From the looks of it, Phoenix Suns head coach Earl Watson is expected to thrive in his current responsibilities as a bench tactician.
The players seem to respond to him, and he has a young group of wards where he can impart his years worth of NBA wisdom.
In a recent interview with Marc J. Spears for The Undefeated, Watson's revealed how his late brother, Dwayne Hooks, played a big role in convincing him to pursue a head coaching job, instead of playing in the NBA.
If he didn’t talk to me about coaching, about following my heart, about following my dream, I would still be doing veteran minimum contracts, playing basketball, trying to gauge what was next for me like when do I coach. It’s the greatest thing that ever happened to me and I believe life is a choice — I tell my son that every day. My brother’s death was powerful, moving, and it forced me to make a choice to either follow my dream or hide in a jersey to overcome my tragedy.
Hooks was slain on August 27th, 2014 as he was shot in the leg in a heated altercation between his brother, his brother's stepdaughter, and her boyfriend. After this incident, Earl Watson decided to focus on coaching instead of playing in the NBA.
He worked with the Austin Spurs for the 2014-2015 season, then became an assistant coach for the Phoenix Suns on July 30th, 2015. However, Jeff Hornacek was fired by the Suns and Earl was promoted to infirm head coach. He must have done something right with the team, because many players talked about in their exit interviews about the desire to keep him for the next season. So they did, and he was given a 3 year contract to stay with the team.
Meanwhile, Tremayne Quinn will be given a sentence this Friday, after he pled no contest on May 5th, and the original charge of one count voluntary manslaughter was dropped to involuntary manslaughter, and the two battery charges were dropped.
Earl Watson was drafted with the 40th pick in the 2001 draft by the Seattle Supersonics and played for them, the Grizzlies, Nuggets, Pacers, Jazz, and Trailblazers. He averaged 6.4 points and 4.4 assists in 13 seasons.
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