According to the Arizona Republic, Terry Porter is officially out as Suns head coach.  Assistant coach, Alvin Gentry, will take over starting Monday.

Though reports were initially denied, it is assumed that Kerr was speaking to the fact that he was rumored to take over, not that Porter was on the outs.

It is unclear if this will impact the trade talks with Amare and other teams.  According to NBA FanHouse, the latest favorites in the acquisition of Amare are Chicago, Cleveland, and Houston.

There has been much speculated on the handle that Porter had on the Suns.  I’ve heard reports saying he had the team come in at 8AM for walk throughs, berated the team after losses, and was far too strict for a team that didn’t need it.

Essentially, the Suns went from Mike D’Antoni (someone who trusted his players) to Terry Porter (who was on the opposite side of the fence, a big disciplinarian).

It is speculated that Gentry will return to the style the Suns have had success with in recent years – uptempo.  Again, this is unclear if it will affect the Amare trade talks, but I am certainly interested in seeing Gentry coach this team.  Though he’s had a sub-par record in terms of a head coach, he has never coached a team with as much talent as this current Suns team.

I’d expect Gentry to put the responsibility back in the players hands, go back to the same rotation that D’Antoni used with Nash (thank God), and focus more on playing free.

Though I don’t dislike Porter by any means, it was clear he had lost control of the team and didn’t utilize the team’s best assets and talent in the correct way.  He had an incredibly difficult job, but ultimately, the Suns need a new direction.

I, for one, am excited to see Gentry coach.  He is a genuinely nice person and has been around this core group of guys for a while.

Now, I feel I owe Amare somewhat of an apology.  The more I hear from my sources, the more I tend to think that Porter had a major impact on Amare (negatively) than I originally thought.  Yes, Amare has to take some blame and own his mistakes, but I’m hearing that Porter was more of a negative influence on the locker room than I had originally thought.  I’ve had multiple sources tell me that today.

I hereby am calling for the Suns to NOT trade Amare Stoudemire this year.

Again, there is a lot of blame to go around, but I feel I in correctly placed the majority of blame on Amare and I own that.  I’m excited to see what Gentry can do with this team.

Let’s get back to the Suns we know and love.  And Amare, my apologies for incorrectly blaming you for much of what is going on.  I’ll just blame you for some of it.  : )