NBA West: Phoenix Needs to Rebuild Entire Team

This past week the Phoenix Suns decided it was time to part ways with Alvin Gentry and both mutually agreed it was best he step down as Heat Coach.

Gentry had a record of 158-144 at Phoenix, but this season the Suns are dead last in the Western Conference with a record of 13-28. Phoenix has lost two games in a row and has a record of 2-8 over its last 10 games.

In 2009, Gentry took over for a team that was near collapse at the All-Star break. He convinced management to keep that team intact, at least for that season and the following one, and guided the Suns to a record of 28-7 the last half of the season that year. He also took the team to the Finals of the Western Conference the next season.

However, since then, the team has been dismantled little by little. Amar’e Stoudemire was traded to New York, Grant Hill went to the Los Angeles Clippers and veteran point guard Steve Nash is now a Los Angeles Laker. The loss of those three took all of the veteran leadership. The Suns’ management did bring in Luis Scola and Goran Dragic from the Houston Rockets, but beyond those two, the Suns are a group of project players and mismatched pieces.

Many had hoped acquisition Michael Beasley would consider the Suns his last opportunity to prove that he deserves to play in the league and have a great season because of that. However, he has a scoring average of just 9 points a game and is shooting a dismal 37% from the floor.

Former Minnesota Timberwolves Wesley Johnson appeared to be ready to have a great season during preseason, but the former lottery pick has fallen out of the circle of players who plays game in and game out and has only seen garbage minutes most of the season.

Marcin Gortat has talked about not fitting into the system the Suns have and trade rumors have be passed around the last few weeks. Markieff Morris has not developed as a player like coaches thought he would and Jermaine O’Neal has started to look his age.

The roster moves made by the front office of the Suns have been nothing but huge failures and the team will have to be completely rebuilt from top to bottom and that now includes finding a new head coach.

For the mean time, the interim coaching job will most likely fall to Elston Turner the team’s assistant coach. Turner is no stranger to NBA benches. He was Rick Adelman’s longtime assistant at both Houston and Sacramento.

Regardless of who ever is the short term or eventual long term solution, he will have a job on his hands to turn the team around over the long run.