Pre-Vegas Quick Hitters

Out in Vegas for the weekend so you won’t have my brilliant additions here at SoD.  I fully plan on attending a couple of NBA Summer League games because who really wants to miss Adam Morrison facing off against Chase Budinger in practice jerseys?  Certainly not this guy.

Matrix is coming to Dallas – I’m a little crushed by this.  While I didn’t exactly expect for Shawn Marion to come back to the Valley, I wasn’t necessarily ready to see him running and gunning with a Western Conference rival who actually cares about winning.  Through a few savvy off-season moves (re-signing J-Kidd, and acquiring both Marcin Gortat and Marion) the Mavs have actually positioned themselves to contend in the West.  Marion appearing on the Gambo & Ash show today and talking about how he felt “bad for the Suns fans” didn’t make me feel a whole lot better.

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A Matrix Sequel That Wouldn’t Suck

Kiss and Makeup Boys

From the “you’ve got to consider the source” files – KTAR’s John Gambadoro reported that the Suns may have an interest in bringing Shawn Marion back to the Valley for a return engagement.  For this proposed scenario to occur Grant Hill would have to take off for Boston or New York and the Suns would have to clear a few more bucks in order to offer Marion near the mid-level exception (about $5 million).

Bringing Marion to the place where he started his career would almost make too much sense for the Suns.  They’ve already admitted that Shaq was a failed experiment (see: Cavs salary dump) and that doing anything

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Pony Tail Enthusiasts Rejoice

It's so Horribly Greasy

To the surprise of absolutely no one, the Suns picked up the team option on forward Lou Amundson ensuring that he’ll be with the team next season.  For those of you unfamiliar with Lou – he’s basically a weird looking bundle of energy who rebounds, dunks, and rides his bike to the arena for games (a bicycle, not motorcycle..awesome). 

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Falling in Love with Earl Clark

Consider Scott Howard Firmly in the Earl Clark Camp

Now that I’m a Suns season ticket holder for the first time I feel a bit of extra investment in the team and their moves – basically I don’t want them to completely suck this year.  The Shaq move was good, and I’m hoping they don’t deal Amare but to be completely serious,  I don’t expect title contention, but 48 wins and a 6 seed wouldn’t be a ridiculous request.

In Thursday’s NBA Draft the Suns added Louisville SF/PF Earl Clark.  For those of you unfamilar with Clark he’s apparently a mercurial talent who can be every bit as good as he is allegedly apathetic about the game.  The book on Clark is that he’s a 6’9 tweener who handles the ball like a guard, can rebound, and is extremely athletic.  The bad news is he doesn’t appear to have the greatest “motor” (which is white-speak for “he isn’t Tyler Hansborough), lacks consistency, focus, and mental toughness.  Admittedly those aren’t the prime qualities you’re looking for in a lottery pick – but from most reports Clark was a top-5 talent in this draft.  He averaged 14 points and 9 rebounds for a very tough Lousville team. 

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Why Robert Sarver and Steve Kerr? Why?

Steve Kerr is Desperate to Give Me Away

I understand the fact that the Suns are no longer contenders – I’ve accepted it.  Phoenix had the 6th highest payroll in the NBA last season and missed the playoffs, it isn’t exactly a recipe for success.  While I think they were in fact much better than their record – Amare Stoudemire’s injury, Terry Porter’s existence, along with injuries to Steve Nash and Leandro Barbosa hurt them quite a bit – even if they had been healthy and playing under Alvin Gentry for an entire season they would not have won a championship.  Thus I’ve accepted that Shaq needed to go in order to clear some payroll to make the team younger.  However this Amare to Golden State crap is ridiculous.  The original rumor was that Golden State would give up 7 foot Ivan Drago-clone Andris Biedrins (he of the 11 pt – 11 rebound averages), 3rd year underachiever Brandan Wright, summer league superstar Marco Belinelli, and the 7th overall pick in the recent NBA Draft – Stephen Curry.  I am not crazy about, nor do I even like, that deal.  If those players were so talented Golden State probably would have cracked the THIRTY win mark.

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The Two Jakes

On the eve of the NBA Draft, I wanted to take a look back at one of the more hilarious post-draft press conferences in recent Suns history.  I am speaking of the one-and-only Jake Tsakalidis, who responded to ESPN’s draft day questions with two words:  “Free” and “Strong.”  The “free” related to his ability to extricate himself from his then-current contract overseas.  The “strong” related to his ability to be a successful big man in the NBA.  I guess one out of two isn’t bad.

Oh, Jake was free alright but he certainly wasn't strong.

Through the magic of that thing they call the “world wide web,” I actually found a transcript of Jake’s first press conference with the Suns.  Below are the best excerpts with my comments in italics.  Enjoy.

BRYAN COLANGELO (Former Suns’ GM): Well, I’d like to thank everyone for coming today. Obviously, we are here to introduce the newest and the largest member of the Phoenix Suns Jake Tsakalidis. We’re happy to have Jake as a member of this team.

Remember the Colangelo family?  They used to run the team.  You know, back when it was financially and competitively successful.

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Shaq Traded to Cavs OR How to Go From 1st in the West to the Lottery in 16 Months

The Suns Will Now Be the Only Team Shaq Didn't Reach The Finals With

I come to you tonight as SoD’s first international writer.  With times being tough in the blogosphere we’ve decided to expand our little Mom and Pop operation on a global basis – either that or I’m here on business for my real job…I’ll let you decide.  A lot has apparently changed since I last set foot on American soil – first of all the United States is now apparently a soccer power (bring back the title boys – an apathetic public awaits you).  Oh, and the Suns traded Shaquille O’Neal for cap space.

Frankly there are two schools of thought here:

(1) Good to get rid of Shaq’s $21 million dollars a season because all he did was slow down the offense anyway.

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16th Anniversary of Suns-Bulls Triple OT Affair

I Hope Their Talking About How They Were Both Selected After Sam Bowie

The title says it all – 16 years ago today the Suns and Bulls played one of the greatest games in NBA Finals history.  The game was only the 2nd triple overtime game in Finals history – matching Game 5 of the 1976 Finals which also featured the Suns – then playing the Celtics.  Interestingly enough Suns (and current Kings) head coach Paul Westphal was a Suns player during the ’76 game and is the only man to be a part of both games.

The Bulls had taken both Games 1 and 2 from the Suns in Phoenix and the prevailing sentiment was that with 3 consecutive contests in Chicago the Bulls would sail to their first three-peat.  Fortunately the Suns had other ideas and battled the Bulls for three overtimes before Phoenix prevailed to take their first game in the series. 

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A List That Makes Me Think Jonathan Brandis Had the Right Idea

Zim and I have been furiously debating John Hollinger’s NBA Franchise Rankings for most of the day and we should both be able to add our two cents later tonight or tomorrow (let’s just say I’m not entirely certain the Career Sgt. has ever watched an Orlando Magic game that isn’t in the NBA Finals) – but I just wanted to make one Suns related comment.

Cue the Violins

The Suns ranked 5th on Hollinger’s list in which he cited their 18 50-win seasons in the last 33, consistently entertaining teams, and talented stars. He also added the moniker “Best Team to Never to Win a Championship” and suggested whether Phoenix was the NBA’s version of the Cubs.   This is the part where I’d like to have something cute and witty to say – you know something that would show how cool and detached I am – but instead I can only sigh.  As Hollinger appears to be mostly correct I can only say – Reality is a cruel mistress.

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Weekend Quick Hitters

Those NFL Live United commercials have gotten to the point where I want to punch a hole through my TV each time they are on.  I get it – Drew Brees, Santana Moss, Eli Manning, Adrian Peterson, Bob Sanders (did I miss any?) all do community service – but the same damn commercials have been playing for what seems like 2 years, lets cook up some new ones.

• Former Suns Guard Yuta Tabuse Seeking Return to NBA – Steve Nash wasn’t the only point guard to debut with the Suns in ’04-05- you may remember this guy:

Consider the NBA on Notice - It's Tabuse Time

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