Up until about 30 minutes ago when over my morning coffee I read about Flip Saunders getting canned I was all but certain that Kerr's tea leaves were coming up Porter.
We heard from various sources that the Suns wanted someone with head coaching experience and of all the candidates that meant Porter. He had a solid run with the Bucks and has an outstanding reputation in the league.
Now, with this morning's news is the apple cart over turned? Will the Suns be interested in Saunders and/or will Porter be tapped to lead the Pistons?
In the mean time, we are fortunate to have some GREAT insight into Terry Porter from the great folks over at Blazer's Edge .
Check this out from Rick Adelman's 1991 book The Long Hot Winter.
This guy could be your next Suns coach:
I felt at the time, Terry would never truly be the leader until one thing happened: he needed a contract that got him on equal footing with everybody else. It finally happened after the 1988-89 season. He played out his original contract and hit the jackpot. He made a heck of a deal. And the thing that impressed me the most is that the summer he got that contract was the summer during which he worked the hardest. He wanted to show he deserved the money.
After the contract, his level of play and his confidence level - everything - was different. He was a different player. I think he finally felt accepted, that he had arrived - that he belonged. And I think the leadership role was a natural thing for him out on the court from that point on. In the playoffs last season he made big shots, rose to the occasion time after time. I saw a new maturity about him as a player and as a person. He knew he belonged with the top players in the league.