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Alvin Gentry DP article re: CU job

Mick Ronson

Well-Known Member
didn't see this posted, kind of interesting. Chris Dempsey used to be the CU beat writer for the Camera several years ago.

http://blogs.denverpost.com/nuggets...h-for-cu-alvin-gentry-flourishing-in-phoenix/

May 10, 2010, 3:13 am


Not good enough for CU, Alvin Gentry flourishing in Phoenix
By Chris Dempsey |
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Television cutaways like to catch Phoenix Suns coach Alvin Gentry. Sitting. Talking to assistants. Arguing with referees. Giving directions to his players.


He is quickly becoming the NBA’s newest coaching star, a man who has turned the fortunes of a franchise completely around.


And yet I’m shaking my head.


Here’s why. It wasn’t long ago when Gentry pretty much had to beg to get a call from the University of Colorado to be considered for its basketball coaching job. And he got no love. Now, he’s leading one of the hottest, toughest, best teams in the NBA.


What might have been if this man, a former CU assistant no less, had been given half a chance to become the next coach at Colorado? The Buffs were in a full-fledged search in 2007 after parting ways with Ricardo Patton.


I’ll tell you who’s not thinking about that.


Gentry.


His team is playing arguably the best basketball in the NBA and has earned a spot in the Western Conference Finals with a statement-making sweep of the four-time champion San Antonio Spurs. His coaching job has pretty much saved the job of Suns general manager, Steve Kerr. He has the run-and-gun Suns playing with grit and defense, two things that were in short supply in years past. And he has the unwavering support – and gratitude – of the biggest stars on the team. Two-time league MVP point guard Steve Nash recently told NBA.com, “We’re not here without Alvin.”


Not bad for a coach that was so easily dismissed by CU.


To review: Gentry, then a man of 27 years of coaching experience at the NBA and college levels, wanted the CU job. Really wanted it. He expressed his interest in every way he possibly could. And despite all of that, CU passed on opportunity after opportunity to at the very least sit down and talk with the man. This is what Gentry said at the time when it was apparent Colorado wasn’t going to give him the time of day.
“I hadn’t heard anything from (CU),” Gentry said. “That’s kind of where it is. It doesn’t matter if I have interest. They don’t have interest in me. Obviously, I’ve showed I have interest. But I haven’t heard from them, so they’re going in another direction.”


That direction was zeroing in on Nuggets assistant and former Metro State coach Mike Dunlap, then Jeff Bzdelik, which resulted in a bunch of losing seasons before we’ve now arrived at Tad Boyle. And I love Tad Boyle.


But what if CU had given Gentry a shot?


He was a graduate assistant at CU in 1977-78 and a full-fledged CU assistant from 1981-85. While on staff, he had a big hand in recruiting Jay Humphries and Matt Bullard, two of the best players in the program’s history. Gentry also assisted Larry Brown at Kansas from 1985-88, where he recruited a tall star player from Cherry Creek named Mark Randall, who went on to play in the NBA.


None of that matters much now. But it is interesting to watch him flourish while CU once again starts over. In Phoenix, Gentry has been a calming, vital influence. There was a point at which the only talk surrounding the Suns was about which star was going to jump ship first, or be traded; and would Kerr, be shown the door?
That’s all gone. In its place is a team that has healed, has come together, and looks like a very real threat to reach the NBA Finals. Through it all, Gentry’s shown the smarts and guile of the game’s best tacticians, and a firm but respectful hand toward his players that the best coaches are able to master. Colorado needed all of those things.


Gentry recruited Grant Hill to Phoenix, and that’s paying dividends. Reserve point guard Goran Dragic has made astronomical strides on Gentry’s watch. Forward Jared Dudley is quickly developing into one of the league’s most versatile, productive, hard-working and energetic players off the bench. Jason Richardson has raised his play to maybe the highest level of his career.


And Amar’e Stoudemire, once so disillusioned by previous Suns head coaches that his departure from the organization seemed inevitable, is now fully on board with the program under Gentry and is back strongly considering a return to the Suns once free agency begins this summer.


“(It’s) his character, his aura,” Stoudemire told the Arizona Republic. “It’s hard not to get along with him. He’s a funny guy. He’s smart. He knows the game of basketball.” Stoudemire added he was finally “under a coach who really wants to teach the game, and that has been great for me.”


There is more to every story, to be sure. I’m sure there is a perfectly reasonable explanation as to why CU distanced itself so quickly and coldly from Gentry three years ago. Or maybe there isn’t. Either way, Gentry has landed on his feet. He might have been a smash success at CU. He definitely is a smash success in the Valley of the Sun.


Chris Dempsey: cdempsey@denverpost.com
 
I'm happy for Gentry.

I think he would make a good college coach, but it's hard to say. NBA coaching is about managing egos and getting a bunch of spoiled millionaires to play hard and play together. College coaching is about recruiting and managing an organization that is subject to university, booster and state politics. Very different jobs.

I guess my bottom line is that I like Gentry, but I also like where CU basketball is right now. It may have worked out great if he'd been hired, but we'll never know. What we do know is that everyone's gone on and done well.
 
I think he would have been a damn good coach, but it is not like he rebuilt the suns from nothing.
 
I'm happy for Gentry.

I think he would make a good college coach, but it's hard to say. NBA coaching is about managing egos and getting a bunch of spoiled millionaires to play hard and play together. College coaching is about recruiting and managing an organization that is subject to university, booster and state politics. Very different jobs.

I guess my bottom line is that I like Gentry, but I also like where CU basketball is right now. It may have worked out great if he'd been hired, but we'll never know. What we do know is that everyone's gone on and done well.

agree. early to say, but everything about Boyle so far I like. reallly like getting the t-fer from Utah and the Roberson kid from Texas.

I think he would have been a damn good coach, but it is not like he rebuilt the suns from nothing.

and, looks like the Suns are in need of a rally or they are going to meet their usual fate.

i just thought the article was interesting, and at the time like a few other posters here (Bisonic comes to mind, and the Dunlap Faction)....felt the hiring "search" for Bz was more than a little narrow in scope.
 
Growing up around detroit in the 90s, Gentry coached the Pistons when we were semi-decent. He was, in my opinion, an incredibly lackluster coach. He seemed clueless and incapable of directing the squad. Granted, the team was terrible, but he made them no better. I kind of see his situation in Phoenix as he's in a good spot at the right time. I mean, not to take anything away from the man, but I could yell out "Nash, run the offense!" and "Amare, dunk that ball!" and win 50+ games.
 
Growing up around detroit in the 90s, Gentry coached the Pistons when we were semi-decent. He was, in my opinion, an incredibly lackluster coach. He seemed clueless and incapable of directing the squad. Granted, the team was terrible, but he made them no better. I kind of see his situation in Phoenix as he's in a good spot at the right time. I mean, not to take anything away from the man, but I could yell out "Nash, run the offense!" and "Amare, dunk that ball!" and win 50+ games.

i think that's entirely possible, maybe likely. but, one of the weird genius moves of Jeff Bzdelik at CU is that winning 5 game in conference means we are really on a hot tear for the future. that is comparable with Ricardo Patton's worst years at CU.

I believed Rico had to go (a couple years before it happened, IMO).....but, talk about diminished expectations.

Mark Van Burck is on the Cornell team that beats #1 seed Kentucky. Sean Kowal is averaging 10 and 7 for the second year in a row. don't tell me these guys couldn't have made CU better than 2 wins in conference for a team that still has no inside game.

maybe we luck out with Boyle and his KU pedigree and start balling up in this joint.....but, one of the things "We" were sold on the Bz hire was his NBA connects.....Gentry had those, and KU connects....and didn't get a sniff. not sure Bz was going to be able to recruit to a high level without McClain....who did not follow him to Wake. interesting, that.
 
Mark Van Burck is on the Cornell team that beats #1 seed Kentucky. Sean Kowal is averaging 10 and 7 for the second year in a row. don't tell me these guys couldn't have made CU better than 2 wins in conference for a team that still has no inside game.

Van Burck played sparingly for Cornell as far as I knew, and at the time I thought Beckley had more upside. Kowal was the big Bzz shouldn't have let go. He had a decent jump shot, and a bigger body than Dufault. Didn't get that one.

Mick said:
i think that's entirely possible, maybe likely. but, one of the weird genius moves of Jeff Bzdelik at CU is that winning 5 game in conference means we are really on a hot tear for the future. that is comparable with Ricardo Patton's worst years at CU.

I believed Rico had to go (a couple years before it happened, IMO).....but, talk about diminished expectations.

maybe we luck out with Boyle and his KU pedigree and start balling up in this joint..

If we apply Boyle's measuring stick 'The Right Way' (Listen up Mr. Woelk), then he'll be measured against Patton's time here(certainly not Bzz's), both on the court and in recruiting. He'll have much more help from the AD than Patton ever seemed to have, and MUCH better facilities.
 
How the hell was CU supposed to know that he was going to be a star? If he was begging CU just to give him an interview then he wasn't a proven commodity.
 
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I think it's very shortsighted to assume that because he's having success in Phoenix that he'd have similar results at CU. The college game is a lot different than the pro game, as has been pointed out.

I'm comfortable with Boyle. I think he's going to turn out to be a very good coach here. Plus, as has also been pointed out, he'll have a lot more support from the admin than any of his predecessors have had.

I guess I really don't see the profit in wondering about "what if" at this point. I think everybody is better off for going in the directions they went. Is that a bad thing?
 
I think it's very shortsighted to assume that because he's having success in Phoenix that he'd have similar results at CU.

that's not my point. my point is that Mike Bohn had a very limited coaching search. one that seems to have been rewarded in a particular way.
 
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Kowal was the big Bzz shouldn't have let go. He had a decent jump shot, and a bigger body than Dufault. Didn't get that one.

agree about Kowal. he bodies up on Maric for Nebraska in RP's last home game like a mutha. Maric was a good player. Dufault lacks aggression, or something. he shows flashes and then sleeps for a few games in a row.
 
agree about Kowal. he bodies up on Maric for Nebraska in RP's last home game like a mutha. Maric was a good player. Dufault lacks aggression, or something. he shows flashes and then sleeps for a few games in a row.
Sounds like a young player. I really think he'll come through. He may not become a star, but he's going to become a solid player for us.
 
If Gentry coached the Nets would Dempsey still feel like this? NBA is a players league.. If you don't have players, you aren't going to win.. The suns aren't doing anything different than what they were doing under D'Antoni..
 
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