I think I’ve said before that I didn’t think Porter is a bad coach, but that he was a bad fit here, and I think it’s time to elaborate.

The two big criticisms of Mike D were that his teams were defensively weak, and that his bench rotations were too short resulting in fatigue and injuries at the end of the year.

When Porter came here, the team already had an established identity, particularly on offense. The consensus, I think it’s true to say, was that while we needed some major revamping on defense, and in particular to develop a clear direction for the defense, the offense required at most a few tweaks, following the mode of play adopted at the end of last season. We all expected, from this forum to the Sun locker room, that this team would simply be, in essence, a much more hard nosed version of last years’ team.

I think Porter’s fundamental problem was that he was so concerned with not being Mike D, that he almost became the Anti-Mike, doing the opposite things to someone who as a well loved coach, both in the locker room and in the city.

That contrarian mindset, imho, lead to a number of questionable decisions and actions, including the decision to run the offense through Shaq (and reduce Nash to an into the post passer), the decision to play the whole bench (even though it was clear the two rookies in particular were not close to being ready to play with the vets), and his decision to be an authoritarian coach, trying to change the identity of the team.

Moreover, this disconnect between the coach and his players ended up on court, where a previously well regulated team lost their ability to communicate on court in a consistent fashion, resulting in turnovers, blown plays, bad defense and a whole bunch of other things.

Ultimately it resulted in the alienation, and subsequent trade of Raja and Boris. Other players such as Grant, Leandro and Shaq had no problem following the new regime, Nash tried to make it work, but couldn’t, and Amare just refused and pouted his way through the season.

I’d point out that the great coaches, such as Red Auerbach, Phil Jackson and Greg Popovich, deal with their players as real people. Red A. was friends with Cousy and Russell, Phil J with Jordan, and Greg P and Timmy D are definitely friends. And Steve, Raja & Boris and the others except STAT (who is definitely his own man), all had that with Mike D. My feeling is Terry went out of his way to not be anybody’s friend.

But, if you’re going to be a championship level team, then you have to have that kind of dynamic with your players, because without it you can’t have trust, which is the most important relationship a coach need to have with his players. Without it, a coach can’t get true buy-in from his players. That’s why coaches like Scott Skiles and P.J Carlesimo never get to a stage where they can truly contend, because they’re fundamentally non-trusting people. And players are just unable to give 110% to a person they don’t trust. That’s just human nature.

Porter never tried, imho, to try and establish that kind of trust, which combined with his insecurity vis-a-vis Mike D., essentially doomed him from the start. In particular, the decision to take the ball out of Nash’s hands, resulted in a clear WTF? feeling in the locker room, and at that point he lost his players. And at the end of the day, this is a player’s league.

I also think Porter’s handling of the rookies was poor. It’s very rare that a rookie can just come in after the draft and make meaningful and consistent contributions, even off the bench. it takes time.
A rookie has 4 things he has to do:

1. Adjust to the change in locker room. In college, you play with boys, who live together, play together and generally meld into a unit, but you’re guided by the coach, who holds your future in his hands btw. In the pros, rookies are at the bottom of the food chain, and authority is held by the veterans and the superstars. You might be competing with the vet for his roster spot and consequently his livelihood, so he’s not necessarily going to be your friend.
2. Adjust to the game. The pro game is faster, more physical and more precise than the college game. In addition, the games are 48 mins, and generally play 3 or 4 times a week. Managing fatigue and injuries is crucial.
3. Improve skills. Learn more complex defenses, refine shooting and passing. Make your skills reliable under pressure. learn the tricks. become confident. In short, become a pro.
4. Adjust to the off court stuff. Rookies are not immersed in basketball 24/7 anymore. They now live alone, away from the practice facility, and must develop their own routine. They need to know about nutrition. Travel and spend a lot more time on the road. learn how to rest properly, and prepare for games. learn to deal with mature and immature adults. learn to handle the money (and the groupies..). learn to deal with the press and media. grow up.

There’s a lot there for a rookie, and it’s up to the coach, and to a lesser extent the vets, to help the rookie deal with all of those things during the 1st year, and part of that process involves providing clear direction and instruction on what the rookie’s role is supposed to be.

Furthermore, even though this is the pros, there’s a certain amount of nurturing that has to go on. Part of the process of maturing a rookie is to try and reduce the mistakes, without making the rookie too afraid to make a mistake, that he is unable to function properly on the court. You don’t just drop a rookie into the water and expect him to swim.

Alvin G, otoh, has been much better about defining what was expected from his rookies, took advantage of his veterans to mature the rookies, give them quality time, and built up their confidence, and allowed them if not to blossom, then germinate.

He’s also done a much better job of building trust with his veterans which, if they all come back, means we should make the playoffs next year and not underachieve.

Super stars…that’s what it takes. I said at the beginning of this season that the Suns would go as far as Amare would take them. If he raised his game to the next level (and I really thought he could) then with him as the focal point supported by Nash, Hill and Shaq and the rest of the talent than that squad is a championship team.

Same goes for next season. The only hope is that Amare becomes a top five player which means being great on both ends. This time, I just don’t see it happening. I’ve lost faith in him that he will put in the time in the film room and be coachable enough to learn to play help defense. If by some miracle Gentry can get him there and the Suns can replace JRich w/ a Bell type of role playing two guard and with a little luck this team could be decent enough to make substantial noise.

Does anyone here really thing Amare will come back next season and step up to that level of player?

The point is that Sarver has chosen a commitment to above-average basketball over a gamble to win it all in 3 years. Not a judgment … just sayin’

I remember the economy slowing down before Clinton left, when the dotcom bubble burst on march 10, 2000.

Now back to Bball!