Phoenix Suns assistant coach Alvin Gentry has expressed interest in the University of Colorado men’s basketball coaching opening, but CU passed on an opportunity to talk to him while the Suns were in town for Saturday’s game against the Nuggets.
“I hadn’t heard anything from (CU),” said Gentry, a former Colorado assistant. “That’s kind of where it is. It doesn’t matter if I have interest. They don’t have interest in me. Obviously, I’ve showed I have interest. But I haven’t heard from them, so they’re going in another direction.”
It is the second time CU has neglected to speak with Gentry. Despite being in Las Vegas during NBA All-Star Weekend at the same time as CU athletic director Mike Bohn, Gentry said he was not approached for a meeting.
Gentry, in his third season as an assistant with the Suns, has been a head coach with the Los Angeles Clippers and a interim head coach with the Miami Heat and Detroit Pistons. The 27-year coaching veteran was a graduate assistant at CU during the 1977-78 season and also was an assistant from 1981-85.
While at CU, Gentry played a big role in recruiting former NBA players Jay Humphries and Matt Bullard. Gentry was an assistant at Kansas under Larry Brown from 1985-88 and recruited former Cherry Creek star and former Nugget Mark Randall.
Run, run, run
The success that Phoenix has had with its supercharged, helter-skelter offense has spawned a few imitations, including the Nuggets. Memphis and Toronto have also adopted pedal-to-the-metal styles, but Nuggets coach George Karl doesn’t see the trend sweeping the league.
“The power of the fast break, the power of scoring points – most coaches think you can’t win that way,” Karl said, adding that that style tends to lose favor in the playoffs. “Coaches have a lot of courage in the regular season, but we’ll see how much courage they have when it’s easier to coach a possession game.”
Footnotes
Carmelo Anthony passed Kiki Vandeweghe for eighth on the Nuggets’ all-time scoring list. … The Nuggets have had 25 different starting lineups this season.
