Porter Fired, Gentry Promoted, Kerr On Life Support...?

From the Suns their own selves...

"The Phoenix Suns today announced that the team has relieved Terry
Porter of his head coaching duties. Alvin Gentry, a Suns assistant coach since
2004, will assume the role of interim head coach.

“I hired Terry because I believed he would be able to provide the balance our
team needed in order to perform at a very high level. Unfortunately the
transition from last season to this one proved to be very difficult, and we have
not played to our potential. It’s imperative that we move forward and do what’s
best for our team. Alvin has been an integral part of our successes the
previous four years and knows our talent as well as anyone,” said Suns President
of Basketball Operations and General Manager Steve Kerr.

A 29-year coaching veteran, Gentry originally joined the Suns staff as an
assistant on June 1, 2004, and has served in that position the last four-plus
seasons as Phoenix posted the winningest four-year stretch in franchise history.
Gentry takes the reins as head coach of his fourth NBA team after stints with
the Los Angeles Clippers (2000-03), Detroit Pistons (1997-2000) and Miami Heat
(1995) in which he compiled a 177-226 (.439) career record. Gentry’s 1998-99
Pistons earned a playoff berth. In 2001-02, his second season with the
Clippers, he guided Los Angeles to an improbable 39-43 (.476) record, the team’s
highest win total in nearly 10 seasons, a season after leading the club to a
16-win improvement in 2000-01, his rookie campaign with the club.

In 20 seasons in the NBA, Gentry has worked alongside or under some of the
game’s most respected coaches, including Larry Brown, Kevin Loughery and Doug
Collins. The 53-year-old Gentry received his first assistant coaching job in
the NBA under Brown with the San Antonio Spurs in 1988-89 after serving under
Brown with the 1988 NCAA Champion Kansas Jayhawks men’s basketball team.

Porter was named the 13th head coach in Suns franchise history on June 9, 2008.
In 51 games this season, Phoenix compiled a 28-23 (.549) record and currently
sits in ninth place in the Western Conference."

Sunday Unemployment Update

Two quick ones...

First, the Association couldn't get out of All-Star weekend without firing the host coach. The Suns have fired Terry Porter ((pictured, thanks Dierdre Hamill/Arizona Republic)) and are replacing him with Alvin Gentry.

Here's Paul Coro's work from azcentral.com...

Second, with everyone now healthy on the roster and still a boat load of issues, the Pittsburgh Penguins have fired head coach Michel Therrien ((pictured, thanks Peter Diana/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)) and replaced him with minor-league coach Dan Bylsma. Bylsma, coach of the team's AHL affiliate in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, will be interim coach with 25 games remaining in the NHL season.

Even with standouts Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, the Penguins have struggled to a 27-25-5 record this season and have the 10th-best record in the Eastern Conference.
The Penguins lost to the Detroit Red Wings in six games in last year's Stanley Cup Finals.

Here's Dave Molinari's piece from the Post-Gazette...

If you saw the game on HNIC Saturday night against the Toronto Maple Leafs where Jason Blake looked more like Darryl Sittler, once the Leafs took the lead- the Pens caved losing 6-2.

So much for having guys like Sergei Gonchar and Ruslan Fedotenko back healthy. The Therrien move had been rumored for quite some time as the thought was that Therrien had lost the locker room as far back as the first of the year.

The locker room could not be reached for comment...