Jeff Hornacek has been gone for almost three years, having left the Utah Jazz for his opportunity to be the head coach of the Phoenix Suns.
In that time, much has changed for both organizations. When you see him, he's still the same Hornacek, always willing to offer pleasantries and a kind word. It's also clear that he reflects fondly on his time with the Jazz.
And those feelings are mutual for the players he used to coach who are still on the roster, specifically Gordon Hayward, Alec Burks and Derrick Favors. When the Jazz and the Suns meet on Monday night at Vivint Smart Home Arena, those three like always will greet their former shooting mentor, share a laugh and share fond memories.
Sometimes, relationships can never be broken by division.
"Jeff, man, that was my guy," Burks said. "I owe him a lot, on an off the court. He used to work with me so much about my shot. He showed me how to be a professional in this league. He's just a great guy, and I miss him."
When Hornacek left for the Suns, it was a homecoming of sorts for him. A former All-Star shooting guard in the 1990s, Hornacek did a lot of his damage in Phoenix, before coming to the Jazz and becoming a big part of their consecutive Western Conference title runs late in the decade.
But the results have been decidedly mixed for Hornacek. It started out really well, as the Suns won 48 games in Hornacek's rookie season on the bench. They finished a game out of the playoffs and were dubbed one of the up-and-coming teams in the NBA.
Last year, however, was a nightmare in many ways. The Suns fell back into the pack. There was locker-room division, borne out of signing Isaiah Thomas to join the backcourt of Eric Bledsoe and Goran Dragic. By the end of the year, Thomas would be traded to the Boston Celtics, and Dragic would be gone to the Miami Heat, neither happy with their roles in Phoenix.
The pressure of being a playoff contender and making the postseason seemed to be a year-long distraction for Hornacek's team, and while they did compete for the eighth seed last season, they ultimately came up short to the New Orleans Pelicans.
The result? Hornacek entered this year on the last guaranteed year of his contract and without an extension. There hasn't been much word on his status through the first two months of the season, but the longer Hornacek goes without an extension, the more speculation will grow.
"This is just like any other player getting towards the end of their contract," Hornacek told Bright Side, a blog that covers the Suns, at the beginning of the season. "You go out there and do your best. These things tend to take care of themselves with time. So that's the way we approach it."
Heading into Monday night's matchup, the Suns are 12-17 on the year, in ninth place in the Western Conference race, a game behind the Jazz. They are doing it with Bledsoe (22 points per game) and Brandon Knight (19.9 ppg) leading the scoring, backcourt dynamos who have always been able to score handsomely from the perimeter.
But scoring beyond those two gets adventurous. Markieff Morris averages almost 12 points a night, but has been in Hornacek's doghouse of late and has seen his minutes significantly limited. TJ Warren is scoring 11 a game in his second season out of North Carolina State. But nobody else scores in double-digits for the Suns.
That means the Jazz will be able to concentrate defensively on Bledsoe and Knight. And while those two are quite explosive, and it can be argued Bledsoe is playing at an All-Star level this season, the Jazz are good defensively when they know the scoring choice for their opponent is limited.
Either way, Hornacek has done good things for Phoenix. He's introduced a defensive culture to a franchise that previously took defense as a suggestion, rather than a necessity. He's dealt with a ton of locker-room strife in his first two years. He's dealt with significant roster turnover.
Those facts should bode well for him come extension time.
tjones@sltrib.com
twitter: @tjonessltrib
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