A couple of months ago I whined and whimpered about the utterly foolish hiring of Terry Porter by the Phoenix Suns. I liked Porter as a player. He was a rock in Portland, a true leader at point guard -- not his natural position -- who could lock down a lot of offensive-minded foes.

Bringing his approach and mentality to Phoenix, not long after they brought in Shaq, didn't make a whole lot of sense with the personnel they had. So they unloaded Boris Diaw, Raja Bell ... and went into a tailspin. After losing 10 of 16 games recently, Steve Kerr and ownership decided to cut Porter loose.

Talk about dysfunction. They're also trying to unload Amar'e Stoudamire. If I'm the Knicks, I'm going to load up and try to get LeBron, and if that doesn't work out, I bring in Steve Nash, Amar'e, Bell and Diaw. This was a team that was within one win -- a weak technical foul against Amar'e -- of reaching the NBA Finals.

Anyway, I'm not saying 'I told you so' ... it wasn't Porter's fault that management did a second 180-degree turn. At least now, with Alvin Gentry at the helm, the Suns can get back to what they did best.

Such is life for a mid-sized market pro franchise.

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