While getting fired from a job is usually never a positive, Steve Nash believes that the dismissal of his old coach Alvin Gentry from the Phoenix Suns might actually be just that.
Nash told the Kamenetzky Brothers that he thinks Gentry's firing may turn out to be a good thing for the coach:
"Obviously I'm sad for Alvin, but in some ways, maybe this is a good thing for him. He's a great coach. A really good coach, and any club would be lucky to have him, that's for sure. He'll land on his feet, because he can really do a good job."
"I think the writing's been on the wall. It just looks like it to me. They wouldn't extend his contract. They just gave him the year to just kind of play it out. It looked like they wanted to get their own guy in there.""Obviously I'm sad for Alvin, but in some ways, maybe this is a good thing for him. He's a great coach. A really good coach, and any club would be lucky to have him, that's for sure. He'll land on his feet, because he can really do a good job."
With the Suns out to a rotten 13-28 start this season, Phoenix decided to part ways with Gentry after nearly five years of service as head coach. Gentry took over for Terry Porter in the middle of the 2008-09 season and led the Suns to the Western Conference Finals the following year.
However, the team struggled in the years following the deep playoff run, and Gentry was never given a contract extension. The rough start this season gave management an easy reason to fire Gentry, although SB Nation's Tom Ziller says the Suns' poor play has little to do with their former head coach. Ziller points the blame directly at the front office team of Lon Babby and Lance Blanks, who have put together a bad roster while failing to admit some of their mistakes.
And when you look at some of Phoenix's recent moves, it's hard to argue with Ziller's assertion. Goran Dragic and Luis Scola have played pretty well, but almost everything else has been a disaster. Michael Beasley? Wesley Johnson? Drafting Kendall Marshall in the first round? Just a few of the failures of the Suns' front office. It's no wonder they are 13-28.