Report: Suns Replace Porter With Gentry

Terry Porter is done in Phoenix. No, it won't be official until Steve Kerr makes the announcement, but Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic reports he's received confirmation from multiple team sources who all agree that the decision has been made. The NBA frowns on teams making announcements or trades during All-Star weekend, but it's probably safe to assume a press conference will soon be scheduled on Monday.

Assistant coach Alvin Gentry, who's been with Phoenix since Mike D'Antoni's second year and is the lone coaching holdover from D'Antoni's staff, will take the reins as interim head coach. Here's the real gem: Coro writes that Gentry is expected "to return the Suns to their previous season's style."

What does this mean for Amare Stoudemire? I said yesterday that the coaching change and Stoudemire's status on the trading block weren't really connected, and I still think that. However, if the Suns truly are going back to their previous offense, wouldn't it make sense to hold onto Stoudemire until the summer?

Stoudemire was a 29 and 10 player for a long stretch after the Shaq trade last year; this year, he's slipped to 21 and 8. If he finishes the year strong and boosts his value even higher, the Suns will have all summer to find him a new team, at which point a) more contenders teams might feel comfortable entering the fray without fear of disrupting what's already working; and b) more losers might be interested knowing they can spend the offseason building a team around him.

Of course, if you believe the rumor mill, there's a good chance that Stoudemire's fate has already been decided, as well. One this is for certain, though: Monday will be an interesting day to be a Suns fan.