Alvin Gentry Press Conference: We are going to improve defensively

by Seth Pollack on May 12, 2009 4:04 PM MST in Phoenix Suns News

The Phoenix Suns held a press conference today to officially announce the signing of Alvin Gentry as the next head coach. Gentry signed a two-year deal with an option for a third year based on team performance.

Our friends at Sports 620 KTAR were on hand and shared the audio from the event.

Here's some key points:

Gentry will retain his assistants (Majerle, Cartwright, Kokoskov) and said Mark West will help out as he did late last season
Gentry will represent the Suns at the NBA Draft Lottery on May 19th (and joked that if Blake Griffin is available that they would draft him....Suns have the 14th pick with a point-5 percent chance to get the number-one pick)
Gentry represented the Clippers back in 2001 when they moved up from 8th to 2nd and eventually drafted Tyson Chandler---then traded him to Chicago for Elton Brand
Gentry stressed the need for the Suns to focus on the defense and improve the pick and roll coverage
The Suns won't start bringing guys in for pre-draft workouts until the end of the month
Kerr said with respect to the roster and the financial ramifications that they don't have to do anything. "Our hands are not tied." He made it sound like ownership was okay with paying the luxury tax again saying if they have to "grind our way through this year" they will. He pointed out that in a year's time they will have significant financial flexibility (i.e. Shaq comes off the books)
The Suns will be paying two head coaches over the next two seasons: Porter's final two years of a three-year contract and the first two years of Gentry's two-year contract (that does include a third year option)
Kerr said their number-one priority now is signing Steve Nash to a contract extension. Kerr added that he and Nash met a couple of weeks ago
Kerr said Amare Stoudemire is progressing. There is still fluid in Stoudemire's eye that needs to drain out so Stoudemire isn't running yet but should be ready to get back out on the floor soon
Kerr addressed the draft saying they likely will take the best player available with the idea "that player may not play much this year"

Kerr comments

Gentry comments

Gentry on Sports 620 KTAR Gambo and Ash show

Poll

Head Coach Alvin Gentry has talked about the need to improve defensively. Assuming the same group of players return for the Suns next season, how much improvement will the Suns make on that end of the floor?

None. If anything they will get worse and finish in the bottom 20

21 votes

They will be about the same. Can't teach old dogs new tricks

89 votes

Some. They will be motivated to improve and be above average

163 votes

A lot. Gentry will perform a miracle and turn the Suns into a top 5 defensive team

19 votes

Defense? Who cares when you are scoring 140 points

54 votes

346 votes | Poll has closed

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Comments

NIce

good post. Its funny how time tends to affect your reasoning. At the end of the season if they had come out and said all of this stuff I would have be livid and called for someone to be fired. But now…eh. It actually sounds pretty good. Sarver’s stuff about learning from the experience with Mike to wait before making decisions after the season is over was a great lesson learned. I am excited about this team again. I think we can keep everyone and get to the playoffs to make some noise. If the players like Gentry, which it seems they do, then I think they will be willing to work for him on defense. So next season shapes up to be an interesting one

Go read a book!

by N8lol on May 13, 2009 7:53 AM MST reply actions

Improved defense

It will still be our bench bringing the defense into the game as long as they get minutes which they should under Gentry.

I sure hope STAT wears goggles the rest of his career however.

by AcucracK on May 13, 2009 11:35 AM MST reply actions

Full Court Press

In Bill Simmons latest article, an interview with Malcom Gladwell and actually a really good read, they mention the full court press. They bring up the fact that no NBA team has used it effectively since the 97-98 Celtics and that more teams should start running it.

I think the Suns should look into this. Study how Pitino uses it and then teach it to a unit (Full Court Press Specialists) and run it consistently at the start of the 2nd and 4th quarters as they mention in the interview. Dragic, Barbosa, Barnes, Amundson and Lopez would be a good starting point. All are young players willing to work hard for their minutes and all could be taught how to press. With Barbosa as the main scoring threat and all the players laying a heavy press on teams second units I think we could start posting decent defensive numbers.

by bangbang240 on May 13, 2009 4:36 PM MST reply actions