This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Jeff Hornacek never had a chance.

Not with the hand he'd been dealt by his front office. And not with the lack of support from his superiors heading into this season. In three years coaching the Phoenix Suns, Hornacek went from genius to scapegoat. He went from being one of the brightest young coaches in the NBA to a lame duck. He went from being known as a players' coach to arguing with them —namely Markieff Morris — on the bench during games.

We all know how it ended, with Hornacek's dismissal during the wee hours last Monday. The man with such a bright future in the coaching profession is now looking for work.

And we all saw it coming.

That much was established the minute his general manager, Ryan McDonough, decided to play fantasy basketball with his roster, not unlike how I would run a franchise on NBA 2K16.

The Suns were thought to be a team on the rise after a 48-34 finish in 2013-14. They had narrowly missed the Western Conference playoffs. Hornacek had put his stamp on the offense, adding spacing and 3-point shooting. His guards, Eric Bledsoe and Goran Dragic, established themselves as one of the better backcourts in the league.

And then McDonough decided to add Isaiah Thomas to the mix. That move became a turning point, and not in a good way.

Thomas lasted a little more than half a season in Phoenix, wreaking havoc on the Suns' chemistry on the court. He, Dragic and Bledsoe all needed the basketball in their hands. He was a dominant personality in the locker room. And by the time February's trade deadline rolled around, Thomas and Dragic were both itching to take the first plane out of Phoenix. Both ended up being traded.

It didn't stop there. Last summer, the Suns traded Morris' twin brother, Marcus Morris, to the Detroit Pistons, enraging Markieff, and leaving Hornacek to deal with the fallout. Then, McDonough signed Tyson Chandler in unrestricted free agency, which is fine, except it torpedoed the development of center Alex Len, whom the franchise drafted with the No. 5 pick a few years ago.

What Hornacek was left with was a roster of malcontents and an odd mixture of veterans and young guys. There was no chemistry through the roster, there was no direction from the front office and Hornacek was left with little leverage in his own locker room as he entered the last season of his contract. He was toast.

I get that the Suns were trying to improve, following the 48-win season, especially in the unforgiving Western Conference. But they went about it the wrong way, adding talent with little thought to how that talent would mesh with the current roster.

Bringing in Thomas proved fatal to Hornacek and the organization. He was a third small guard on a team that already had two point guards attempting to share the ball with each other. Thomas is known for playing with a chip on his shoulder, and believed he should be the featured guy. He was right, of course, and that was proved this season: he made the All-Star team with the Boston Celtics.

But for Phoenix, and for Hornacek, he was all wrong.

And now, Hornacek is the one who falls on his sword. If any good comes out of this, it's that Earl Watson, a former Jazz player like Hornacek, was named as the interim head coach. Like Hornacek, he is one of the good guys in the NBA.

I suspect Hornacek will get another chance to be a head coach. He's too smart, too personable and proved a lot in his first. But in Phoenix, he was undermined by his front office's moves and hung out to dry when that front office didn't give him a contract extension to work through those moves.

Let's hope the same doesn't happen to Watson, assuming he gets the job full-time.

Twitter: @tjonessltrib A big loss

The Spurs will have to do without sixth man Manu Ginobli for at least a month, after the veteran had surgery to deal with a testicular injury late in the week. Ginobli is on the downside of his career, but he's still a good scorer and a great influence in the Spurs' locker room. While he's gone, San Antonio will lean more on the shooting and defense of Danny Green and the overall athleticism of Jonathan Simmons, a rookie out of Houston.

Rumors, rumors

Jazz fans are well aware of rumors about the team being interested in Hawks point guard Jeff Teague. Several other teams have also been mentioned. We are a little less than two weeks away from the NBA's trade deadline, which means rumors are flowing hot and heavy. This week reports emerged that the Celtics might want to deal for Dwight Howard. We've heard about high interest in Nets forward Thaddeus Young. We've even heard rumblings about Clippers star forward Blake Griffin being ticketed for Denver. Nothing is substantial as of yet. But as All-Star weekend passes, you can be sure we'll hear a lot more.

Rule change?

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver told USA Today this week that he hopes to make changes to the intentional foul strategy that teams employ against opposing players who don't shoot free throws well. Originally employed against Shaquille O'Neal, and known as the Hack-a-Shaq strategy, it is now regularly deployed against current big men Andre Drummond, Dwight Howard and DeAndre Jordan. "I'm increasingly of the view that we will be looking to make some sort of change in that rule this summer," Silver said. "Even for those who had not wanted to make the change, we're being forced to that position just based on these sophisticated coaches understandably using every tactic available to them. It's just not the way we want to see the game played."

Team of the week

Remember when the Memphis Grizzlies looked finished? Well, they've won four consecutive games, are playing their best basketball of the season and are 29-20. Memphis is in fifth place in the Western Conference and three games behind the Los Angeles Clippers for fourth place.

Player of the week

Not much more can be said about Stephen Curry, other than he's playing the best basketball in the league. In the Warriors' Wednesday win over the Wizards, Curry scored 51 points against the defense of John Wall. The man is simply playing a different game than anyone else right now.

Game of the week

With two games separating them in the Western Conference playoff chase, seventh-place Houston meets ninth-place Portland on Wednesday in the Rose City. It will mark the second game between the two teams in a five-day span.