Tag Archive for 'Terry Porter'

Terry Porter will be the new head coach … in Phoenix

Published by Matt Watson on June 7, 2008 in From the news and Rumors. 32 Comments

ESPN says it’s already happened:

Multiple sources told ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith that Terry Porter is the new coach of the Phoenix Suns.

Suns general manager Steve Kerr called Porter on Saturday morning to offer him the job, and Porter accepted.

A. Sherrod Blakely says it hasn’t yet, but probably will:

Terry Porter may very well wind up coaching the Phoenix Suns. But a source who has had discussions with Porter today, said the Pistons assistant had yet to receive an offer from the Suns as of 3:40 EST.

When an offer comes - and there’s a very good chance that it will come sometime later today - Porter is expected to accept it immediately with a press conference likely scheduled for Tuesday.

Either way, this looks like it’s in the bag — congrats to Porter.

Thanks to DBB reader Aaron for passing this along.

Portland may honor Porter

Published by Matt Watson on June 5, 2008 in Alley-Oops. 1 Comment

It’s a good time to be Terry Porter. Not only is he being considered for a couple of head coaching jobs, his former team is also thinking about retiring his number. (via TrueHoop)

Michael Curry will interview with Chicago

Published by Matt Watson on June 1, 2008 in Rumors and The Media. 5 Comments

Flip Saunders didn’t speak to reporters after leaving the Pistons’ practice facility Saturday afternoon, but assistant coach Michael Curry did, addressing both the speculation that he might replace Saunders as well as where he’s at in regards to interviewing other jobs. From Shannon Shelton in the Detroit Free Press:

Assistant coach Michael Curry talked briefly about his future with the Pistons but said he didn’t speak about the top job with team executives Saturday morning.

“It hasn’t been discussed,” Curry said. “We just finished the season. My mind was focused on the opportunity that we had to get to the Finals. My mind wasn’t on nothing else and no other team prior to now.”

Curry did confirm that the Chicago Bulls had spoken with his lawyer about their vacancy, but the Chicago Tribune reported last month that the Pistons refused to give the Bulls permission to interview Curry, a sign that they want to keep him.

Curry added that he’d be meeting with his lawyer soon to talk about his future.

“I hear things in the media, and I hear things from (my lawyer) as well,” Curry said. “He knew during the season that it wasn’t time to talk about it. We’d discuss it and see what the talk was, and then our focus was how I could continue to help (the Pistons) get better here.”

I think the whole “Curry wasn’t allowed to interview” thing was overblown. For one, Doug Collins is all but officially Chicago’s new head coach, so if Curry is being interviewed now, he’s most likely being interviewed for an assistant’s job, and it makes no sense that the Pistons would deny him the chance at a promotion but allow a lateral move. If the Bulls were actually denied before (and from the sounds of it, it was his decision not to pursue anything), it had to have been the timing of the playoffs.

So why was Terry Porter allowed to interview with the Suns? Perhaps because Steve Kerr expressed to Joe Dumars that Porter was a very serious candidate. From A. Sherrod Blakely:

Porter, who coached the Milwaukee Bucks for two seasons (2004-2005), has already interviewed once with the Suns and is among a handful that Phoenix GM Steve Kerr will talk with a second time.

“I’m thankful I’m in the second round process,” Porter said on Saturday. “Go down there and do the best that I can do, and see how it plays out.”

Also, it’s not accurate to cite that Chicago Tribune article as confirmation that Curry was denied permission. The exact quote was, “the Pistons continue to give signs they won’t allow the Bulls to interview,” which as I noted at time time, reeks of a reporter not actually knowing for sure but still drawing his own conclusions.

Validating that claim by referencing it again is the MSM echo chamber at its worst, and it makes me wonder if I made of a mistake of buying into the whole “Michael Curry is being groomed as Flip’s heir apparent” in the first place. How do we know this? No one in the organization has put their name to it, but it’s been repeated unsourced by the local media for months, which makes me wonder if it simply began as someone’s hunch before it was repeated so many times it became accepted as fact.

Flip talks about Porter’s interview with the Suns

Published by Matt Watson on May 17, 2008 in From the news. 1 Comment

From Chris McCosky:

“It says something about the organization here and the success we’ve had,” Saunders said. “This league is a copy-cat league a lot of times. When teams have success, others look at things you do and try to inject that same thing into their team.”

Saunders said he wasn’t worried about Porter being distracted.

“Terry understands why he’s being looked at,” Saunders said. “One, he’s been a head coach, and two, the success we’ve had here. It depends on the character of the individual person, but I know the people we have on our staff, and Terry, they are all committed to the task we have at hand.”

Nothing unexpected here — it’s not like Porter didn’t have Saunders’ blessing before the interview.

Suns interview Terry Porter

Published by Matt Watson on May 16, 2008 in Rumors. 26 Comments

From Chris McCosky of the Detroit News:

Pistons lead assistant Terry Porter met with Phoenix Suns general manager Steve Kerr Thursday in Birmingham.

Porter, the former Milwaukee Bucks head coach, is the first candidate to formally interview for the Suns’ head coaching vacancy.

Porter and Kerr were teammates in San Antonio in the 1999-2000 season.

The fact that Porter and Kerr were teammates might lead some to think this was a courtesy interview, much like how Isiah Thomas “interviewed” Bill Laimbeer for the Knicks job in 2005. But considering Kerr had to jump through at least two hoops to make this happen (asking permission from the Pistons as well as flying out to Michigan), I think it’s safe to assume the Suns have genuine interest.

Bucks fans generally agree that Porter got a raw deal in Milwaukee, getting canned after just two years on the job despite advancing to the playoffs his first year. But that experience, as well as his last two years on the Pistons bench, can only help make him a better head coach the second time around.

Back in March, Henry Abbott asked Porter point-blank about his aspirations to be a head coach again and Porter artfully dodged a direct answer.

So, when are you going to be a head coach again?

Well, I don’t know. I’ve been very blessed, you know, Flip [Saunders] and Joe [Dumars] have given me an opportunity to be a part of this organization and this team, and it’s been great. Hopefully we can, you know, zero in on what we have to try to get done for this franchise first, and that’s to get back to the Finals and try to win a championship. That’s what this organization is all about. Joe has done a great job of putting together a roster and bringing Flip in and allowing me to come in and be a part of this staff. So I’m thankful for that, so right now, just zeroing in on just trying to get this team back The Finals.

Those other things as far as being a head coach, they will take care of themselves if we continue to play well and have success.

Some fans may be upset that the coaching staff isn’t 100% committed to preparing for the Eastern Conference Finals, but the timing of this interview doesn’t bother me one bit (and not just because the Pistons don’t even know who they’ll be facing yet). The coaching ladder should be a meritocracy, so assistants on winning teams should get the first crack at available jobs. It just seems wrong to penalize a guy’s career prospects because he happens to be good at his job, which is helping his team play deep into the playoffs.

(That said, I’m curious if/how this affects Michael Curry. The Bulls are said to have interest in him, but the prevailing thought is that Detroit may deny Chicago an interview. If the Bulls do seek permission and are turned down, the rumors of Curry being groomed as Flip Saunders’ heir apparent would appear to be true. Stay tuned.)

Knicks may copy (and/or steal) from Detroit

Published by Matt Watson on April 5, 2008 in From the news and Rumors. 23 Comments

Donnie Walsh, the former Pacers czar who’s seized the front office reins from Isiah Thomas in New York, may be looking to fuel the re-building process with key pieces from Detroit. From Newsday:

As for the coach, experienced options include current Knicks assistant Herb Williams, Pistons assistant Terry Porter and former Bulls coach Scott Skiles. But Walsh has a record of hiring inexperienced head coaches, so Jackson could be a consideration on the bench, too.

Walsh also realizes that the Knicks need to get serious about international scouting, an area they have badly neglected. Walsh is believed to be leaning toward adding a third person for that role, and Pistons director of international scouting Tony Ronzone would be among the leading candidates.

Ronzone brought the so-called “moneyball” approach based on statistical and video analysis to international scouting. USA Basketball managing director Jerry Colangelo hired him last year to head up advance scouting for Team USA. Whatever Ronzone is earning in Detroit, James Dolan would easily beat it if Walsh asked him to do that.

I’m not surprised at all to see another team trying to emulate Detroit’s blueprint: the Sonics did it a couple of years ago when they nabbed former director of personnel Scott Perry to be their assistant GM, and both Ronzone and John Hammonds are mentioned as candidates every time there’s a vacancy around the league.

Hammond seems content in Detroit (he may not be at the top of the organizational chart, but he’s just a small step away as Dumars’ trusted right-hand man), but it seems inevitable that Ronzone will eventually move on to continue his climb up the food chain.

Long-time readers of this site know that I’ve always been intrigued by Ronzone — he’s had one of the most interesting careers of anyone in basketball, canvassing every inch of the globe to coach and scout the sport. There’s no bigger stage than New York, so if anything comes from this rumor, I wish him luck.

TrueHoop talks to Terry Porter

Published by Matt Watson on March 7, 2008 in Around the Internets. 2 Comments

If you haven’t done so yet, check out Henry Abbott’s interview with Terry Porter at TrueHoop. The two cover just about everything, from how the team tried to cover Kevin Garnett during Wednesday’s Celtics game, the development of the young players off the bench and Porter’s future head coaching plans. (Well, Henry tried to ask about Porter’s head coaching aspirations, but Porter artfully re-directed the attention back to Detroit’s goals this year. The guy’s a pro, I tell you.)

As an assistant coach, Porter doesn’t get any of the attention or credit from the media that he probably deserves, so it’s cool to see such a long (and it’s definitely long) interview with him. This is one of those articles that I kind of want to blockquote the whole thing, but instead I’ll just arbitrarily pick a couple of questions. But really, just read it all.

When Cleveland is playing defense, certainly LeBron seems like at times he’s a very effective defender. Who does he guard when you guys play each other? Does he guard Tayshaun?

They move him around, really. They put him on Tayshaun some games based on last year’s matchup we had with him. They put him on Chauncey at times. So again, they moved him to different they moved him to different, you know, people on our roster at times. So again, I think their philosophy is similar to our philosophy that you’ve just got to throw different looks at players that can really hurt you and not give him a steady diet of one thing.

Guys are too good in this league that you just cannot draw on the same type of defense night in and night out, especially in a series, best of seven. Guys are too good and coaches make too good of adjustments game after game that you have to throw different looks at them.

If LeBron were guarding Chauncey, does that mean you would be more likely to give the ball to Chauncey to make LeBron work?
Oh, yeah, you would obviously run Chauncey through a lot of screens, make LeBron have to go through a lot of screens, run some pick and rolls and make him be work in that regard, as opposed to having him stay on the weak side and not be a part of the play.

So you have to keep those guys working at the defensive end as much as you possibly can by movement and that’s either by pick and rolls or multiple screens or flares or things of that nature, just always have him thinking at that end, as opposed to just have him on the weak side able to lock in and zero in on an opponent and the ball.

The Playbook: Pistons Assistant Terry Porter / TrueHoop