Many people are rushing to judgement that on the other side of the "=" sign will be "new head coach".  The Phoenix Suns have publicly stated that they would like their next head coach to be someone with head coaching experience.  That rules out just about everyone because in the NBA, coaches are recycled like I recycle plastic bottles

So when Flip Saunders was fired as head coach of the Pistons today, he of the nearly 600 career wins and nearly .600 winning percentage, the same coach who has led the Timberwolves and Pistons to conference finals, coached the All Star team and led the Pistons to a franchise record 64 regular season wins, many people assumed he would be a candidate for the Suns job.

There couldn't be a worse hiring out there.  If the Suns just let Amare Stoudamire coach the team they would have just a good of a chance at winning the NBA Title than they would with Flip Saunders.

Saunders represents everything that Mike D'Antoni does, only he's not nearly as charming as Mike and doesn't have the moustache.  Saunders has routinely had big time success in the regular season only to see his teams flame out in the playoffs, several times when they were heavily favored.  Sound familiar?  Thats because that's exactly what the Suns have done the past 4 seasons.

You don't send a message to the team or the fans about winning a championship by hiring a coach who has repeatedly crumbled under that pressure.  Its easier to believe that a coach with experience but not the stain of playoff disappointment, like Terry Porter or Kurt Rambis has a better shot at winning a title.

At least we don't know how they'd respond in the face of championship pressure.  Flip folds.

By the way, can you really imagine an million dollar athletes wanting to go to battle for a guy named Flip?  That may be the most compelling reason for not hiring him.  I just imagine Amare constantly harrassing him to do a flip and ingorning any coaching.

If the Suns want to win a championship, they won't hire Philip Saunders.