Porter's Not The Problem

In an otherwise plum perfect weekend for the city of Phoenix, a coach was fired.  Suns head coach Terry Porter was let go four months into his first season with Phoenix.  Word out of the Valley is that assistant coach Alvin Gentry will take over.

Whoop-di-do!

Really though, is it Porter's fault?  I don't know if he's a good coach.  I must admit, I somehow managed to miss a lot of Milwaukee Bucks games during his tenure there a few years back.  Something with my DVR not working, various public events I had to attend...

The real issue isn't the coaching here.  Porter's style, a slower, half-court style, isn't the problem.  It's that Steve Kerr, GM, decided to force it on this team, this once revolutionarily fast team.

7 seconds or less, that was the motto of the Mike D'Antoni Suns.  Now, it appears that Steve Kerr has gone as far away from that strategy as is humanly possible.  I'll be the first one to say that D'Antoni's system will only take a team so far, as is evidenced by the fact that they could never make it to the Finals.

But, at least (to most people not named Scott Spinelli) they were entertaining, and they were winning.  It's impossible to imagine them sustaining that level of play forever, with Steve Nash getting older especially (check out his "injury" note on his player page for a laugh).  But you might expect them to make the change a bit more fluidly.

Now, with shrewd moves to drop off athletic talent in that system (Shawn Marion, Boris Diaw) for aging, past-their-prime superstars (Shaquille O'Neal, Jason Richardson) the Suns and Kerr have attempted to completely change the image of the franchise.  Talks have even heated up to get rid of that Amar'e character.  Phew, what a load off that would be!

The Suns of 2009, no longer even fun, or good.  

Maybe instead of Porter getting the axe, Kerr should be the one being relieved of his duties.  Just a thought.

Charlotte a Threat in the East?

NBA teams used to see the Charlotte Bobcats on theirt schedule and breathe a sigh of relief. Since their inception, the expansion Charlotte franchise has been a push over that has seen many bright young college talents come in and fail to take the team to new heights.

Maybe those days are over now.

The Bobcats aren't having a great year by any means. They're just 19-26 this year and they're in fourth place in the Southeast division. Yet they're only a game-and-a-half out of a playoff spot in the top-heavy Eastern Conference.

Charlotte has won six of its last ten games, and is 13-9 in conference play. However, they haven't learned yet how to defend their home court, as they're just 13-13 at the Time Warner Cable Arena. Furthermore, they really haven't learned to win on the road yet, as they're just 6-13 away from home.

But they're quietly building a decently impressive resume, which includes a win at the Staples Center against the Lakers in double overtime last night. It was only the fourth home loss for the Lake Show this season.

They have also beaten Detroit on the road. They beat Portland at home, and beat Phoenix by a whopping twenty-two in Charlotte. They also beat Boston at home earlier this month. Since a 5-10 start to the season, Charlotte is 14-16 since. It's not earth-shattering by any stretch. But when you consider the team has never won more than 33 games in any season since their inception to the NBA (2004-2005), if they play like this the rest of the way they could make the playoffs.

That would be a huge deal in Charlotte.

Larry Brown is getting a young team to learn to play with one another. They have six players averaging double digit point totals. Gerald Wallace is putting up solid numbers on the wing. The addition of Boris Diaw has added some size and presence down low, and Emeka Okafor continues to be a solid NBA center. Oh, and Raymond Felton is starting to show the promise that he flashed when he came out of North Carolina.

They finally have the pieces in place to be a contending NBA team and no longer a joke. They have compiled a lot of young talent year after year and with the addition of a couple veterans the talent is starting to blossom. They're not good yet, per se, but with the way things are going don't be surprised if Charlotte earns the right to get blown out by Boston or Cleveland in the first round of the playoffs this year.

The Bobcats are no longer a team to take lightly in the NBA.