Steve Kerr raves about Hornacek, defends his Suns tenure
By Fred Kerber May 21, 2016 | 10:04pm

OKLAHOMA CITY — The guy who said no loves the choice of the guy about to say yes.

Steve Kerr, who opted for the Warriors over the Knicks two years ago, raved about the Knicks’ head-coach-in-waiting, Jeff Hornacek. The two were teammates in Phoenix and longtime rivals on the court, including two years when Kerr and the Bulls beat Hornacek and the Jazz in the Finals.

“I’m a big fan,” Kerr said Saturday at Chesapeake Energy Arena, where he prepped his Warriors for Sunday’s Western Conference finals Game 3 against the Thunder. “I was a teammate of Jeff’s in Phoenix, played against him my whole career.

“I thought he did a phenomenal job in Phoenix. That first year he got them to within a game of the playoffs in a loaded conference in a year when they were supposed to be a high lottery team.”

“This guy has a great knowledge of the game, great feel, and he’s a really top-notch human being. I thought he was a great choice.”

But no matter how good he is as a coach, without a talented lineup …

“It doesn’t matter. Personnel is everything in this league, and so every coach is at the mercy of the talent and the organization,” said Kerr, who predicted Hornacek and Phil Jackson will be a great match and “co-exist beautifully.”

“Jeff would have been a great player with the Bulls,” Kerr said. “He would have fit in exactly with the style we played. Utah’s system was very similar in terms of post feeding and split cuts. I know Phil always had tremendous respect for [former Jazz coach] Jerry Sloan, and I’m sure that factors in. On a personal level, I think they’ll get along really well.”

mreinman wrote:

LivingLegend wrote:That last reference where he mentions the similarities in the old Sloan (Utah) offense could be an indication that we won't be getting the full blown PHX system Horny used. You could see something closer to the Utah (Flex) offense.

I think that his offense will be a mix of many and I am looking forward to seeing something completely different than the horror show offense that we saw the last 2 years.

Yeah there would be no point to bringing in Horn and not allowing him to improve the offense where he believes he can. Phil seems like he wants a coach he can trust is smart enough to handle the job. If he wanted the same old thing he could've just left Rambis in charge. Horn is just way too different offensively for Phil to not want to have him add his special sauce to this team. It's still very much system Ball, which is what Phil wants, but something the players will really grab onto and enjoy.

http://nypost.com/2016/05/22/suns-broadcasters-hornacek-rundown-fans-knicks-will-love-him/