Respect ?! Come on Marion !

According to various - reliable - sources Shawn Marion has officially requested a trade from the Suns. "It's time to move on" he declared to the Republic.

It's always about respect, never about money and the Suns refusing to talk about a contract extension is only part of the problem.

Marion wants some respect? How about "respecting" a contract paying some 16 million $$$ a year for a couplemore seasons on one the best franchise in the league?
Why should the Suns extend contract that has TWO more years to go? Why? because at 31 Marion could test the free agent market? come on, get serious.

"I'm tired of hearing my name in trade rumors", Hello ! It's pro basketball. Marion's name had been made in connection with a possible KG trade, unless you're counting Utah trying to get rid of Kirilenko as real trade talk, which I don't.
What's wrong with the Suns trying to trade Marion to another team to get a better player? KG is a better player than Marion. What a surprise, Shawn...it's not about respect.

If a player wants out I believe a team should trade him, but not at any cost. Only fair value should do it.

I love Marion, he gives 100 percent every nigth, plays great defense, can run and he's a very good overall player. Wanna try to win a championship in Phoenix? you're welcome !
Tired of Phoenix? Enjoy L.A. or better yet, have some fun in Utah.

Whatever, Go Suns !

it's 38 days, 10 hours, 15 minutes and counting

I am tired of waiting, can't stand any more surfing the net looking for news, any news "that's fit to print" as the say at the NY Times. I need games ! but I might settle for training camp or anything that includes someone in a Suns uniform shooting a basketball; I even miss the Summer League.
With this feeling, by far, the most useful site on the web is the Fox Sports Suns Site featuring a nice clock counting down time to the next game...it's 38 days, 10 hours, 21 minutes and 20 seconds until tip off with the Sonics.

The Suns are still looking to sign a big man, while others are actually signing them, just check the NBA transaction notes as Michael Ruffin signed with the Bucks and Elton Brown was grabbed by the Lakers. It seems the Suns will be bring Brian Skinner to camp and it seems a roster spot could be his to lose.

Camp opens in Arizona in a few days and the Suns roster seems basically settled with the inclusion of this year's rookie class as both Tucker and Strawberry should compete for minutes. It could be very interesting to see how Coach D'Antoni will shape players' rotation for the new season...another reason to count the days till opening days.

In the meantime I am trying to get ready for the 2007/08 Fantasy Basketball season. Both Yahoo! and NBA.com have already launched the new season.
Can you believe NBA.com has Gilbert Arenas ranked ahead of Steve Nash at PG and Barbosa ranked no. 9 in that department as well? In the overall ranking KG is no. 1 just above our own Shawn Marion at no. 2. As a tradition I'll have the whole Suns starting five on top of my players ranking which will allow me to have at least one Sun on the roster and more often than not ending in the bottom of my league...

Go Suns !

PS it's 38 days, 10 hours, 15 minutes and 30 seconds.

Got an e-mail this morning about a Nash interview

It came from Sport Business Radio blogger Brian and it included a link of a recent Steve Nash Interview recorded in China last week during the Yao-Nash Charity Chinese Trip.
Can't say enough about Steve...I mean I dedicated a blog to him, but it's always a pleasure to hear the man.

The interview of course is focused on the business side of the game, in this case about Steve's humanitarian efforts but also about China, Soccer and so on. Nothing new, but always articulate and funny.

If you're interested just click on the link above and go to 32:46 mark of the show.

Thanks Brian and of course, Go Suns !

Mr. Brown, area code is 602. Just in case...

Still waiting on P.J. Brown' call to Steve Kerr, the Suns are currently holding auditions, or simply looking around, for that missing big man off the bench. According the the Republic the Suns are evaluating Michael Ruffin, Vitaly Potapenko, Brian Skinner and Elton Brown among others.
Elton Brown (a 6-9 forward) has the best name and possibly the most upside, coming off a nice D-League season (13.3 ppg and 10.5 rpg) has just signed with the Lakers yesterday.
I am not much a fan of Potapenko but he could be the best of the remaining contenders. He's a much more complete player then Ruffin, as he can shoot and play some defense.
Since the Suns are sitting on the Luxury Tax threshold, any signing will mean they'll basically have to pay double the player's salary, I am afraid Steve Kerr could answer P.J.'s call with a "Thanks, we're not interested anymore. Sorry man, good luck in Miami".

One final note. Would you really have traded Marion for Kirilenko? Well, me neither.
The always "up to date" Paul Coro reported that the trade rumor was more than fantasy basketball talk.
I have had a chance to watch AK 47 play at the European Championship last week, actually leading Russia to an impressive upset of Spain (playing at home, by the way) and he has lots of talent and can do a lot of things on the court. He's younger than Marion but other than that he's a worse offensive player and a worse defender. Do I need to say more?

Whatever...strange things could happen on Planet Orange

Go Suns !

A special day in september

There's always a special day for every fan, possibly second only to Opening Day (which is basically a Sports' Fan Christmas), it's the day preview magazines hit the stands.
That special day over here comes a bit later than in the US, but it's getting closer by the day and each year I am looking forward to see who is on the cover of the regional edition.
This time of the year I start surfing around The Sporting News, Athlon Sport, Street and Smith (that recentely merged with TSN) and so on and finally today I found this. It means we're getting closer !!!

Guess who's on the cover of The Sporting News NBA 2007/08 Preview (Arizona and co. version) ? You got it right ! Our very own.


Go Suns !

Nash is ready to go...Wait a minute. "He's fired up!"

According to the Republic Steve Nash is not just ready to go...HE'S FIRED UP ! (Thanks to the Republic for this great photo !)

Steve, new Sun Grant Hill and the two rookies - Alando and D.J. - are already working out getting ready for training camp I presume. The fact the three new players on the Suns' roster are having "voluntary" workouts with SN#13 is a strong confirmation this is Steve's team.

The Suns are heading into the new season with great attitude: STAT hasn't missed a chance to tell the World he's looking forward to the season, Grant Hill signed with Phoenix to have a shot at the Title, Steve won't play forever (actually I am not sure gods can retire) and he's fired up indeed. I hope Coach D'Antoni will keep this team positive without burning out their desire too early. You have to play with focus and passion from day one, but we all know the NBA season is more a marathon than a sprint race and the Suns will need 100% of their mental strenght comes May 2008.

Enough with talks and chats. I need some real games....SOON !

Go Suns !

A (No big) News roundup

Desperately trying to get some relevant news on the Suns these days, here's what I came up with. It's a little roundup as there aren't really big news to report, even if just by checking around you start sensing the season is getting near. Once the NFL has kicked off this weekend we should start getting some decent basketball coverage.

In case you didn't already know it: The Suns remains the cream of the Pacific Division. SI.com just gave us a much-needed confirmation.

Amarè, who is probably the Sun who had the busiest on court off-season, is looking forward to the new season (from the Republic). He's coming off from a very good 2007 FIBA Americas where he played his solid part for Team USA.

Leandrinho, off to a mixed feelings FIBA tournament - 21.8 PPG for an unsucesseful Brazil squad - is nontheless eager to start the season. The Republic is full with positives Suns these days.

The Summer of Steve was just great as he played soccer in Central Park, had his traditional Charity game in July and lately we have been informed he's working with Yao Ming helping orphan kids in China. The Man is just awesome. Just keep doin' it Steve.

Boris Diaw (photo above...) is currently playing for France in the European Championship in Spain. France won its first two games and Boris did quite good scoring 10 (vs. Poland) and 9 (vs. Italy) along with a few boards.

The Tournament is much better and much more fun than the FIBA Americas as there are really solid teams with some good NBA talent (Parker, Diaw, Kirilenko, Bargnani, Belinelli, Gasol, Jasikevicius and the great Dirk Nowitzki just to mention a few). All games are close and the quality of basketball is quite high. Check a few games if you have a chance.

The great Al McCoy will be inducted in the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, MA - where it all began - tomorrow receiving the Curt Gowdy Media Award (the equivalent of an Hall of Fame induction for Hoop announcers). SHAZAM ! Always a pleasure to hear you Al !

Finally, if you have HD TV and some schedule flexibility you could check all 82 Suns games on TV in 2007/08. As I don't have any of the above, I am in for a long winter I suppose...

Go Suns !

Book Review. Can I Keep My Jersey?

A few hours of my recent Summer vacation were spent reading Paul Shirley's latest literary effort "Can I Keep My Jersey? 11 Teams, 5 Countries and 4 Years in My Life as a Basketball Vagabond" (Villard, New York, 16.25$ on Amazon.com)

Basketball has never had the great literature other sports, baseball above all, have experienced. For that reason I am always interested when a Basketball book gets published and seems to be of some relevance or simply interesting, and this is certainly both. One of the world's tallest mechanical engineer became famous as an author writing a very entertaining blog while on the Suns' playoffs roster in 2005.

It is basically a 4-year diary, sometimes it tends to be too much of it actually as it get into the day-by-day details (you know, like...had dinner, got back to the hotel with Mike, went to sleep, woke up, back to the Arena... and so on), but it seems very honest, open and quite frankly very far from your basic "all common place" basketball stars' stuff. I am sure Shirley could have gone much more in depth, but I am afraid he was possibly trying to not sound too rude or making fun of people he'll end up playing with in the future. I mean, the guy's making a living in pro basketball...

The book includes some nice "insider" considerations about life as a pro player, especially one always struggling to make an NBA roster. He played the grand total of 18 games in the NBA, not much one could say...but many more than 5,999,750,000 other people in the world. Great are also the comments on some of today's NBA superstars: as you know most of them don't have a clue on real life...The only drawback of the diary is the constant (too much anyway) complaining about the disadvantages of travelling the World playing hoops. On a more personal note I think I could live with that.

As a Suns fan, you also have to be pleased by the fact that Shirley really loved his days with the Suns and adds some very pleasing comments on Coach D'Antoni, the Suns Organization and on Steve Nash although the funniest part was probably the recall of Shirley's days somewhere in Russia sleeping in creepy hotels, in cold weather along with some funny characters.

Overall I found the book entertaining and a nice read. If you're a basketball fan and like to see how the world look from the eyes of a pro player, I think it's worth reading.

In case you're interested he's currently on the Spanish League's Menorca Basket 2007/08 Roster where last season played 34 games, averaging 13.4 points and 7 rebounds per game. I am afraid he seems to be on IR right know. Get well soon Paul!

I almost forgot...Go Suns !