HoopsHype.com Rumors

They may meet next week after the Combine, but so far the Suns have not requested to interview Houston assistant J.B. Bickerstaff. Phoenix, like a few teams, is still in search of a new head coach. 1500 ESPN

Houston Rockets, Phoenix Suns, Coaching, JB Bickerstaff 

Brett Pollakoff: Lon Babby will represent the Suns on stage at the Draft Lottery on May 21, the team announced. Twitter @BrettEP

Phoenix Suns, Draft, Lon Babby 

Chris Mannix: Otto Porter has interviewed with Charlotte, Phoenix and OKC. Says he looks at Cleveland, Phoenix and Orlando as being the best fit. Twitter @ChrisMannixSI

Charlotte Bobcats, Cleveland Cavaliers, Oklahoma City Thunder, Orlando Magic, Phoenix Suns, Draft, Otto Porter 

Phoenix Suns general manager Ryan McDonough met with interim coach Lindsey Hunter to discuss the franchise's head-coaching job on Wednesday, league sources told Yahoo! Sports. McDonough and Hunter met in Chicago, where McDonough had arrived with the Suns' front-office staff for the NBA draft combine. Yahoo! Sports

Phoenix Suns, Coaching, Lindsey Hunter, Ryan McDonough 

McDonough has yet to set up any formal meetings with candidates, but a league source told Yahoo! Sports that he's been calling for background on coaches including Utah Jazz assistant Jeff Hornacek, Moscow CSKA assistant Quin Snyder, Houston Rockets assistants J.B. Bickerstaff and Kelvin Sampson and Los Angeles Lakers assistant Steve Clifford, among others. Yahoo! Sports

Phoenix Suns, Coaching, Kelvin Sampson, Jeff Hornacek, Quin Snyder, Steve Clifford, Ryan McDonough 

Former Phoenix Suns head coach Alvin Gentry weighed in on who he thinks should lead the organization going forward. Gentry told Arizona Sports 620's Doug & Wolf Tuesday that the Suns have an interesting pool of candidates to choose from in their search for a new head coach. "I think there's a lot of great guys out there," Gentry said. "At the end of this season, Lionel Hollins is going to be a free agent. He's got a lot of Valley ties here, played at Arizona State. Obviously he's shown that he can really coach -- young teams that are developing. "He can also, the defensive thing, which has been kind of an Achilles' heel for the last eight years here. He's done a great job in that area." Arizona's Sports Page

Memphis Grizzlies, Phoenix Suns, Coaching, Lionel Hollins, Alvin Gentry 

As smartphones and tablets change the way companies do business, sports teams are also increasingly tapping mobile devices to get a technological leg-up on the competition. The Suns became the first NBA team this season to outfit both players and coaches with tablet computers for use on and off the court. BusinessWeek.com

Phoenix Suns 

The Suns coaches use an app that lets them draw plays, see them in action, review playbooks and pull up game videos. This replaces whiteboards, reams of paper, bulky laptops and "a rack of DirecTV boxes recording other teams, and having a guy making DVDs all night long," said John Brandstetter, president of Flying Tiger Entertainment, whose company developed the software. BusinessWeek.com

Phoenix Suns 

Jared Dudley: How does Marc Gasol win defensive player of the year but not make NBA 1st team all defense?!!!! Something is not right, time for a new model Twitter @JaredDudley619

Memphis Grizzlies, Phoenix Suns, Jared Dudley, Marc Gasol 

Bickerstaff, 34, is likely to be among the coaching considerations for new Phoenix Suns general manager Ryan McDonough, league sources said. Yahoo! Sports

Houston Rockets, Phoenix Suns, Coaching, JB Bickerstaff, Ryan McDonough 

No decision has yet been made on Hunter’s status. But the way McDonough was speaking about the search planned to fill the head coaching chair for next season would lead you to believe that the team will look high and low elsewhere for a more solid long-term solution. “I’m going to spearhead that process, and the process has already begun,” McDonough said. “That was part of my interview with [team owner Robert Sarver and president of basketball operations Lon Babby]. We discussed potential coaching candidates, and who we thought would be good fits, and we were in alignment on a lot of the names — most of the names. “So we have an initial list to go off of. We’ve received a good amount of interest from people all over the basketball world who want to be the coach of this storied franchise, and they see a great opportunity here. That’s my first order of business as the general manager, to find the best guy for that job.” NBCSports.com

Phoenix Suns, Coaching, Robert Sarver, Ryan McDonough 

But when asked if it was fair to say that Hunter’s name might be further down on his list, McDonough wasn’t ready to publicly declare Hunter as out of the running just yet. “No, I don’t think that’s fair to say,” McDonough said. “We will meet with Lindsey. I don’t know him that well personally, but I’ve heard good things about Lindsey’s character, and his toughness, and his work ethic. So Lindsey is a candidate. I know he’s interviewing for jobs elsewhere, but he’s a candidate for us as well, and we’re going to go into it with an open mind and consider all the top guys. And Lindsey is one of the top guys.” NBCSports.com

Phoenix Suns, Coaching, Robert Sarver, Ryan McDonough 

McDonough said he expects his philosophy to be very similar to the one of Danny Ainge, who he learned the job from in Boston. “Danny Ainge is probably my professional mentor,” he said. “I think my philosophy will be the same. In Boston, one of the things Danny did so well, he was very aggressive in acquiring draft picks and trying to get the best players through whatever means necessary. One of the things that I learned from Danny Ainge is to be unafraid, and that not very move is going to be perfect. I’ll probably make some mistakes. But if you’re willing to work at it, and correct some of those mistakes — and again, if you’re unafraid — then that can lead to some great results.” NBCSports.com

Boston Celtics, Phoenix Suns, Danny Ainge, Coaching, Robert Sarver, Ryan McDonough 

Paul Coro: McDonough said he & Sarver had some of the same coaches in mind. Wants a leader who commands respect & teaches to maximize the #Suns talent. Twitter @paulcoro

Phoenix Suns, Coaching, Robert Sarver, Ryan McDonough 

Paul Coro: McDonough got choked up talking about his brothers, Sean & Terry, attending the #Suns presser. Said it's OK cuz he saw George Karl do that. Twitter @paulcoro

Denver Nuggets, Phoenix Suns, George Karl, Ryan McDonough 

And if new general manager Ryan McDonough lives up to rock-star billing in Phoenix, it could happen for the Suns' oft-criticized majority owner. "I'm definitely a better owner today than I was nine years ago, even two, three years ago," Sarver said. "I'm realistic enough and honest enough to accept the fact that I need to learn and evolve. "There are times in the past when we've used salary cap space wisely. But a lot of the times when we haven't used cap space wisely happened when I was involved in the process." USA Today Sports

Phoenix Suns, Ryan McDonough 

But he’s also a competitor. Cashing out before fixing the current mess would make his legacy a net loss, and that would be tough for him to swallow. “Absolutely not for sale at any price,” Sarver said of the Suns. “That’s the same position I’ve had for nine years.” Some say Sarver is extremely misunderstood, stuck inside a terrible caricature. He isn’t a bad guy or a bad owner. He just says awkward things. He makes some people uncomfortable. Arizona Republic

Phoenix Suns, Robert Sarver, Ryan McDonough 

Jonah Ballow: .@Amare Stoudemire running up & down the floor during team drills at #Knicks practice at the moment. Twitter @jonahballow

New York Knicks, Phoenix Suns, Amare Stoudemire 

Tom Moore: #NBA source: #Suns and #Bobcats are expected to join #Sixers in interviewing #Jazz assistant Jeff Hornacek. Twitter @tmoorepburbs

Charlotte Bobcats, Philadelphia 76ers, Phoenix Suns, Utah Jazz, Coaching, Jeff Hornacek 

Adrian Wojnarowski: First job for McDonough in Phoenix will be to hire a coach: Expect him to find a bright, young assistant to grow with a full-blown rebuild. Twitter @WojYahooNBA

Phoenix Suns, Coaching, Ryan McDonough