17 in games where Steve Nash didn't play.

He cannot achieve any remote level of success without an MVP quality point guard on his roster.

As I said above. NY didnt buy into his philosophy and neither did LA. Goran would have been perfect running Mikes system. He's a pure PG the same as Nash was and can shoot. The Warriors are running Mikes system with an emphasis on defense. Who better to run that system than the original architect. Id love to get back to those 50+ win seasons and in the playoffs where anything can happen. We could have been in the finals with Mike two different seasons if freaky things didnt happen.
 

Mainstreet

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They had FOUR ALL-STARS and barley squeaked into the playoffs. Gasol wanted to go elsewhere entirely because D'Antoni was so vapid as to think Earl Clark was the better fit for the team. There are quotes from Mike in April of that season where he acknowledges that it took him almost the full season to realize that playing Bynum (who was still really good) and Gasol at the same time was a feasible rotation.

And even more damning was his time in New York. The East in those seasons was wretched and he again was barley squeaking into the playoffs, when they fired him Mike Woodson (a terrible coach in his own right) took over and was immensely more successful with the exact same roster.

Even his record in Phoenix was something like 3-17 in games where Steve Nash didn't play.

He cannot achieve any remote level of success without an MVP quality point guard on his roster.

I'm not locked into hiring D'Antoni back as head coach but the idea excites me. The Suns have been down for so long. IMO, the Suns need to cough up some money for a quality head coach rather than continually looking for one on the cheap (whether it be D'Antoni or someone else). At least the Suns know what they are getting in D'Antoni. When the Lakers hired D'Antoni, I was puzzled because Howard and Kobe where clearly bad fits. Nash had age and health problems going against him.

If D'Antoni were to be hired he would need to commit to playing defense and be more open to different ideas. I was really not into the Knicks situation so I will not comment.

If the Suns looked into hiring Tom Thibodeau or a lead assistant from a team like the Spurs I would be just as excited but I think D'Antoni can get the job done if he gets the right point guard to run the offense.
 
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