Phoenix Suns: 5 Long-Term Replacements For Jeff Hornacek

Now that the Phoenix Suns have fired head coach Jeff Hornacek, here’s a look at five potential long-term replacements.

It was only a matter of time with the way the 2015-16 season was unfolding, but the Phoenix Suns have fired head coach Jeff Hornacek, as first reported by The Vertical’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

A little over a month after the team fired Hornacek’s two main assistant coaches, Mike Longabardi and Jerry Sichting, Phoenix apparently decided enough was enough, cutting ties with the former Suns player who was included in the famous Charles Barkley trade that nearly brought the franchise its first championship back in the early 90s.

Hornacek finishes with a 101-112 record (.474 win percentage) in his Suns tenure. In his first season, Hornacek led Goran Dragic and a group of role players to a 48-34 record, one game shy of making the playoffs. He finished second in Coach of the Year voting that season, but since then it’s been nothing but downhill.

To be clear, this whole situation has been unfair to Hornacek. Though he struggled commanding his locker room at times and though his team’s offense became defunct with a defense that was never any good, the Suns’ season was effectively over the moment Eric Bledsoe tore his meniscus.

One could even argue it was doomed to fail the moment an unhappy Markieff Morris started making his summer trade demands following the Marcus Morris trade. In any event, the Suns have lost 19 of their last 21 games, though their most recent loss — the team’s 14th straight road loss — came without their three leading scorers in Bledsoe, Brandon Knight and T.J. Warren.

The timing of the move is curious, since Hornacek came into the season as a lame duck with one remaining year on his contract. The Suns could have allowed him to play this lost season out, part ways after it was over and search for a replacement at that point, since no one should have reasonably expected him to win games with this current, banged up version of a roster.

Firing Hornacek now means the Suns could be intent to bring a long-term replacement to Phoenix sooner rather than later, though Wojnarowski reports either Earl Watson, Nate Bjorkgren or Corey Gaines — three assistants, two of which (Watson and Bjorkgren) were promoted last month after the Longabardi and Sichting firings — will serve as the interim head coach for the time being.

The question is, who would be Jeff Hornacek’s long-term replacement as head coach of the 14-35 Phoenix Suns? Here are the top five options, including a few honorable mentions.

Next: Honorable Mentions