time to fire terry porter?

Remember at the end of the 3rd qt against the Spurs, there was maybe 3 secs left and Pops immediately subs in some shooters. TP does nothing, leaves Nash out there (we’re on defense with one possession left) and Nash picks up the foul on Manu and then a tech. (A lot can be summed up this year from those few seconds—misuse of players strengths and weaknesses, laziness on details etc).

Then in the 4th, the Spurs keep Duncan on the bench, but TP has Shaq, Amare, and Nash out there together… at least Mike D was careful to balance Shaq’s time with TD.

And does anyone remember TP saying before the season started something like: “we don’t need many offensive plays, just a couple and mix those up”

Dough Collins anyone?

I couldn’t agree more. While D’Antonio didn’t figure out how to incorporate Shaq in the lineup last year, they had glimpses of what could be. Under Porter I’m sorry this team has taken a step backwards. They’ll be competitive simply because of talent alone. However there is no way in hell that they will get by a well coached team in the playoffs or in a regular season matchup for that matter.

I’m not going up against any of your points. But I feel it’s necessary to point out problems that exist in the system instead of the coach. I think some of the problems you’ve pointed out would have existed with any other coach (at least, a conventional defensive/low post minded coach) with the exception of Coach D (and people who follow his style). And also, I think some of the problems also extend to the chemistry and the type of skills of the players.

1.) On defense, I think it would have happened with any other defensive minded coach (other than coach D) because SSOL relies on pace-centered defense. If we want real M2M and team defense, then a transition would have been absolutely necessary with any other coach.

2.) On offense, I think chemistry and offensive are issues here. While there are a lot of good offensive players, it mainly depends on what kind “offense” they are playing. Nash, Barbosa, and STAT came from SSOL era while Shaq from the low post offensive teams. I think the issue here is player selection and mixing the players together. It was a hard decision for Porter to choose between SSOL or low post. Yes, there’s a balancing act right now for the Suns but the “balancing” is more of an indecisiveness to what the offense should be. I think it would have been a hard decision for any coach given that we have different kinds of players who work under different offensive ideas. Porter was/is caught between two walls.

3.) Motivation? Maybe it’s hard to say, I like Porter for dissing Stat. Who knows what Porter has been doing behind the scenes? Assuming he is doing something, then it’s the players problem

4. The hack-a-bown, I feel, is not a problem in a vacuum, the problem was doing it repeatedly. I thought it was a risk worth taking. His fault was ordering it again and again.

5. Rotations? Maybe we can fault Porter for not maximizing the potential of the rotations. But it begs the question, can the potential be maximize more? I think the problem is the mixing of players in the team. Any other coach might have had the same problem. If we’re pissed at Barnes for being like that, than we should criticize Barnes and not just Porter. In fact, if i remember right, Porter was the one who was wanted an adjustment not to rush the shots (Barnes) and wait for the best opportunity. I’m not sure who to blame Barnes for, maybe Porter is doing something from behind and Barnes is not listening.

6. Resting Shaq issue. I don’t think we should blame TP for this. In a vacuum, Shaq’s incapability to play b2b games is an age issue that would give any other coach a problem. I think the problem with Porter is “selecting” the games regarding resting Shaq. I agree that resting Shaq against Denver was a problem, but remember, at that time, the Suns were playing very well. We all thought (and I m sure even the players and TP) that the Suns we getting their act together. We did have victories against good teams without Shaq (Orlando) and Denver was playing without Anthony (we won against Denver early in the season with Anthony playing). Regarding the Wolves, that was a blunder but nost just Porter, but the whole team. I think TP wanted to rest Shaq to go up against Jefferson. Afterall, Minnesota relies more on the post than Denver.

Regarding Atlanta and Wizards, this happened recently and Porter must have learned from the Denver/Minessota issue and decided against resting Shaq. We cannot analyze the Denver/Minnesota – Hawks/Wizards in the same standard but also look at the different circumstances that the actor (TP) learned from the evolution of events.

Now, I don’t disagree with firing Porter. I’m very open to the possibility and slowly getting irritated at some of his decisions. But it’s only fair that we blame him for mistakes that we can isolate and specific mistakes he made (repeated hack-a-Bowen) instead of mistakes that exist beyond him.

Cheers and thank you.

D’antoni had this figured out; Nash/Amare as a combo and Shaq on the court at the same time is a bad idea. Porter has figured this out recently, but it may be too late. Last season Shaq would sit early around the 6 or 7 minute mark then he would come back into the game to anchor the second unit. Last year Barbosa, Boris, and Giricek all played well with Shaq. This year i picture playing small around Shaq with JRich, LB, Hill and Barnes. All slashers, cutters, and three point shooters aside from Hill’s shaky 3 point touch. Shaq simply cannot coincide with Amare and Nash for extended periods of time, for 5-6 minute intervals they can be unbelievable as we’ve seen for stretches since the J-rich trade pre-temper tantrums. Why even bother having Nash/Amare and Shaq on the court at the same time? Even I could make a post entry pass to Shaq, why waste Nash’s minutes to accomplish this casual task? I’ve been pulling my hair out for months watching Amare play like Kurt Thomas; pick and pop, pick and pop, pick and pop. AH!! That was the most devastating 2 man game in the NBA and we sacrifice that for left handed baby hooks from a 36 year old? Instead we have Shaq defending Nash and Amare’s devastating pick and roll. I could go on forever…

So I live in Connecticut, I have trained some friends to be Suns fans but they have lost interest. I need Phoenix Suns therapy. So I’ll just talk to a blog. Sounds reasonable right? Whatever.

Keeping Nash and shaq off the court also covers up the massive defensive liability in the pick and roll. I went to the Knicks game. Duhon and David Lee shredding Nash and Shaq in the pick and role for 48 minutes was just depressing.

Another thing Porter has been awful with is managing Amare. This is a dangerous point, but a valid point nonetheless. Amare clearly plays 500% better when he is the guy, and we all know he has the talent to be that guy. Ironically his words; not mine. D’antoni knew to get any defense from Amare whatsoever he had to pet his offensive ego. In games that the Suns were up comfortably in the 4th coach mike would put Amare in the game during scrub time to pad the STAT (couldn’t resist) sheet. Is it a flaw in amare? Of course. Does it make sense to do what Coach Mike did to get the best out of his player…OF COURSE. The team has to look out for themselves first, if it means Amare has to beat up scrubs for 4 minutes for 10 points and 4 rebs to stroke his ego to play well. Then do it. Unfortunately we are rarely up comfortably anymore.