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 !

A really (really) great Steve Nash interview

Every Suns and basketball fan should check this great interview with our own Steve Nash on the Charlie Rose Show. The host did a great job (as usual) and the interview is really great (much better than Steve's shirt...).
It was really Steve at his best, talking about the game, the players and some more.
You're great Steve !

Go Suns !

Summer Vacation !

Dear Readers, fellow Suns' fans,

it's time for a summer vacation just to re-charge batteries, study some stats and get ready for next season.

I leave you with a picture of two of the greatest players ever to call Arizona home: Steve Nash and DBacks legend Randy Johnson. I found a picture of those guys hanging out together. Thought you might like it.

Go Suns !

On STAT, P.J. and the new Dancers

Lots of nice comments on the internet today about our own Amaré Stoudemire. Here's a short list:

1. Today is: Amaré Day on the Bright Side of the Suns,


2. There's a very nice article on the Republic on STAT. It's great to know he really likes the Phoenix community and lives there in the off-season as well,


3. Amaré will help opening the new Suns.com Newsroom at U.S. Airways Center later in the day (Aug. 9 at 1.30). Catch it live on KTR 620. It should be interesting as Coach D'Antoni will be there as well.

Still waiting on P.J. Brown's answer to the Suns proposal. Let's hope P.J. will play for the Suns next year. He should be really helpful in the Suns' quest for the Championship. He's a great defensive player, a solid pro and possibly one of the best options at guarding Tim Duncan and co.

Finally, the news everyone was waiting for: the Suns unveiled the new Suns Dancers squad for the 20007-08 season. You can check it at Suns.com

Go Suns !

The 2007-08 schedule is out ! Suns play on Christmas Day

The 2007-08 NBA schedule was finally released yesterday. It's always a great day when the schedule for the new season is released, it's just so full of anticipation and excitement. Check it yourself on the Suns homepage.
The Suns will open the season against Kurt Thomas and Kevin Durant in Seattle on Nov. 1st before playing host to the Lakers on opening night in Phoenix (on Nov. 2nd) and the Cavs a couple of days later. It's a very enterteining way to open the season, since the Suns will play Durant, Kobe and Lebron in the first three games before going East for a 4-game road trip.

Here's some of the highlights of the schedule:

• Opening game: November 1st at Seattle
• Home opener: November 2nd vs the Lakers
• First Spurs game: December 17th in S.A.
• First (and of course only) KG visit: February 22nd
• Final game: April 16th vs Portland
• Longest Home stand: 6 games beginning with Atlanta on January 29th
• Longest Road trip: 5 games beginning with a visit at MSG on December 2nd
• Toughest month: December, the Suns will play 11 road games (out of 15)
• Toughest home stand or Happy Valentine's Day: How about the 4-game stand from February 14th to the 24th when the Suns play Dallas, the Lakers, Boston and Detroit
• First Steve Nash - Dirk Nowitzki reunion: December 19th in Dallas
• Biggest game of the Year (on paper): It has to be that Lakers game on Christmas day on National TV. It's better to have an early lunch thius year, tip off is at 3.00 PM
• One final note: the Suns be better play as well as they did last year on the road since of the last 15 games, 10 will be on the road.

There's one more great reason to wait for Christmas this year. By the way, start counting...it's 89 days to opening day.

Go Suns !

So KG is a Celtic...Can we have our schedule now?

NBA 2007-08 schedule was supposed to be released today, but since David Stern knows when to "use a good news" - and he needs some "real" game news lately - the schedule will be relaesed later in the week. That's because there was a big news to report already. In a League where trade talks remain "just talks" most of the time an All-star going to one of the oldest and most prestigious franchise -not to mention one the country's biggest media market - is definetly a "Big Ticket" news.

As you all know by now, Kevin Garnett is a Celtic and a good guess is that his no. 5 jersey will be the top seller in the League comes November.
On the Celtics website you're greeted by a smiling KG under the words "Now we have the Big Ticket ... click here for Celtics tickets". They know their marketing up in the Northeast.

The move put Boston back on the basketball map: with Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and KG they are possibly the, favourite to win the Atlantic with a real chance of fighting the Bulls, the Pistons and the Cavs for a place in the Finals.
Not to mention that basketball BUZZ is back in Beantown. I am sure the Commish loves this move.

The Timberwolves acquired forwards Al Jefferson, Gerald Green and Ryan Gomes, guard Sebastian Telfair and center Theo Ratliff, along with two first-round draft picks and cash considerations from the Boston Celtics in exchange for Garnett. They'll try to rebuild around Jefferson, Green, Foye and their top pick from this year's Draft, Corey Brewer. All things considered, I can't see how someone could even think this being an even trade. Minnesota got a couple of prospects and not much more for one of the best five players in the NBA. If I had just renewed my T-Wolves season ticket I think I'll ask for some money back!

Of all the comments I read over the last 24 hours, I think Marc Stein got it perfectly in his latest ESPN.com column blaming it on Minnesota owner Glen Taylor. Almost everyone (laugh with Bill Simmons about it "The tale of two Kevin" on ESPN Page two) agrees this was one of Kevin McHale greatest plays in an already great Celtics career!

To Suns fans this causes mixed feelings: we'll never see KG running the field along Steve Nash in a Suns uniform (that the bad part of it) nor we'll see him play with Kobe Bryant in a Lakers shirt (that's the good part). Above all I like the fact that he's going East.

In other Suns news, former Suns’ guard Jay Humphries has been named as an assistant coach and you can read his first one on one interview on Suns.com. He seems like a nice basketball man and I am sure he'll be of great help to Coach D'Antoni trying to replace Marc Iavaroni.

One last note...if you don't mind nice girls dancing on a basketball court yelling "Go Suns" you should check the official audition video for 2007-08 Suns Dancers.

All this said...Dear Mr. Stern, could we please have our 2007-08 schedule?

Go Suns !

Just a few notes (once again) and get well Raja !

Not much to report over the last few days. It's Summer, it's hot, people is on vacation...it's the off-season in full bloom. Anyway, here's some little things I found on the net.

Raja Bell had arthroscopic surgery on his right knee a couple of days ago. As usual the surgery went well and he's expected back soon in 4-6 weeks. That means he'll be ready when the season starts. Good News as Bell has become a real key to this Suns team. Have a great recovery Raja !

STAT played well (or practiced well I should say as it was an intra-squad game) for Team USA that is seeking qualification for next Summer Olympics in China. Team USA will play again at the end of August in the real tournament.

There's a little controversy going on between the Suns and the French Basketball Federation over Boris Diaw playing at the European Championships next month in Spain. Of course the problem is insurance to protect the Suns from any injury Boris might experience while playing for Les Blues. In a similar case last year, if I remember it right Dirk Nowitzki ended up paying for his own insurance to play in the Worlds.

Not much more to report, it's just golfing season so I found a nice POLL on the Arizona Republic asking its readers "Which Valley coach would you most like to share a round of golf with?" of course Coach D'Antoni is leading with 45% of the preferences and leading by a wide margin over the Great One at just 25%. I guess the poll started from a nice story from Dan Bickley a few days before about Coach D playing a round of golf with new Cardinals coach Ken Whisenhunt.

That's all folks. It's about time a make a run at the fridge for a cold one.

Go Suns !

The Summer of Steve

Just a few notes on this hot Summer week starting with a lovely interview of Steve Nash on ESPN.com.
Among the things Steve said to Marc Stein the most interesting were:
"I think [Hill] does make us better, but we've still got a lot of work to do on the court"
"I think we can keep getting smarter"
"I love Kevin. I'd love to play with him [someday]. But I love my team, so I don't really think about it" and my favourite: "I feel great right now".
Overall, he sounded ready to go again and very positive about the upcoming season.
Check the video part of the interview as well, as Steve talks about the Spurs, the suspensions and his good friend Dirk Nowitzki.
Over the last few weeks Nash opened a new Health Club in Vancouver and played his annual Charity Classic game which brought us some "refreshing" news in the wake of the recent betting scandal and proved he's a sort of divinity in Canada.

A very funny note. The Late Show with Dave Letterman last night presented a Top Ten Signs a Referee is Fixing Games. At number 9: When talking about the Spurs, he says "we". You can check it yourself on the Late Show website.

Just in case...auditions for the 2007-08 Suns dancer will be held in Phoenix this coming Saturday. You have just 24 hours to get in shape and start dancing ! Hey, it's Summer, have some fun !

Go Suns !