Suns make coaching staff changes, drop Kenny Gattison

The Suns are tweaking coach Jeff Hornacek's staff in hopes of making improvements beyond what they will do to the roster in the next two months.

Assistant coach Kenny Gattison's two-year tenure on the Suns staff ended as he was informed that his contract, set to expire June 30, would not be renewed. The Suns also will reassign assistant coach Mark West to the front office, promote player development coach Corey Gaines to assistant coach and hire D-League affiliate head coach Nate Bjorkgren as a player-development coach.

Director of Player Personnel John Treloar, who ran most of the basketball operation for former Suns General Manager Lance Blanks, also will leave after the June 25 NBA draft to become the associate head coach at Louisiana State, where he was an assistant coach from 2004-08. Treloar has scouted prospects and organized draft workouts for the Suns since Ryan McDonough became general manager in 2013, the same time assistant GM Pat Connelly was hired.

The Suns intend to have a more energetic staff by adding Bjorkgren to run the player development side and by promoting Gaines, the former Phoenix Mercury head coach who has worked in Suns player development since 2010. The Suns will add at least another player development coach to go with Bjorkgren, a veteran D-League head coach who ran the Suns' system for a 34-16 Bakersfield playoff team this season.

It was the first year that the Suns have run the basketball side for the Jam, where Bjorkgren coached Suns assignment players Archie Goodwin, T.J. Warren and Reggie Bullock, and had Earl Barron and Jerel McNeal called up to play for the Suns. Bjorkgren also worked with the Suns staff during summer league and training camp last season.

West will continue to work with the Suns' big men on the floor, particularly when they are in Phoenix. He has a successful, strong relationship with Alex Len and Markieff Morris. His new role as a director of player relations will focus on mentoring a young Suns team that had behavioral issues on and off the court last season.

That is closer to what West did before joining the coaching staff two years ago when Hornacek, his former teammate, was hired. West spent 12 years in the Suns front office, five as assistant general manager and seven as vice president of player programs. West's intelligence, communications ability and background as a 17-year NBA player will be used more off the court with players, but his versatility will be used in scouting draft prospects and free agents and in community relations.

Assistant coaches Mike Longabardi and Jerry Sichting retain their bench roles with Gaines joining them on the front row.

In the future, the franchise also might pick up the 2016-17 option year in Hornacek's contract or extend him. He is entering the final guaranteed year of his contract after his teams went 48-34 (Hornacek was NBA Coach of the Year runner-up) in 2013-14 and 39-43 in a tumultuous second season with 23 players used.

Gattison was a replacement hire in 2013 after Roy Rogers backed out of an agreement to join Hornacek's staff and went to Brooklyn, where he spent one season before moving to Washington.

Gattison teamed with West to work with Suns big men and shared in daily game preparation and opponent scouting. Gattison played eight NBA seasons after the Suns drafted him in 1986 in the third round, one round after picking Hornacek.

Gattison previously coached in Atlanta, where he was let go after two years, and spent six seasons as a New Orleans assistant and two at New Jersey.