Terry Porter

I don't know much about Terry Porter. I don't think he is a good hire or a bad one. I will say that he is probably the best of all the interviewed candidates, being the only one with previous head coaching experience. Being an assistant coach and a head coach in the NBA are two very different monsters. A head coach has to face the media everyday and be savvy and nice to everybody. Assistant coaches never make headlines or get talked about (unless they portray some outrageous behavior). So, that previous experience is important. However, Porter wasn't very impressive in his previous head coaching stint. The Milwaukee Bucks had a very workable roster and are in the Eastern Conference. Yet, he could only yank a .500 record out of it. Then, they lost their promising young point guard, T.J. Ford, and fell into the tank. Porter was fired.

He then went on to be an assistant under Flip Saunders with the Detroit Pistons. That should've proven to be a good experience since the Pistons have been a powerhouse for six years now. But, it will take a lot of work for Porter, or anybody for that matter, to turn around this Phoenix Suns team. Robert Sarver and Steve Kerr have dug this team into an unescapable hole. Mike D'Antoni had a system working and had one more shot at a championship. Steve gets rid of their best defender and teams run all over the Suns. D'Antoni is released as a result.

Now, Terry Porter has a big job in front of him. Getting someone with as big an ego as Shaquille O'Neal has to play 100% every night is not easy. Getting Steve Nash to play solid defense has proven to be impossible. Getting Amare Stoudemire to stop talking trash until he can back it up may never happen. However, he will get a very experienced roster. If he keeps the same starting lineup that D'Antoni had, 4 of his starters will be well over 31 years of age.

Porter is a smart man and was a good role player in his 17 year career. He's as good a man for the job as anybody else that got interviewed. But, he won't be winning championships anytime soon.