Lindsey Hunter Named Phoenix Suns' Interim Head Coach

The Phoenix Suns will continue their nightmarish 2012-13 season under a fresh face on Wednesday night versus the Sacramento Kings. Lindsey Hunter has been named interim coach of the Suns, the team announced on Sunday.

Hunter, 42, will replace former head coach Alvin Gentry, who agreed to part ways with the team on Friday following a dreadful 13-28 start to the season. 

Hunter was recently hired by the franchise for another role, according to the Suns' official team website:

"Hunter joined the Suns’ scouting department in 2012 and this season served as the coordinator of the organization’s newly-formed player development department."

A first-round draft pick in 1993, Hunter logged 17 seasons in the NBA, playing for five different teams and winning two NBA championships in the 2000s with the Los Angeles Lakers and Detroit Pistons. He retired from the NBA in 2010 and served as a player development assistant for the Chicago Bulls for two years before heading west to the Arizona desert.

It remains to be seen how long Hunter will patrol the Suns' bench, but regardless of the answer, he will have his work cut out for him in the coming weeks and months. 

Phoenix is 15 games below .500 at the halfway point of the season and boasts the league's fifth-worst scoring differential at minus-4.4, behind only Charlotte, Washington, Sacramento and Cleveland.

At 3-17, the Suns have the second-worst road record in the NBA and are dead last in the Western Conference standings coming into Sunday.

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