Preseason Woes

The Suns continue to work out their rotation kinks in the preseason with mixed results. First they whooped on the Sactown Kings a little and then came out of California with a loss. The Suns losttothelakers. There, as difficult as it was for me, I said it. It's preseason, but still. We lost to the team without Kobe. I hope this puts things into perspective for Mamba. I hope he's thinking: "the team... they... they don't really need... me?"

I wouldn't put much weight into this loss. D'Antoni is still trying to get a consistant and coherent rotation set for 10 players. A lot of the younger guys are getting heavy minutes, probably an attempt to get them warmed up for the season and to get the rust off. Steve Nash, Shawn Marion, and Boris Diaw are plenty ready for the regular season. The rest of the guys need to get more reps and that's what preseason is for. I have a feeling that we may start off the season slow, maybe dropping a couple that we shouldn't have. But, just like last season, we will easily right the ship. Steve Nash and company will not allow this team to slip very far.

The excuses are coming out and the new ball is a perfect scapegoat. I wish they would just suck it up and play. Get used to the damn ball. Stop making excuses. Everyone has bad nights. But maybe Barbosa's big toe sprain had more to do with his performance than the ball.

Ron Artest wants to fight Raja Bell.

When he (Bell) does stuff like that, I want to fight him... I can't do that, of course, but it makes me want to meet him off the floor for a nice little fight.

Raja was wise not to retort. Artest said this in regards to Bell's flagrant foul on Brad Miller. My sources say that Raja's flagrant was in retaliation to a Brad Miller hard shove of Steve Nash from behind that sent him to the floor. It's good to have someone like Raja whose got the team's back. I don't know who I like in that battle. Ron Ron may be crazy as hell but I could see Raja as a heady fighter. Let's compare:

Raja Bell: 6'5" 210lbs. Intelligent person... very competitive... lets emotions get the best of himself at times... Lots of heart... thick... broad shoulders.

Ron Artest: 6'7" 260lbs (reported weight). Weight greatly exaggerated... maniacal... impulsive... lets others get the best of himself... not a scholar... thick... strong... comparable size to Bell.

This would be a very even match. I don't think Raja would ever actually fight Artest though, he's too intelligent to get into anything like that. I wouldn't put any money down on this one because it's about a draw.