On Sunday, as January was winding to a close, so was the tenure of Jeff Hornacek as head coach of the Phoenix Suns. The handwriting was already on the wall long before the decision was made, however, the situation that Hornacek was in may not have been entirely his fault. The Suns, an interesting experiment under owner Robert Sarver and general manager Ryan McDonough, still have questions to answer about their current state and the future of the franchise.
When the news finally broke that Phoenix was cutting ties with Hornacek, the key word was “finally.” After a remarkable 2014 season when the team finished 48-34, it has been predominantly downhill ever since. It wasn’t just one move or one issue that took the team down, but a series of decisions made on the bench and in the front office that created the disaster that is the 2016 season.
The Suns brought in Isaiah Thomas, then sent him out again. Draft picks changed hands. Goran Dragic was sent packing. Then, they traded Marcus Morris to the Detroit Pistons. When the Morrii were split up is when the latest trouble arose. The trade angered Markieff Morris and left him vowing to not play again for Phoenix. A possibly underpaid, unhappy player who feels betrayed and suffers from overconfidence isn’t particularly good for any locker room.
To double down, not only did some combination of Sarver, McDonough and staff make a mess of trades and offseason transactions like thinking they would land LeBron James or LaMarcus Aldridge, but they hung Hornacek out to dry. Long before they sent the coach packing, they failed to give him an appropriate work environment by creating a carousel of guards, and letting a betrayed Morris sit and fester, failing to move his contract at any point in time. They have even doubled down, stating that it is their intention to center their offense moving forward around the disgruntled Morris. After clearly making a decision to keep and tolerate Markieff and his behavior – throwing a towel at his coach when being subbed out for starters – they signaled that if it was players or coach, they were taking the players.
Moving further in that direction, Hornacek found himself on an island with his top two assistants set adrift. Eventually, Hornacek was cut loose. The Suns decision to cater to what, at best, amounts to a luke warm trade chip says a lot about the direction that Sarver and friends are focused on leading this team.
Markieff has spent a large portion of this season doing his best to look more like a Jordan Peele character in a Key & Peele sketch than a starting forward on a team that intends to win. And while not particularly documented, his dissent in the organization doesn’t do any favors to a club that has T.J. Warren and Devin Booker, both outstanding young players, on the roster.
Since January 1, Booker leads all rookies with 17.9 points per game on 33.9 minutes per game. He seems to have found a working place in the lineup in the absence of other players who have fallen to injury. Warren is the latest victim of injury in Phoenix and will miss the rest of the season due to a broken foot. Before that unfortunate turn, Warren was enjoying 11.1 points per game in 22.8 minutes and was firing off three-point attempts at 40.0 percent. He had already played more game this year than in his rookie season and the points, minutes and three-point accuracy were all big improvements.
Booker is still standing at this point and that is going to be important for the Suns down the stretch. Eric Bledsoe suffered a season-ending injury in December, Warren is out, and Brandon Knight – having his best season yet for minutes, points and field goal percentage – is currently on a streak of missed games due to a groin injury.
Booker is a worthy focus as the Suns need to regroup and determine what they want the future to look like. The Suns would do well to focus on the development of the youngster with the future of Bledsoe uncertain as his latest knee injury was on his “good” knee. At just half a season, Booker is already finding a connection with PJ Tucker who has assisted Booker 16 times this season entering their Thursday night matchup with the Rockets, more than any other Sun. Morris, interestingly, isn’t far behind at 14. Booker has really found his way with the Suns starters and that success probably has a lot to do with his high success rate at or near the rim. Entering Thursday, Booker was shooting 80.0 on cutting layups and 70.6 on driving layups – both impressive numbers for a rookie. His numbers appear to be ideal for the modern NBA: high volume, high success from inside 8 feet, 60.0 percent, and beyond 24 feet, 41.8 percent.
If Phoenix is ready to commit to their young players and understand that the team that pushed for the playoffs in 2014 is long gone, they have to start thinking about developmental coaching options. Surely they do not believe that Earl Watson is the long-term answer for this team. Ideally, they would need to improve on both ends of the court. Their offensive rating has dropped dramatically each of the past two seasons. They are currently among the worst teams in the league on that side of the ball, but have been very bad on defense as well. A lot of great candidates have become available over the past year. Lionel Hollins, Tom Thibodeau, and David Blatt some of the most prominent names on that list. If defense is going to be a focus, someone like Thibodeau would have been be the leading candidate. If player development is primary focus, they might be tempted to chase Blatt.
Whomever is coaching the Suns moving forward is going to have their work cut out for them. Phoenix needs to make sure they do not repeat mistakes – if they are going to bring in a new coach, they need to either have a coach who is suited to deal with this team as is, or they will need to be willing to choose the coach over particular players. Markieff Morris is still on the roster, but for how long? It would be irresponsible to say that Hornacek would still have a job if Morris was already out of town, but having such a vocal detractor in the locker room certainly expedited the situation. No coach can survive if the team doesn’t buy in, just ask Blatt how he fared after a Finals appearance and the best record in the Eastern Conference.
The trade deadline is fast approaching and what moves are made or not made by McDonough should say a lot about what they view this team as going forward. Do they believe the Suns are just a piece away or do they see that they have some talented pieces in play and need to do what they can to make up for the Morris and Chandler additions – by subtracting them as soon as possible?
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