PHOENIX — Terry Porter is out as coach of the Phoenix Suns. The failed effort to tame the Suns’ offense went out the door with him.
The sputtering Suns fired Porter just four months into his first season as Phoenix coach and replaced him with assistant coach Alvin Gentry. Gentry promptly promised a return to the style so successful under Porter’s predecessor, Mike D’Antoni.
“We are who we are and I think we have to go back to trying to establish a breakneck pace like we’ve had in the past,” Gentry said at a news conference Monday announcing his promotion.
Phoenix (28-23) lost five of eight going into the All-Star break and trails Utah by one game for the eighth and final playoff spot in the West.
“We have enough talent that we should not be on the outside looking in right now,” Gentry said.
The Suns’ Grant Hill was with the Detroit Pistons when Gentry replaced the fired Doug Collins there.
“Considering the circumstances, considering what we’ve been through, he’s probably the perfect person to take over at this time,” Hill said after Monday’s practice.
Suns’ Richardson suspended
PHOENIX — The Phoenix Suns suspended Jason Richardson for one game without pay as the result of his arrest on allegations he was driving 55 mph above the limit with his 3-year-old son in the car.
The Suns said Richardson would miss tonight’s home game against the Los Angeles Clippers “for conduct detrimental to the team.”
A Scottsdale police officer first saw Richardson driving 67 mph in a 40 mph zone Sunday night and followed him, police said. That’s when the officer clocked him at 90 mph in a 35 mph zone and pulled him over.
Police said Richardson admitted to speeding and identified himself as a Suns player. The officer saw Richardson’s son in the back seat of the car and that he was not in a child seat.
Pistons trade Acker to Clippers
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — The Detroit Pistons traded Alex Acker to the Los Angeles Clippers, creating salary-cap space for moves the next two offseasons.
Detroit dealt the seldom-used guard and its second-round pick in 2011 for a conditional second-round selection in 2013 from the Clippers. Los Angeles also waived center Cheikh Samb.
The Pistons will have about $23 million in salary-cap space, giving them a lot of money to retool their team during the next two years after slipping from an Eastern Conference power to a middle-of-the pack team.
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