A Tale of Two Coaches

Photo credit: ASU

Terry Porter was fired on Monday for one basic reason - he’s not Herb Sendek.

During Arizona State’s game Sunday against Southern Cal, it was pointed out that Sendek had completely revamped his entire system to fit the players that he has on his roster.

At North Carolina State, his team exclusively played man-to-man defense and tended to run the court whenever the opportunity presented itself. With the Sun Devils, he’s adopted a morphing matchup zone on defense that has left opponents scrambling for shots with scant seconds left on the shot clock. And on offense, the methodical multiple screens are designed either to free James Harden or get Jeff Pendergraph loose on the pick and roll.

It’s not always pretty to watch but it’s been effective to the tune of the school’s first consecutive 20-year seasons since the Reagan administration.

Like the Sun Devils, the Suns often have not been pretty to watch. But unlike the college kids, they’ve not been particularly effective because the system doesn’t match the personnel.

As I wrote a couple of weeks back, Steve Nash flourishes in a wide open game where he can drive and dish, not in a static halfcourt set where movement is a bit more limited. With Shaq in the middle, Amare Stoudemire still doesn’t have the space he needs but if the Suns start to run, Shaq won’t necessarily be clogging the middle each offensive possession. (He’s not where Kareem was late in his career, barely crossing halfcourt on numerous Showtime possessions, but he’s leaning that way.)

Interim coach Alvin Gentry realizes this which is why he’s vowed to get the Suns running again. In other words, match the system to the personnel rather than trying to shoehorn the personnel into a system that doesn’t highlight their strengths.

It’s not all Porter’s fault. Considerable blame needs to be placed on Steve Kerr’s doorstep for misreading the Suns’ actual needs (acquiring Shaq when a more mobile presence was needed in the middle) and dictating a more defensive style without the players to execute it.

But still … given the example of Sendek just a few miles to the east, a path that likely would have been far more productive was available.

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