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Check the Steve Fan's new home at the Sun-n-Gun.com

GO SUNS !

Sons of Steve Nash is moving to Fanster

The Sons of Steve Nash is moving !

The blog will officially become part of the Fanster All Sports All Phoenix Network, the ultimate resource for Arizona Sports Fans.

This is the new home of the Sons of Steve Nash

Please make sure to update your links, bookmarks and feeds as the season is approaching.

Sio, louder then ever Go Suns !

Yours truly, Steve Fan

Stay tuned

Stay tuned fellow Suns citizens....Camp will open on Tuesday.
There will be some basketball played....Finally !

Go Suns !

Suns sign Dragic...finally

The Suns will open camp in a few days with their back up PG ready to go. Goran Dragic is officially a Sun as yesterday signed a three-year deal (with an option on a fourth season).
It's quite important to have a PG in camp from day one as he'll need all the time he can to know his teammates, learn the plays and get ready for life in the NBA.
Goran has talent, that's a given, has size (6-4) and a tremendous upside at 22 years of age.
Whether those qualities will make him a good NBA guard will be seen. We'll try not to put too much pressure on him...so please stop all those Tony Parker comparisons.

In the meantime, welcome to the Valley!

I can smell training camp around the corner, finally.

Go Suns !

Two meaningless news of the week

I can't wait for the season to begin...I am looking to see that damn basketball bounce again...please. Can't stand any more weeks of Suns news of this great relevance...

First, the Suns invite 3 players to camp, non of whom will have a chance to make the Opening Day roster. In case you care those invited are Robert Hite, former Heat player, Trey Johnson, last seen in Summer League play following a year in Serbia, and Jiri Hubalek from Jackson State...Huba who?
In case you wonder, Suns already have 13 players under contract for next year.

Then, The Big Cactus declares he will retire at the end of his current contract....Really? I believed Shaq was gonna play until 50.

Whatever, Camp opens in Tucson in less then three weeks. Looking forward to Year I of the Porter Era

Go Suns !

2008/2009 The Top 5 Suns Dancers

It's the off season, I'd rather check the Suns Dancers roster then reading about Thunder Dan producing a movie.

Having a look at the new cheerleading squad, selected from a very crowded auditions (tough choice must have been).

I have to admit this year's group looks promising. The road to catch the NBA finest, The 3-time NBA Dance Bracket champ Miami Heat Dancers, is still a long one, but Suns dancers are on their way.

Anyway, here's my preseason top 5.

1. Kayla (Arizona, 3rd year). Still the best, an All Star for years to come. The "Steve Nash" of dancing. This season KTAR poster girl.

2. Brooke (Arizona, 1st year). Could replace Brandy if give playing time. Rookie of the year stuff.

3. Brittany A (Wyoming, 2nd year) Could be the year of the Brittanys' ?

4. Brittany B (Arizona, 3rd year) Former KTAR Billboard girl

5. Amanda R (Indiana, 2nd year) Hoping to avoid a sophmore slump. Looks just great

Way to go, Girls !

Go Suns !

Nothing to write

This is possible the worst part of the year for basketball fans as the new season is getting closer but it's still a good two months away.

Draft is forgotten, unless you consider Mario Chalmers and Darrell Arthur recent "off the field" performance. I know boys will be boys....as they say, but are these kids dumb or what? The NBA rookies Orientation program is basically about Women, Drugs and Finance.

Trade talks and free agent signings are done.

Of course, since the season is getting closer a few Suns players are actually coming to the Valley for various activities: support the Mercury, announce the Suns will go solar in 2009 and talking to the press like STAT did last week on Suns.com.

So nothing really to write about. I thinks I'll check the 2009 Suns Dancers over the weekend, maybe the season will look better.

Go Suns!

The Summer of Steve Nash, finally some time off...chilling out with Sidney Crosby

After our beloved one spent the summer in the usual activity....

• playing soccer in NYC with, among others, soccer legend Thierry Henry


• thrilling Vancouver


• helping Uganda's youth overcome a terrible tragedy


• attending the ESPYs awards cerimony


• and so on....not to mention some film making and plenty of other charity work
  

It's now time to take some rest, recharge batteries for the new Suns season. The same Sons of Steve Nash paparazzi that got him hangin out in the desert with Randy Johnson last year this time got him on the Australia Gold Coast, chilling out by the sea with none other then fellow canadian NHL legend Sideny Crosby.

Here's the pictures.

Enjoy the rest of summer. Have fun...and Go Suns !

The 2008/09 Suns Schedule

The 2008/09 NBA schedule was finally released on Wedensday. As always schedule day is a great one...as you ccould actually start counting the days to the new season.

The Suns will open the season on the road they way they ended the last one...playing the Spurs on Oct. 29th. Nothing better to start the year than a rande-vous with Tim, Tony and Manu.

Here's some of the highlights of the schedule:

• Opening game: Oct. 29th in San Antonio (on ESPN)
• Home opener: Oct. 30th vs New Orleans (on TNT)
• First meeting with the NBA Champ Celtics: Jan. 19th. The Celts will return the favour on Feb. 22nd. I just hope we won't regret the trade that never was (KG) by that time
• Final game: Apr. 15th vs Golden State
• Longest home stand: 4 games in March (Philadelphia, Washington, Denver, Utah)
• Longest road trip: 6 games in January (Toronto, Boston, New York, Charlotte, Atlanta, Washington) from Jan. 18th to the 26th. There's a tough, but short trip East between Feb. 8th and 11th (right before the All Star Game) with the Suns playing the Pistons, the much-improved Sixers and the Cavs.
• Toughest month: December as the Suns will travel a lot and will play on the road at Dallas, New Orleans and the Lakers while hosting Utah, Orlando and San Antonio among others.
• Toughest stretch of the season: there are two very interesting 4-game stretch one in Nov. (16-22) when the Suns will play Detroit, Utah, the Lalers and Portland and one in March (6-12) with Houston, San Antonio, Dallas and Cleveland).
• First Steve Nash - Dirk Nowitzki reunion: Dec. 4th in Dallas.
• Biggest game of the year: That Christmas date with the Spurs (Dec. 25th at 12.30 on ABC). It's possibly better than last year's Xmas with Kobe.
• First Lopez Family reunion: Nov. 4th in New Jersey and Nov. 30th in Phoenix.
• Those Lakers games: in LA on Dec. 10th, Feb. 26th and in the Valley on Nov. 20th and March 1st.

And finally don't forget the 2009 All Star Game is coming to the Valley, on Feb. 15th.

Start counting, it's 83 days to the Suns opener

Go Suns !

NBA to release 2008/09 Schedule later today

The 2008/09 NBA Schedule will be released later today, but according to the Arizona Republic the Suns will play on Christmas day this year as well.After the Xmas with Kobe in 2008, we could be looking at Xmas with the Spurs. What a Joy!

The Suns will open the season on the road in San Antonio on Oct. 29th before hosting the Hornets the following day. For sure not an easy way to start the year.We'll see what the rest of the upcoming season will shape up anytime now...

Go Suns !

Suns sign forward Matt Barnes

According to various sources, including the official Suns.com, the Suns have reached an agreement with free agent forward Matt Barnes. Barnes will sign a one-year veteran’s minimum deal to play for the Suns next season.

Barnes, a five-year veteran, played the last two season with the Golden State Warriors and last year averaged 6.7 PPG and 4.9 RPG. He was one of the surprise players in the great Warriors playoffs run in 2006/07.

The signing seems like an excellent move as the Suns are adding a solid pro who can share playing time at small forward with Grant Hill while leaving some money under the cap to complete the roster.

The Suns have now only two spots left on their roster and will try to sign a back up point guard as the top priority since Dragic will stay in Spain next year and the recent Summer League proved that D.J. Strawberry, while playing with great energy and being a solid contributor, is not going to be an NBA point guard anytime soon.

Go Suns !

Rockets beat Suns 100-97 in Summer League opener

Donte Green scored 40 points on 12-of-20 shooting to lead the Rockets past the Summer Suns 100-97 last night in Las Vegas in the opening game of the 2008 Summer League for both teams.

Suns sophomores D.J. Strawberry and Alando Tucker - last year’s picks in case you forgot - each scored 22 points in the Suns 2008 Summer League debut.D.J. shot 7-for-15 from the field and missed on his only two 3-point attempts, including one in the closing seconds of the game that would have tied it at 100. Alando went 6-of-16 from the field and both grabbed 6 rebounds as well.

The biggest news of the day had to be Robin Lopez first game with the Suns. Robin had a solid game more or less confirming the scouting reports we saw immediately after the 2008 Draft: athletic player, solid rebounder, good defender, can run the floor but can’t shoot.Lopez scored a good 19 points (5-for-13 from the field but a very poisitve 9-of-11 from the free-throw line), grabbed 5 rebounds, had 7 fouls called on him in 27 minutes of play.

From what we’ve seen last night nobody else really emerged as a possible candidate for a spot on the 2008/09 Suns roster.

It was the usual Summer League game, a lot of young athletic players running and hustling on both sides of the court, up and down all night. At least it was a real game of basketball.

The Suns (0-1) will now face the Spurs (1-0) on Thursday afternoon (5:30 PM).

Go Suns !

The 2008 Suns...Summer version

Amid all the talks and the rumors at least we're about to see some basketball. It's once again Summer League Time. Not the best game on the planet I understand, but at least they're keeping scores and you can actually watch most of the games on TV....Oh, and a few of the guys will play in November.

The most interesting thing will be watching Robin Lopez make his pro debut and taking a look at Tucker and Strawberry to check if they are better then last summer. By the way, D.J. had a very good summer league last year and he's not guranteed a contract for nex year.

I am sure I would love the Summer League given a chance to spend a week in Vegas...not bad, a vacation in Vegas with some basketball as a throw in.

Anyway, the Summer Suns, 2008 version coached by Thunder Dan Majerle will begin play on July 14th at 5:30 against the Summer Rockets. The Schedule will run through Sunday July, 20th and the Suns will play the Spurs, Knicks (and have a look at Gallinari), the Blazers (Oden? Fernandez...who was a Sun for 15 minutes) and the Wizards.

Generally the Summer coach is one of the Suns assistants so Majerle is perfect, plus Dan is in great shape, sporting a great tan...or in other words just perfect for a Summer League in Vegas.

The Summer Suns Roster is made of group of young players (basically all rookies) most of whom - with the possible exception of F Rod Benson, PG Jared Jordan and G Marcus Vinicius - won't have a chance to make the roster but it's a great occasion to show the world how talented you are playing against high draft picks.

I know it's not the real thing, but I am looking forward to some basketball...it's been long since the Suns lost to the Spurs basically ending my basketball season.

Go Suns !

The Direction of the Suns !?

After watching his press conference (Check it on YouTube) I already love Robin Lopez! But...

Lopez is at best an NBA bench player, maybe a solid pro for years but will take time to develop since the guy, based on what I know is very limited with the basketball. Next year he could be more or less a Brian Skinner (no blonde beard...but that hairs rock), more athletic but a worse mid range shooter, even if Steve Kerr stated he has a good shooting touch.
He also has the perfect skills (solid defender, good rebounder) to play alongside Stoudemire (great offensive player, possibly the best in the NBA at his position). I would have loved the pick in the second round.

With second round pick Goran Dragic very unlikely to be in Phoenix next season. It means the Suns are still looking for the 2008/09 back up to Steve Nash. He has a nice upside, but he's at best a 2-3 year project. He'll be ready once Nash will be gone.

The direction of the Suns is quite unclear at the moment.

The Suns roster looks like this:

Guard: Steve Nash, Raja Bell, Leandro Barbosa, D.J. Strawberry and Goran Dragic, maybe.
Forwards: Grant Hill, Boris Diaw, Alando Tucker.
Center: Shaquille O'Neal, Amaré Stoudemire, Robin Lopez.

So far the Suns are the same as last year: very good, old at key positions, not enought depth, without a clear identity and overall not good enough for a Championship run.

Go Suns !

With the 15th pick of the 2008 NBA Draft the Suns pick Stanford Center Robin Lopez

So the Suns picked Stanford 7-foot center Robin Lopez with the 15th pick and drafted Oregon guard Malik Hairstom in the second round (48th overall) and sent him along with cash to the Spurs for the rights to Slovenian guard Goran Dragic who look very promising (I have seen him play a few times and he's a very good young player) but won't be available at least for another year or two.

Robin's brother Brook was drafted with the 10th overall pick by the Nets. I wonder if it has ever happened before.

The Suns need a point guard NOW and a small forward, unless Coach Porter think he can use Diaw at the 3 position.

Lopez is a solid player, a good defender and rebounder. I am just not sure what this pick means for the Suns. I expect a few additional moves in the offseason and above all I expect a very different Suns team next season, maybe not in the roster but for sure in the way they'll play.


Go Suns !

2008 NBA Blogger Mock Draft

Chirs from the What Would Oakley Do? blog (a nice Sports and NY Knicks blog) had a great idea: Put together a bunch of NBA bloggers and invite them to hold a 2008 mock draft.

Chris was also so kind to invite me to represent the Suns.

The result was a great post, a much better mock draft than the usual mainstream stuff.

In case you're intersted, the Phoenix Suns picked PG Mario Chalmers from Kansas with the 15th pick.

The Pick: Mario Chalmers, out of the University of Kansas

The Reason For: For once the Suns will draft a player they can use and not simply pick some talent and ship him somewhere else for future picks or cash considerations as they did with Loul Deng, Rajon Rondo, Sergio Rodriguez and Rudy Fernandez. The Suns' biggest needs are (1) find a back up point guard to play at least 15 minutes a game; (2) add some defense to the team and (3) find someone who can play right now, as the Suns are looking at a 2-year window. Plus Chalmers reminds a bit of Terry Porter, solid defender, good shooter and ready to play with a 3-year experience at a top-level program like Kansas. So, Mario, welcome to the Valley!

Go Suns !

2008 NBA Draft. Suns need a guard, not cash

This year’s NBA Draft could be very important in shaping the future of the Phoenix Suns. Let’s just hope the ownership and the new coaching staff are willing to grab something other than cash.

The Suns will indeed pick 15th and hopefully, since they’ll make the Playoffs in the next couple of years this could be the best chance to grab some talent that could eventually make the difference.

Consider that the Suns biggest needs, not counting cash considerations, are more or less these:
1. Back up point guard
2. Athletic small forward
3. Shooting guard
4. Defense

The Suns draft history has ranged from bad to worse lately, even if the front office has been able to pick some good players.

There were some mistakes (Cabarkapa in 2004, Gortat in 2005) but over the last 4 years the Suns have drafted plenty of good players that eventually became good NBA players.
The kind of players the Suns are now in desperate need. A check of the Suns draft history is quite revealing in this sense.

Need a back up point guard?
The Suns drafted Nate Robinson (2005, later traded to NY for K. Thomas later traded to Seattle for cash); Rajon Rondo (2006, traded to Cleveland for draft picks); Sergio Rodriguez (2006, traded to Portland for cash).

How about a small forward?
The Suns picked Loul Deng in 2004 and traded him to Chicago for picks, the rights to Jackson Vroman (who?) and of course cash.

In other words, the Suns did well in spotting talent but made plenty of poor decisions either trading or simply in the way they used – or not used – those players. This eventually cost Mike D’Antoni his job.

Getting back to the Suns needs entering the 2008 Draft, last season the Suns drafted the best guard available in Europe in Rudy Fernandez, a defensive minded point guard in D.J. Strawberry and an athletic small forward in Alando Tucker. Then of course they traded away the right to Rudy (guess what…for cash !) and basically never gave a chance to D.J. and Doe.

So what to do with the 15th pick this year?

I believe the Suns should pick a guard in the first round hoping one between D.J. Augustin (Texas), Mario Chalmers (Kansas), Brandon Rush (Kansas) could be available. Just please, pick one, let him play and avoid trading the guy to Portland for cash an hour after the trade.

Go Suns !

Steve Kerr and Terry Porter. Notes form the Presser

Terry Porter was introduced yesterday as the new head coach of the Phoenix Suns during a well attended press conference at US Airways Center.
Among the usual array of common sense and typical “I’m glad to be here, it’s a great opportunity and so on” a few interesting notes emerged from the presser.

Porter and Kerr agreed that “it’s going to be a different team looking forward”. On Shaq, the new Coach stated “he has some game left” and that he’ll “sit down with Nash and Hill” to talk about the Suns.

The Suns will play a similar up-tempo game to the one we’re used to, but more attention will be given to pick and roll and of course, the great missing, defense.

Steve Kerr wanted Rick Adelman, whom he considers the best in the business and quoted the fact that Porter (himself and Mike D'Antoni) have had some experience under Coach Adelman as a reason why Terry was chosen as the new coach of the Suns.

Most of all, let’s just make it clear: Steve Kerr is the real head coach of the Suns while Terry Porter will be paid to be his man on the bench. At least that’s what I understood from watching an humble and shy Terry Porter saying very few words, while it was Steve Kerr giving the answers. I might be wrong, of course.

Go Suns !

The Search is over. Terry Porter to coach the Suns

After interviewing almost every available NBA assistant, broadcasters and former Suns, GM Steve Kerr signed the first guy he auditioned for the job.

The long wait was becoming a bit nerve wrecking and the fact that the GM was actually working out prospects for the Draft without an Head Coach in place was a bit disturbing.

As you all know by now, Terry Porter will replace Mike D’Antoni as the new head coach of the Phoenix Suns. He’s expected to sign a 3-year deal and could be introduced early next week.

Terry had an outstanding playing career that lasted 17 season and was one of the best guard in the league while playing with the great Blazers team of the late 80’s early 90’s. He’s always been known as a great competitor but a classy guy on and off the court.

His coaching experience is a bit limited, even if it was the longest among the possible candidates. Porter coached the Milwaukee Bucks for two seasons (2003-05 withe a record of 71-93 .433) and was currently an assistant with the Detroit Pistons.He made the Playoffs in his first year with the Bucks and he helped develop rookie PG T.J. Ford into an NBA player.

Porter is the man Steve Kerr wanted from the beginning. They played together with the Spurs for a few seasons at the end of their playing careers. He’s Steve’s choice 100 percent and I am sure during the last few weeks they discussed the Suns agenda, an agenda that I believe could look more or less like that:

1. Play Defense. It won’t be easy, but at least trying could help.
2. Develop a point guard one that could back up Nash and eventually take over in a couple of years.
3. Stay competitive while rebuilding, that’s the tough part…as it’s never been done in the NBA.

I think the 3-year deal is the key as Porter should be allowed to work with a long-term perspective of guiding the Suns transition from an aging but still very talented and competitive team to a new younger version. In a couple of years Steve Nash will be a full-time film producer or an amateur soccer player, Shaq will be a full-time Super Cop and STAT will still trying to become the Man in the Locker Room.

Kerr and Porter will now have a few weeks to evaluate the situation and get ready for the draft. It’ll be the first real test for the new coach. So, Welcome to the Valley, Coach Porter.

Go Suns !

Phoenix probe lands on Mars

According to CNN "Diesel-powered" Phoenix probe landed on Mars a few hours ago.

According to other unconfirmed sources, should any form of life be found on the planet, Steve Kerr will likely interview it for the head coach position with the Suns.

Suns.com reported earlier in the week that the Suns have begun an extensive search for the new head coach as more than a dozen candidate could be interviewed for the job.

Good luck, Captain Steve

Go Suns !