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Lindsey Hunter named interim coach of Suns
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Author:  conns7901 [ Sun Jan 20, 2013 12:53 pm ]
Post subject:  Lindsey Hunter named interim coach of Suns
I remember the talk when he was with the Bulls that he would be a head coach some day. Probably a bit quicker than most would expect. Hope it works out for him.

PHOENIX -- The Phoenix Suns picked player development director Lindsey Hunter as interim coach, two days after the team parted ways with Alvin Gentry.

Hunter, who played for 17 seasons in the NBA, joined the Suns in the scouting department last year and this season took over the team's new player development department.

As a guard with five NBA teams, Hunter averaged 8.5 points in 937 games, 438 as a starter. He won NBA championships with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2002 and the Detroit Pistons in 2004. Hunter, 40, has no prior coaching experience.

He retired in 2010 and served in a player development job with Detroit before coming to Phoenix.

The team announced Hunter's promotion Sunday before its first practice since a home loss to Milwaukee on Thursday night, the Bucks' first win in Phoenix in 25 tries.

The Suns, with nine new players on their roster this season, have lost 13 of 15, including four straight at home, and at 13-28 have the worst record in the Western Conference. They don't play again until Wednesday, when they face the Kings in Sacramento. Hunter's home debut will come Thursday night against the Los Angeles Clippers, who have the West's second-best record at 32-9.

Gentry was Phoenix's coach since Terry Porter was fired at the 2009 All-Star break. His time included a run to the 2010 Western Conference finals in 2010, his first full season as coach. But the team failed to make the playoffs the last two seasons. Then Steve Nash departed to the Los Angeles Lakers, and the Suns, under the direction of team president Lon Babby and general manager Lance Blanks, overhauled the roster.

Meanwhile, owner Robert Sarver has had to face dwindling crowds at US Airways Center.

Gentry, good natured and popular despite the team's lack of success, tried a series of lineups to develop some sort of chemistry and consistency with no success, and he acknowledged that he understood it was time for a change.

Gentry tweeted Sunday morning that he was "already bored."

"Need some suggestions as to what to do to fill the day," he wrote. "Let's hear some good ones."
Author:  The Original Kid Cairo [ Sun Jan 20, 2013 12:56 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Lindsey Hunter named interim coach of Suns
Whoever wrote the article wrote:
His time included a run to the 2010 Western Conference finals in 2010

Really bad. How does that sentence even make it past an editor?
Author:  Douchebag [ Sun Jan 20, 2013 1:07 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Lindsey Hunter named interim coach of Suns
Congrats to Old Man Buckets. Always seemed like a great pro.
Author:  Curious Hair [ Sun Jan 20, 2013 1:34 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Lindsey Hunter named interim coach of Suns
Old Man Buckets!!!

Phoenix needs to bottom out. I hope they win the lottery. How long has it been since they've had a really great draft pick? or any draft pick?
Author:  Makaveli [ Sun Jan 20, 2013 2:10 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Lindsey Hunter named interim coach of Suns
After the many firings of black coaches (and no new hires) across several sports Stern demanded that a black guy with no experience coaching a grade school team get a job.
Author:  Colonel Angus [ Sun Jan 20, 2013 6:53 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Lindsey Hunter named interim coach of Suns
When I read the title, I pictured Lindsay Wagner.

Image
Author:  SHARK [ Mon Jan 21, 2013 11:52 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Lindsey Hunter named interim coach of Suns
Curious Hair wrote:
Old Man Buckets!!!

Phoenix needs to bottom out. I hope they win the lottery. How long has it been since they've had a really great draft pick? or any draft pick?

I think they are bottoming out, CH. That Suns' team will have lottery picks to work with, and a lot of salary cap space. Other than one-time #2 overall pick Michael Beasley, I don't know who's on that roster.
Author:  conns7901 [ Tue Jan 22, 2013 3:09 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Lindsey Hunter named interim coach of Suns
Well he gets to make his debut without Jermaine O'Neal.

Sources: Jermaine O'Neal has heated confrontation with Suns GM


Phoenix Suns center Jermaine O'Neal and general manager Lance Blanks engaged in a blistering, expletive-laced confrontation in the coach's office on Monday, league sources told Yahoo! Sports.

"It was really bad," one Suns source said Tuesday afternoon.

The confrontation happened after interim coach Lindsey Hunter's first practice and unfolded within earshot of several Suns players in the locker room, sources said.

It was immediately unclear what precipitated the disagreement, sources said, but there has been considerable unrest within the organization. At 13-28, the Suns have the worst record in the Western Conference.

The Arizona Republic reported Tuesday that O'Neal missed practice with an "unstated medical issue" and wouldn't make the team's trip to Sacramento.

Blanks didn't immediately respond to a text message.

The Suns fired coach Alvin Gentry and replaced him with Hunter, who worked in player development and has no coaching background.

O'Neal has averaged 6.4 points and four rebounds a game for the Suns in his 16th season in the NBA.
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