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According to Chris B. Haynes, former Suns forward and long time NBA coach Ty Corbin will be hired to as an assistant coach on Earl Watson's staff with the Phoenix Suns.
Ty Corbin agrees to join staff of Phoenix Suns head coach Earl Watson, league source tells @clevelanddotcom. Watson forming robust bench.
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) June 25, 2016
Corbin joins earlier hire Jay Triano as Watson's top assistants, along with incumbent Nate Bjorkgren.
Corbin was traded to the Suns in the famous Kevin Johnson trade in 1988, where Larry Nance went to Cleveland as part of the Suns' massive rebuild. Corbin played two seasons in Phoenix before moving on. He had 11 different stints with 9 separate NBA teams before retiring in 2001.
You can always leave it to Scott Howard to walk down memory lane.
To celebrate Tyrone Corbin's return to Phoenix, I dug out his Suns basketball card. pic.twitter.com/F48zbl5Ttv
— Scott Howard (@ScottHoward42) June 25, 2016
Corbin then joined the Utah Jazz as an assistant coach from 2004-2011, when he was installed as the head coach for three seasons. Corbin was Watson's coach for three of Watson's seasons as a player.
Jazz beat writer Jody Genessy covered both Watson and Corbin in Utah.
Very interesting. Tyrone Corbin is joining Suns coach Earl Watson's staff as an assistant, @ChrisBHaynes reported. That's a solid hire.
— Jody Genessy (@DJJazzyJody) June 25, 2016
Corbin was fired by Utah in 2014, then worked for the Kings and once again took over as the interim head coach there for part of a season after Mike Malone was fired. Corbin coached for a few months and remained in the Kings front office after being relieved of his coaching duties in favor of George Karl in February 2015.
Watson now has two long time NBA assistant coaches who have each taken over interim positions, just like Earl did last season. They can bring a wealth of knowledge to the coaching staff on how to handle chaos and turnover, at the very least.
Bjorkgren, the primary incumbent assistant coach, is set to coach the Suns Summer League entrant in Vegas SL next month, just like he did a year ago.