Last month, the Phoenix Suns’ decision to gut head coach Jeff Hornacek’s staff – canning assistant coaches Mike Longabardi and Jerry Sichting while keeping Hornacek on the job – evoked a similar reaction across the NBA: Huh? Rarely, if ever, have teams turned over assistant coaching staffs like that midseason. To most, it was a temporary stay of execution for Hornacek, in the final year of his contract, marching toward an inevitable end. That end came Monday, when the Suns fired Hornacek hours after a 91-78 loss to Dallas, Phoenix’s fourth straight defeat that capped a brutal 2-12 month of January. Since a startling 48-win season in 2013-14, the Suns have regressed rapidly, falling to 39 wins in 2014-15 and a 14-35 record a little more than halfway through this season. Hornacek, hailed as a brilliant hire after finishing second in the NBA Coach of the Year voting in 2014, has been criticized by scouts for an offensive system deemed far too simplistic. “They don’t run much of anything,” a scout told The Vertical recently. “It’s five guys, spread them out and try to beat you with basic stuff. It’s like watching an AAU game.” - See more at: http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/14689071/jeff-hornacek-fired-phoenix-suns-continue-lose
