Report: Suns Fire Jeff Hornacek

Is it still a Woj Bomb if no one’s awake to hear it, and it’s not particularly surprising news anyway? Late last night, Yahoo Sports reported that the Phoenix Suns have fired head coach Jeff Hornacek, and it feels like a mercy killing at this point.

After yesterday’s 91-78 loss to the Dirk-less Mavericks, the Suns sit at 14-35 on the season, bad enough for 13th in the West. It caps an 0-4 road trip, part of a 14-game winless streak on the road, and they’ve lost 19 of their last 21 overall. If you’re looking for a losing streak to peg Hornacek’s firing to, you’ve got your choice.

Hornacek has been a dead man walking since December, when management fired two of his handpicked assistant coaches. Phoenix is a rough situation for any coach right now: a weirdly constructed roster to begin with, the Suns have suffered a bunch of injuries—Hornacek’s final loss was accomplished without his three leading scorers. It’s not millennials’ fault, but a floundering front office that doesn’t seem to have a plan to construct a roster beyond “get a bunch of point guards because it somehow worked two years ago.”

Wojnarowki reports that either Corey Gaines or Earl Watson will take over as interim coach, but rumors have had the Suns targeting Luke Walton or Mike D’Antoni over the summer. Good luck to whoever inherits this mess.