The head coach of the 12-20 Phoenix Suns is reportedly on the hot seat, and two of his assistants have been fired.
The Suns are firing assistant coaches Mike Longabardi and Jerry Sichting, league sources tell Yahoo. Jeff Hornacek future unclear.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) December 28, 2015
By deciding to shake up its bench, Phoenix appears to be giving Jeff Hornacek one more chance to turn this team around
— Marc Stein (@ESPNSteinLine) December 28, 2015
According to ESPN.com’s Marc Stein, Jeff Hornacek’s job is “under immediate threat.” This report comes on the heels of Phoenix’s loss to the terrible Sixers on Saturday night.
The details:
The Phoenix Suns’ 5-15 nosedive, including a home loss Saturday night to the Philadelphia 76ers, has put coach Jeff Hornacek’s job security under immediate threat, league sources told ESPN.
Sources told ESPN.com that the Suns have been forced to contemplate a coaching change far sooner than they hoped because of a slide that has dropped them to 12-20 and 11th in the Western Conference, with fears growing within the organization that the team is no longer responding to Hornacek.
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It was Philadelphia’s first road win since last March, as well as the first game of a two-game suspension for Suns forward Markieff Morris, who threw a towel in Hornacek’s direction after being pulled from a home loss Wednesday to 12-18 Denver. Morris has been angling for a trade since the offseason.
“Pretty embarrassing, point blank, period,” Suns forward P.J. Tucker told the Arizona Republic on Saturday night.
“If something doesn’t change quick, it could get really ugly, really fast.”
This is the final guaranteed season on Hornacek’s original four-year contract. Questions about his future with the club have been in circulation in coaching circles since the Suns elected not to pick up their team option on Hornacek for 2016-17 entering this season.
