Most of the players played under Mike D'Antoni's system, which relied on pushing the tempo, and creating more possessions to score off of, by increasing the pace. Playing more than a basic defense on the other end, took time away from the clock, and slowed down the pace which was detrimental to the offensive scheme which was relied upon to win the game.

This was the whole philosophy that Mike D'Antoni's teams were built upon. (He'd rather let the opposition score so that he can run and score at the other end, than play strong defense and watch them score anyway, which would make it difficult for him to score at the other end, hoping that the opponents miss a few here and there)

The Result: When we clicked offensively, and shot like 50% off 110 attempts (55 makes), it didn't matter that the opponents shot 60% off 90 attempts (54 makes). We still won. This masked a lot of our "defensive deficiencies"  and had us at 17th in the league in defense.

When teams like San Antonio who were probably the only team disciplined enough not to be enticed into a shooting contest (mainly because they didn't have the personnel to keep up on that end)  and stuck to their tenets of playing to their strengths (defense), our shooting percentage declined from 50% to 49% off 110 attempts (53.9 makes) we lost. That they were able to do this on a consistent basis and not an equally likely occurrence like a coin flip, made the entire media/fans/Kerr/ everybody with a rational brain and a desire to see the Suns succeed, want the Suns to make an "improvement" on the defensive end, to reduce the opponents shooting percentage from 60% to 59% off 90 attempts (53.1 makes) whenever the opponents were able to reduce our shooting percentage from 50% to 49%.

Hence Kerr comes in and tries to get Mike D'Antoni to hire Tom Thibodeau as an assistant coach, for the specific purpose of "improving" on defense.

The Problem: This interferes with Coach D'Antoni's philosophy and slows down the pace of the game, resulting in us shooting 49% off 108 attempts (52.92 makes). We still lose. D'Antoni realizes this, and figures that implementing the defensive scheme, will be too much effort wasted on something which will be more disadvantageous than advantageous, and finds that theres no way of convincing upper management (Kerr) that there really is no solution to beating a very disciplined, great defensively, limited offensively team like San Antonio other than hope for a strong shooting night when contested jumpers and 3-pointers (with Bruce Bowens hands in your player's faces and his knees in your player's groins) still go in.

While this is true and gave us an incredible four years of 50+ win regular seasons and trips to the Western Conference finals, amidst playoff runs, none of us (fans and management alike) were satisfied, as they believed that they had enough talent to win the championship, and that the window was fast closing on the best pick and roll core of Nash and Amare, landing a championship to the valley of the sun.

They (We) wanted more.

They made changes. D'Antoni didnt want change. He was stubborn (rightly so, because this "change"  was detrimental to his success) and left.

In keeping with his beliefs, Kerr hired Terry Porter.

Terry Porter insisted on playing more defense (because thats precisely why he was hired and was probably included in his job description).

The Problem: Our players were schooled in the D'Antoni way which was to run and have fun by shooting, (which was not only fun, but padded their stats (due to higher possesions) and increased their worth in this league, enabling them to believe they commanded a much higher salary than they actually deserved if they'd been playing for a slower paced team. Case in point - Shawn Marion).

The Result: Obviously there was resistance, and resistance won out in the end, with the firing of Terry Porter, and the appointment of Alvin Gentry.

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My Views: In any game we've all played from Snakes and Ladders, Tic Tac Toe, Chess, Cards, to professional basketball, theres always a way to advance your position and always a way to prevent the opponent from advancing his/her position. Against lesser skilled opponents, you can win by advancing your own position, without interfering with the opponents play, but as the opponents skill levels grow (regular season - 1st round playoffs - conference semifinals - conference finals), solely relying on advancing your position without finding a way to prevent your opponent from advancing his/her position is foolhardy.

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Sadly the whole experiment has failed, and now there are two choices, a)  go back to the old D'Antoni style and be happy with 50+ win seasons, perennial playoffs, and the occasional western conference finals appearance where we once again get beat down by the Sp*rs, or blow the team up, and start over.

In any case, we need stability at the top and a GM with a strong vision and the balls to build a team from scratch that follows his vision, and hopefully is a contender.

Till then - Too many cooks, spoil the broth!!!