Igor's "System"

Mainstreet

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All of the players speak highly of Igor, on the team or off, and I'll take the positives said by the players with a real history with Igor over the board posters who swear Igor is the most incompetent coach they've ever seen. Like Stefan and JC said, we need continuity. Blaming Igor for this season doesn't tell the full story. The Suns were 8-13 after the All-Star break, when he finally had a roster and rotation with NBA players occupying it. The first half of the season he was forced to make due with veterans like Ariza who didn't want to be here and G-League players like Canaan. Once we added Oubre and Johnson he was able to show what this team could be and I fully believe if we didn't sit players at the end of the year he would have had the team posting a 500 record after the All-Star break. Everything had finally clicked and then we sat players to "tank" a little because they weren't playing for anything.

As I mentioned earlier, the Suns need to make an announcement about Kokoskov's future soon. Otherwise it will lead to a lot of speculation. I'm fine going forward with Igor but the new Suns front office needs to give him a vote of confidence soon if they support him.
 

SirStefan32

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As I mentioned earlier, the Suns need to make an announcement about Kokoskov's future soon. Otherwise it will lead to a lot of speculation. I'm fine going forward with Igor but the new Suns front office needs to give him a vote of confidence soon if they support him.

I agree with this. They need to make a decision and announce it as quickly as possible.
 

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As I mentioned earlier, the Suns need to make an announcement about Kokoskov's future soon. Otherwise it will lead to a lot of speculation. I'm fine going forward with Igor but the new Suns front office needs to give him a vote of confidence soon if they support him.

I'm fine if they don't say anything. He's under contract for next year, I believe his deal was a 3 or 4 year contract, so saying again they're supporting him seems odd. James Jones has come out and said Igor is the coach a few times this year, like after that road trip where Gambo said he'd be fired if he lost the Miami game. James Jones is in charge still so I don't need to hear from him that Igor is his choice for head coach. I guess it wouldn't hurt but it will cause even more rumblings about Igor needing to be fired amongst the anti-Igor crowd because there is something to point to directly saying that the Suns are stupid.
 

Mainstreet

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I'm fine if they don't say anything. He's under contract for next year, I believe his deal was a 3 or 4 year contract, so saying again they're supporting him seems odd. James Jones has come out and said Igor is the coach a few times this year, like after that road trip where Gambo said he'd be fired if he lost the Miami game. James Jones is in charge still so I don't need to hear from him that Igor is his choice for head coach. I guess it wouldn't hurt but it will cause even more rumblings about Igor needing to be fired amongst the anti-Igor crowd because there is something to point to directly saying that the Suns are stupid.

If Sarver, Bowers or Jones would include Kokoskov in a statement about the Suns going forward I think it would be sufficient to quiet the rumblings. It wouldn't even have to be an announcement. The Suns front office being quiet leads to speculation.
 

1Sun

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All of the players speak highly of Igor, on the team or off, and I'll take the positives said by the players with a real history with Igor over the board posters who swear Igor is the most incompetent coach they've ever seen. Like Stefan and JC said, we need continuity. Blaming Igor for this season doesn't tell the full story. The Suns were 8-13 after the All-Star break, when he finally had a roster and rotation with NBA players occupying it. The first half of the season he was forced to make due with veterans like Ariza who didn't want to be here and G-League players like Canaan. Once we added Oubre and Johnson he was able to show what this team could be and I fully believe if we didn't sit players at the end of the year he would have had the team posting a 500 record after the All-Star break. Everything had finally clicked and then we sat players to "tank" a little because they weren't playing for anything.

This is exactly what was said by many at the end of LAST season. And there is a huge difference between a coach being liked by his players and a coach being the right man for the job. Case in point: Earl Watson was LOVED by his players, and they all spoke VERY highly of Watson.
 

sdscard4

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19 freaking wins....number 1 pick and some great additions...but guess what 2 less wins than last year's pathetic campaign. Sorry he's gotta go. See ya
 

AzStevenCal

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Once we added Oubre and Johnson he was able to show what this team could be and I fully believe if we didn't sit players at the end of the year he would have had the team posting a 500 record after the All-Star break. Everything had finally clicked and then we sat players to "tank" a little because they weren't playing for anything.

Up until this comment, I liked your post. You've gone here before, what makes you think we're sitting players that aren't legitimately injured?
 

BC867

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Hornacek, Watson, Triano, Kokoskov, ???. Really? We want to make Devin Booker, as young as he is, play under the fifth head coach?

What this franchise needs is stability.
Stability, yes. But talented stability fit for the job.
 

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Up until this comment, I liked your post. You've gone here before, what makes you think we're sitting players that aren't legitimately injured?

They could have legit injuries but I don't believe their injuries would have had them miss as many games as they did had the team been in the playoff race. As soon as news came out about Booker's last injury news came out that he was shut down for the remainder of the season, same for Ayton. Oubre sat for probably 5-6 games before news came out that he was going to have surgery and the same case with Tyler Johnson, he missed a lot of time before news of his knee surgery came out. I have no doubt that they had injuries but I question whether the injuries themselves were of the level that required them to sit immediately while they healed or if they could have continued playing through them for another 2-3 weeks.
 

Yuma

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I am OK with the front office taking a couple days with Bower coming in to discuss coaching. It's a big decision. Is there a coach who has a sysytem that fits our personnel better that's available? Do you think Igor can make a jump with our talent in year two? What do players says now about Igor? I can wait a couple days.
 

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Considering that nothing has changed in terms of front office hierarchy (Sarver still making the call through yes-man Jones), I would bet just about anything that we are stuck with Igor for another season.
 

Cheesebeef

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Hornacek, Watson, Triano, Kokoskov, ???. Really? We want to make Devin Booker, as young as he is, play under the fifth head coach?

What this franchise needs is stability.

SMH... this is the same line you and others sold last year about keeping McD around.

Stability is a really good thing... when you have a good thing going. Stability for the sake of stability when the team somehow went BACKWARDS after last year's all-time worst season just makes very little sense to me.

And you know who I want to make Devin Booker play under? A GOOD coach. Someone that can make chicken salad out of chicken ish at the very worst. Igor was handed crap and came back with a record that was somehow even worse than last year's crap. NO one wanted him to bring back a "gourmet meal" as was stated earlier in the thread. We just didn't want a pile of crap that actually tasted worse than the year before, especially considering we added two-first round picks this year that everyone here lauds.

stability. man... I just don't get it sometimes.
 

JCSunsfan

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SMH... this is the same line you and others sold last year about keeping McD around.

Stability is a really good thing... when you have a good thing going. Stability for the sake of stability when the team somehow went BACKWARDS after last year's all-time worst season just makes very little sense to me.

And you know who I want to make Devin Booker play under? A GOOD coach. Someone that can make chicken salad out of chicken ish at the very worst. Igor was handed crap and came back with a record that was somehow even worse than last year's crap. NO one wanted him to bring back a "gourmet meal" as was stated earlier in the thread. We just didn't want a pile of crap that actually tasted worse than the year before, especially considering we added two-first round picks this year that everyone here lauds.

stability. man... I just don't get it sometimes.
Yup. You got me there. I am just not convinced its about coaching. This team was beginning to really get it just before all the injuries hit to close out the season. I know. I am the pollyanna of this bunch.
 

1Sun

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Yup. You got me there. I am just not convinced its about coaching. This team was beginning to really get it just before all the injuries hit to close out the season. I know. I am the pollyanna of this bunch.

Yep. They were starting to get it to the point of being blown out at home by 17 by a mediocre Jazz squad in their last game of full health...
 

dscher

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It's all moot until Sarver is gone.. I think as bad as we think it is, it is ten times worse in the basketball community. Imo
 

Cheesebeef

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Yup. You got me there. I am just not convinced its about coaching. This team was beginning to really get it just before all the injuries hit to close out the season. I know. I am the pollyanna of this bunch.

I just saw SOOOOOO little progression from the young guys this season, especially Ayton that I'm fearful what another year of bad habits and lukewarm at best coaching does for the team's development. I mean, Josh Jackson didn't improve this season from the end of last, Ayton showed up as 16/10 while making minimal impact and ended the season the same way, if a little worse stat wise and Bridges didn't seem to grow much over the season either. He came in a good defender that was an okay at best shooter and ended the season the same way.
 

1Sun

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I just saw SOOOOOO little progression from the young guys this season, especially Ayton that I'm fearful what another year of bad habits and lukewarm at best coaching does for the team's development. I mean, Josh Jackson didn't improve this season from the end of last, Ayton showed up as 16/10 while making minimal impact and ended the season the same way, if a little worse stat wise and Bridges didn't seem to grow much over the season either. He came in a good defender that was an okay at best shooter and ended the season the same way.

This.
 

BC867

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Being that we are evidently stuck with Igor here is the key phrase in the article.

With Kokoskov under contract for two more years, I think that’s a fair amount of time to give him unless no real progress is seen again on the court next season.

Interestingly, Bender is quoted as saying, "He speaks my language." The NBA is an American league made up primarily of minorities.

Hopefully, Igor will speak everyone elses' language. And develop the confidence to show some excitement in his leadership and interviews.
 

Cheesebeef

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"All of the following players on the Suns’ roster saw growth with the help of Kokoskov and his staff: Josh Jackson - shot mechanics, Dragan Bender - confidence and finishing high around the rim, Mikal Bridges - aggressiveness and play-making, and Deandre Ayton - defense. All four saw rapid development in each of these categories from Game 1 to Game 82. And even more members of the roster saw progressions, albeit on a more gradual path."

Man... this is just saying something with very little evidence backing it up. Dragan Bender barely saw the floor and when he did, looked like the same thing he did last season. Bridges... playmaking improved? No. Not one bit. Dude was a stud on D, but did very little else. Jackson's shot mechanics moved the needle not at all on his overall shooting and he went up from 6% from 3... which is okay. And the less said about Ayton's D the better.

The reality is the youngins didn't improve so much through the course of the season as much as the talent around them did, getting a boost from Oubre and Johnson. It was only once those additions were made did the Suns in any way shape or form look like they belonged on a basketball court.

that said, he had a disastrous PG situation to deal with and thus, he gets a little more rope to hang himself next season. But not much more unless we see real improvement from the guys above... improvement that isn't measured by "I say so" but W's in the standings.
 

JerkFace

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I wonder if we are holding off on a decision on Igor’s future to see if any of the playoff coaches get let go. There are rumors that Brett Brown may be let go if Philadelphia doesn’t go far in the playoffs. Any thoughts on Brown as a potential Suns coach?
 

Mainstreet

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I wonder if we are holding off on a decision on Igor’s future to see if any of the playoff coaches get let go. There are rumors that Brett Brown may be let go if Philadelphia doesn’t go far in the playoffs. Any thoughts on Brown as a potential Suns coach?

The Suns have been remarkably quiet about the future of Kokoskov. Perhaps they are keeping the door open.
 

1tinsoldier

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the truth is more like
Holmes, Oubre, and Johnson came in with their better attributes already
(mainly passion, which was missing from the other Suns under Igor),
Bridges and Melton came in with their D instilled from college,
JJ lost his way after finishing nicely last year and recovered somewhat,
and Ayton came in with his 7'1 presence and both progressed and regressed.

and even with an improved roster Igor managed to lead them to a worse record than last year's last place team

NEXT!
 

Phrazbit

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It's been a week, other teams have already dumped people and made new hires, safe to say that Igor isn't getting canned.

Well... at least until like Halloween or something, because in Sarver's world the right time to shuffle up the organization is right when the season starts.
 

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