The theme of the Phoenix Suns over the last few months has been a need for cohesion and direction. Locker room tensions and unhappy players led to a roster shakeup at the NBA trade deadline last season and the Suns’ gambit for free agent LaMarcus Aldridge this summer shipped away one Morris brother and pissed off the other.
With Markieff Morris demanding a trade and threatening to dismantle Phoenix’s season before it even begins, the veteran leadership of Tyson Chandler will be put to the test. The leadership potential of younger starters like Brandon Knight and Eric Bledsoe will be also be crucial.
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But for an organization that needs to find the path back to unity between the front office and the players who have been treated like movable commodities since general manager Ryan McDonough took over, it’s time to make a move that will reassure everyone this franchise is heading toward a more concrete future.
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No, that move isn’t trading Markieff Morris for pennies on the dollar; it’s giving head coach Jeff Hornacek the contract extension he deserves.
Entering the final season of his three-year contract, Hornacek didn’t exactly coach his way into big money after the team won only 39 games last season. Coming off a 48-win season the year before, Phoenix’s failed campaign for a playoff spot in 2014-15 left a bad taste in everyone’s mouths heading into the offseason.
But Hornacek can only be blamed so much for that regression, especially after proving what he’s capable of when he coaxed a surprisingly successful season out of Goran Dragic, a half-season of Eric Bledsoe and a group of misfits and role players in 2013-14. I mean, any coach who can get 48 wins out of a team starting Miles Plumlee at center has to know what he’s doing.
Jeff Hornacek is the 9th longest tenured coach in the NBA. He's coached 2 seasons. NBA job security is fantastic https://t.co/Wt6biCdScE
— Scott Howard (@ScottHoward42) August 19, 2015
True enough, Hornacek had his problems reining in his team at times last year. There was the infamous incident where Marcus Morris was seen screaming at his head coach on the sidelines, there was the controversy Hornacek stirred up when he started benching players who received technicals for the rest of the game and there was disappointment he was unable to conjure up some of that same magic from the season before.
That being said, those incidents need to be given the proper context. As we came to learn in the following months, Marcus Morris was an immature hothead who would’ve given any coach in this league a headache. Hornacek’s technical foul rule, though childish, was badly needed for a team that was leading the league in Ts at the time. It’s no wonder the Morrii finished with more technical fouls than most teams in the league did.
As for the disappointment in the franchise taking a step backward? It’s understandable, but keep in mind that the best player the Suns have had the last two seasons was Dragic, and once he was traded to the Miami Heat, the Suns understandably fell apart with so many young players taking on new roles halfway through the season.
Hornacek was able to coach a team headlined by Dragic, Gerald Green and Markieff Morris to within one game of a playoff spot in the West, earning the second most votes for Coach of the Year; can you imagine what he’d be able to accomplish with some actual NBA talent and maybe even a little roster stability?
The Suns are still in need of a star, and unless Eric Bledsoe takes a massive leap this season, they still won’t have a player on the roster better than the departed Dragic. But letting Hornacek coach out the final year of his contract without an extension gives off that “lame duck” vibe that an organization looking for more stability should avoid altogether.
Sure, Markieff Morris is the most pressing issue right now, and Phoenix could always wait to see how 2015-16 plays out before renewing Hornacek’s contract. But giving him an extension now would let the world know this front office believes in him as the head coach who will oversee this franchise’s continued rebuilding process. Hardly anyone sticks around forever in this league, but Hornacek clearly has potential as an NBA head coach.
For this young core to get its chance to develop together, the Suns need stability at an organizational level. It’s time for Phoenix to start moving away from keeping options open “in case something better comes along” and start investing in what it has.
Players are traded all the time, but having a regular fixture in charge of the team would be a big step for a franchise looking to turn spare parts into a whole again. Jeff Hornacek has done more than enough to earn the opportunity to be that fixture.
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