Love Machine Gets Training Camp Spot

Davin White, the man in the above picture with the hickey, has been invited to training camp in Italy after Jeff Varem couldn't straighten out his visa troubles. How shitty would it feel to be Varem right about now. He was on the brink of a big time NBA experience and couldn't get a visa. And how about Davin? He probably wasn't even considering the possibility of joining the team in Italy and gets the call out of the blue. At least he made the right decision to put the pipe down, pry the lovely señora off his neck, and take the opportunity. Evidently he has been playing in pickup games for the Suns throughout the summer. From what I can gather he is a point guard who can shoot, distribute, and comes up with a bunch of steals. He previously played in a Mexican league, absolutely dominating with 26.5 ppg and 8.7 apg, so he must be good. I'm guessing he is a solid player with some skills that can help the Suns in their workouts, and for him, possibly make an impression on a european scout. Not a bad opportunity I would think. Especially for a Suns fan.

"This is something I’ve been dreaming about for 24 years,” said White, a life-long resident of Phoenix who knows Suns history inside and out. “I grew up rooting for KJ (Kevin Johnson), Rex Chapman and all those guys. Now I get a chance to play with Steve Nash and soak up as much as I can. Who knows what can happen?"

Who knows indeed. In other things Suns, Steve Nash's mother has let the cat out the bag and revealed that she used to read the book "Goodnight Moon" by Wise Brown, to Steve and his siblings at bedtime. How cute. Evidently Nash is quite the well read individual having the knowledge of Karl Marx, Che Guevara, Immanuel Kant and Charles Dickens in his repertoire. Shawn Marion's favorite book as a child: Green Eggs and Ham.

Optimistic Stoudemire News

Every time news comes out about Amare Stoudemire's rehab progress all the little squirrels get chatty and begin with the doom and gloom talk. 'The Suns are finished,' 'Amare needs microfracture on his other knee,' and etc. I'm so sick of everybody's rediculously pessimistic opinions. I like to compare this upcoming season with the 05-06 campaign. When Amare went down of course the Suns were going to struggle to play .500 ball and hopefully stay afloat to make the playoffs.

What actually happened is that they were a better defensive unit than the previous year and they were not only keeping above water but pillaging like pirates would from atop their stolen vessel. That is until Kurt Thomas was injured and we had a deficiency of post-worthy defensive big men. I foresee this year to be the same. Amare should be in good enough shape to get at least 25mpg and have a significant contribution to the team. He will probably have some bad games and experience growing pains but with this offseason's acquisitions we are in much better shape than last season.

We will be able to weather any poor play from Amare, if needed. We have enough competent backups to get through any injuries. We will see a healthy Kurt Thomas, a rested Steve Nash, and Amare freaking Stoudemire. I feel like we now have the best team in the league as well as the most depth. And if you're still nervous just think, we have THIS guy to backup Amare and that should be enough to squash any worries.



*Big up to Zei_Zao_LS for the clip.

Training Camp Approaches

The Suns are about ready to head to training camp in Treviso, Italy, this weekend. I had no idea it was so soon. Everyone should be ready including Jeff Varem, who is waiting in Nigeria for word on his passport. If need be we may have to load up the Suns No-Limit Chopper and pick his ass up. Raja Bell is also expected to be ready for camp after a summer filled with rehabilitation on his calf muscle that he tore in last season's playoff run. He probably made it worse by playing on it but his comments on it reflect my own opinion on this matter.

But you only get so many chances, once in a blue moon, to get that close to a championship. When will you get another shot?... At the time, I don't think I understood the seriousness of what I was dealing with. I just saw an opportunity, and I wanted to try. I told (Coach) Mike (D'Antoni) to play me as long as he thought I could help.

Raja is a soldier who brings his best effort to every game. Certain superstars would probably sit out the rest of the playoffs to nurse that injury but Raja sucked it up and tried to do what he could because the team really needed him. He decided that he had all summer to rehab his muscle but the championship run was all too important. I can't help but wonder what would have happened if he was healthy for that whole series (vs. Dallas).

Marcus Banks is also ready to go. He has been working out and taking part in informal workouts for the Suns. I have a good feeling about this young player. It is the same feeling I had last summer about Boris Diaw. I think Marcus has what it takes to be a truly great player in this league and his attitude reflects his desire to be improve and excel. It isn't everyday that such an althletically gifted player, like Banks, makes a conscious effort to improve and to learn from another player like he is in shadowing Nash. Banks says:

I'm learning by the visual and watching the things that Steve (Nash) does in certain situations... He's one of the reasons I came early. He's a guy you love to be around. He tells you like it is. I'm here to learn - whatever he can do to help me.

Shawn Marion, Steve Nash and Amare were in Los Angeles yesterday filming some new Nike commercials, one of which will be a Suns spot. I hope it's good. I really liked that Shawn Marion commercial that they were playing last season where he was wearing that weight vest and killing some local guys in a pick-up game. "Just trying to make it fair," he stated. If anyone knows where I can get video of that commercial let me know in the comments or send me an email. I've been looking for it for a few months now.

Discovering Phoenix

In another installment of pictures of Phoenix, here is a snap from one of the many foothills found around town. This picture was taken in Ahwatukee on a street appropriately named Rockledge. Although most of the valley is extremely flat, these foothill areas can be very hilly which I think adds much character to the areas.

Most Trivial List Ever

In the ongoing tradition of making NBA lists, I am bringing you this special feature. In lieu of lists on other websites, 'top ten best players in the league,' 'top ten rookies,' and/or 'top ten greatest cereals ever,' I will attempt something a little different. After reviewing the NBA Live 07 player ratings I discovered the depth in which players were recognized for their ultra-specific strengths. Unique characteristics of players' game are rated and I will make a list for those players who I feel best excel at the very-specifically defined traits from the NBA Live ratings list. Lets get started with the best ones, in my opinion.

1. Layup In Traffic: An inhuman Lebron James.

2. Scoring With Contact: A reckless Dwyane Wade.

3. Penetration Effectiveness: A bald Steve Nash.

4. Post Savvy: A boring Tim Duncan.

5. Clutch: A furious Carmelo Anthony.

6. Shooter's Mentality: A selfish Kobe Bryant

7. On Ball Effectiveness: A grabby Reggie Evans

8. Tenacity: A reactive Ron Artest

9. Hustle: A hyperactive Mark Madsen

10. Freethrow Ability: Mr. Big Shot Chauncey Billups.

11. Setting Screens: A wall of bricks Shaquille O'Neal

12. Fastbreak Anticipation: A track running Shawn Marion.


13. Shooter: The messiah, Ray (Jesus) Allen.

14 Highflyer: A posterizing Vince Carter.

15. Triple Threat Effectiveness: A humble Boris Diaw.

Keeping "Journalists" in Check

Score one for the bloggers. Today I was going through the referrals to my site to see how the six or seven people that waste their time viewing my blog have found it and I discovered an interesting new development. One person was searching Google for "Dan Bickley" and listed among the sites was his quitters blog and some other sites on the man including my recent blog post which called him out for poor journalistic practices. My site is the sixth site listed and now anytime someone is looking up information about Bickley they will see the truths posted in my previous blog entry.

The fact is that Bickley parades himself as an objective journalist yet writes articles with questionable material that cannot be trusted to be truthful. If his article was not listed next to Paul Coro's beat writing for the Arizona Republic I would have no problem with this. If it were labeled as an editorial piece everything would be fine. Yet Bickley writes in a fictional manner and posts his work among other objective news Journalists. Right now you are probably wondering who I am to be calling him out for such a thing.

I graduated from a Journalism school in a state university. I am not a journalist but I have taken many journalism classes and I write for a blog that doesn't even attempt to appear to be an objective, truthful and professional journalistic medium. If Bickley were posting his articles to a entertainment magazine or website I would have no problem with that, but he isn't. He is releasing his articles nationally and many bloggers and other news organizations are seeing his work as completely truthful, when it is not close to it. Stick to the radio show Bickley.

NBA Live 07 Suns Previews

NBA Live 2007 has released some screenshots and the player ratings before they are set to release the game next week. The Suns player ratings are in there and browsing through, they look good. Steve Nash has the superstar MVP rating phenominon going on and, according to EA, Amare is set to return almost at full strength. When comparing these ratings with NBA2k7, it seems that NBA Live will definitely hold the edge and be the much better game. Live has many more variables which will add to a more life-like game. The picture above of Nash (or is that Pat Burke!?) looks good except that it must be an odd angle and in the face it doesn't look exactly like Steve.

Back to the ratings, along with Nash's MVP superstar treatment some other things have been addressed that NBA2k7 failed to recognize. Barbosa gets the full speed that he deserves in every way. Boris Diaw is getting respect and a higher overall rating that I would have expected considering most fail to recognize his greatness. His athleticism is off the charts as well but I don't think it should have been as much higher than Marion's as it is. Amare is getting really good ratings considering he is coming back from his year of pain and again, I think Shawn should be rated higher than him. I definitely think they undervalued Shawn Marion. With the past season that he had, he should be the highest rated player on the team. Anyways, all this means nothing until I actually play the game. The ratings really do look good. It seems that they actually had competant basketball minds work closely with the development team on this. People who actually watched the players perform. I think Kurt Thomas got an unreasonably low rating which is probably the case since much of what he brings isn't reflected in the box score.

EA really got deep in this one adding ratings for real specific abilities such as "fastbreak anticipation," "setting screens," "using screens," "double team composure," "go to guy," "hustle," "tenacity," and etc. With ratings for the little things like these, the players in the game should play just like the real deal. I can't wait to see Raja Bell's tenacity and Boris Diaw's screen-setting characteristics come to life in this video game. Will Mark Madsen have a 99 hustle rating? No, actually he doesn't. Obviously the game isn't perfect which is why it is a video game.

NBA's Face of Brazil

That's right, our very own Leandro Barbosa is the NBA's face of Brazil. The Association is doing an NBA entertainment feature, as seen in these pictures, at his home in Sao Paulo Brazil. Leandro has earned this right as he is the best Brazilian in the NBA at this time, not the overhyped Anderson Varejao. Andy is good and I like him as a player but he certainly isn't at the level of Starbosa. I don't think he is gifted enough athletically to ever become what Leandro can accomplish. The Blur is seen in these shots at his home town with his mother and brother.

Your New Suns Player, Jeff Varem?

Ok so the Suns decided to put a guy named Jeff Varem on the preseason roster after great play in the Summer League. Evidently he can play SG, SF, and PF. At only 6'6" and playing PF he must have some special skills that enable him to play well undersized at the power forward position much like Charles Barkley did. Varem weighs in at a healthy 240 pounds which will help him in the post. He gives the team another versatile player for D'Antoni to work with and as for Varem and the rest of the subs, he will battle for playing time. I foresee Marks and Burke as the odd men out. Unless Marks' shot is on point he is just too unathletic for this team.

The team is already having informal workouts which is great news and they are probably getting to know the new faces. Kurt Thomas is back in shape and ready to go too. I don't think Thomas will have much trouble getting back to peak performance because his game does not rely on athleticism. He is a beast of a man-to-man defender and he has that great mid range shot. His duty is mainly to battle in the post, and he does it as good as anyone, but sometimes Steve Nash keeps getting him the ball and he cannot miss. His jumper is very solid. He will play great for limited minutes this season as he tends to pick up fouls quickly. He should be great with 20-25 minutes per game.

Around Phoenix

I wanted to do a new feature where I post pictures of things that can be found around Phoenix. Here is my first attempt. I don't own a camera but I occasionally have access to one, so don't expect too much. Here are some pics of the wildlife that can be found living on my porch. The first picture, above, is a praying mantis and another mantis which is looking pretty dead. I was shocked to see this insect in the desert as I always thought of them to live in more temperate and tropical climates but Arizona continually amazes me. I am an Ohio Native and have seen my share of Mantis'. The ones I've seen were much bigger though. Odd occurrances have been known to happen around this town as the vast population migration to this city accidently brings non-native animals and insects. My uncle was telling me that he had these huge bullfrogs living in his pool that would keep him up at night. Yeah, bullfrogs, living in the desert. It made no sense to me either.

This next animal is living on my porch and it is a lizard. Most of the lizards I have seen around here were green or brown but this is the first to be a pinkish color. I have about four of these small creatures living on my porch.

Nash Immortalized

Santa Clara University raised a commemorative banner and Steve Nash's jersey yesterday in the school's gym to honor their greatest basketball player ever. Nash made a lot of noise during his tenure at the school taking the Broncos to three NCAA births and a couple regular-season titles. From Nash's words, he sounds like he had an enjoyable and productive time while at the school and he urges the current students to make the most of their college experience at Santa Clara.

I owe so much to my experience here... All of you guys really need to take advantage of this and make the most of your opportunity here. I urge you to really get involved, to be balanced, to do well in school, and make as many friends as possible.

Nash forgot to add, '...and really savor all the dank chronic this wonderful place provides. You know, that Norcal sticky icky icky. It really has helped to expand my mind as well as my court vision. I want to thank Jah because Santa Clara really is heaven on earth.' I am 99.9% Nash partakes in the herbal ritual. If not regularly, semi-regularly. He truly is a role model to me.

In other things Nash, a sports writer has finally been enlightened and named Steve Nash the best point guard in the Association. I can't argue with that. Steve was followed by Allen Iverson and Jason Kidd, respectively. Those picks sound fine to me. The only flaw that could be found in Steve's game is on the defensive end of the floor, yet he still gives it his all. He takes charges and always gets a hand right in the offensive player's grill. He gets his hand closer to the other player's face than anyone I have seen and that really has an adverse effect on their shots. He doesn't body up his man real well due to his size but in the Suns system, which plays better than average team defense, he gets the help that he needs. The team's defensive strengths play to Steve's weakness and overall, his defense is average if not better. He is fundamentally sound, with one of the best shooting mechanics I have seen, to go along with his uncanny third-eye court vision. He uplifts everyone around him on the basketball court, and off the court, he gets everyone lifted.

Carnival #36

Welcome my friends, to the show that never ends. I'm so glad you could attend step inside, step inside. The Nuggdoctor has presented the latest Carnival of the NBA. Check out all the happenings of the NBA from around the interweb.

The Face is Returning This Halloween

The Face will is coming this Halloween to the Octagon for a no holds barred grudge match vs. the Los Angeles Lakers and KB24. The Face, obviously being Raja Bell and the Octagon, Staples Center in Los Angeles. Raja's new unofficial nickname is the Face since his incident with Kobe Bryant in the past season's playoffs sparked a certain blogger's imagination. After The Clothesline, the media jumped all over the event and Raja remarked that he was angry after a number of jabs from Kobe that went unnoticed by the ref's.

Raja argued that Kobe get's too much superstar treatment and is allowed swinging of his elbows while Raja takes the brunt of it to the face. The superstar treatment goes way too far sometimes. D-Wade, Lebron and Kobe, especially, rely on this far too much. Kobe will stop, throw his arms about, and whine all while the game and his team is still in action trying to get his call. Dwyane Wade too often pump fakes, then jumps into the defender for the call and Lebron has been known to walk. I'm hoping that this season brings the defensive superstar treatment to Phoenix and Raja Bell. The defensive superstar treatment, while lesser known, has been widely used by Bruce Bowen and a certain block of Dirk Nowitzki during this past season's playoffs is a prime example. Hopefully the playing field can be leveled and we won't experience any fatalities, Mortal Kombat stylee.

Shootin' Hoops Jam for the End of Summertime

*G Love & Special Sauce - Shooting Hoops

Here is an awesome basketball song called Shooting Hoops by one of my favorite artists, G Love and Special Sauce. G is in a genre of his own, blending Blues, Rock & Roll, Hip-Hop, Jazz, Funk, Folk, and anything else that sparks his fancy. It isn't your typical b-ball song by some pop artist or hip-pop artist *cough* Nelly Furtado, Cam'Ron. This song brings me back a couple years ago when I was in college playing hoops every day and every night frequenting the local bar who had one of the best Blues musicians I have ever heard playing regularly.

*To get the entire song to play correctly, click the link... hit refresh until you see the quicktime status bar in white and the download progress bar start moving... do not move the mouse across the browser or else it makes the progress bar move very fast and the song gets cut off. I have no clue why.

Bonus: G Love & Special Sauce - The Fishing Song

Kandi Quote of the Week

Since Mike Olowokandi decided he wants to play with the Suns so bad that he would pay to fly himself out for a workout, the hilarity behind the situation continues to compound. It has even permeated the bland pages of a news article. David Griffin, Suns Vice President of Basketball Operations, (sarcastically) on Olo:

On the surface, you could say he offers us some length.

That's priceless. Olo is going to have to work his ass off to make this team. I think I feel the same way that management feels on this situation. Logically, it makes sense, but that still don't make it right.

Yet I still hope they sign him. We could have the Most Valuable Victory Cigar, or the MVVC. It's almost enough to make one giggle from sheer rediculousness. If nothing else, it would add to the upcoming season's fun.

Dan Bickley is an Embellishment

Around Phoenix the so-called journalist, Dan Bickley, is somewhat of a joke. I don't want to give him too much of my time so I will just say that he is not credible; he embellishes embellishments. I'm not even going to give him the privilege of linking to his article. He is pretty much a tabloid writer who fabricates events inside his world to drum up interest in his pathetic schtick. I will, however, put some quotes up from his recent article where he 'interviewed' Mike D'Antoni. I could care less about fabrications as long as the writer doesn't try to pass himself off as a respectable, objective, journalist. The dude commentates between D'Antoni quotes, inserting Kim-Jong Il-esque claims. AND he's not even live-blogging. I think he was trying to write a romance novel. I can't even tell if the D'Antoni quotes are accurate.

D'Antoni: I'm not going to sit here and lie. The fans should have high expectation. The players have to understand what's expected of them. We're excited because . . . this should be the year that we win a championship.

That's what the hell I'm talking about.

Bickley: there will be clashing egos and unforeseen problems.

No shit Bickley, every person in the world deals with unforseen problems. But the clashing egos? Are you trying to start trouble? Would that make Dan a happy boy? This next line is probably the best thing he wrote.

Bickley: instead of decompressing, D'Antoni is already back at the office, "working on the offense."

Oh yes, The offense needs more power. Mu ha ha ha ha ha ha.

Q: Gilbert Arenas is mad at you. He said he's going to score 100 points in two games against the Suns this year.

A: I saw that. I can see why he's a little upset that he didn't make the team. He shouldn't be. It's an honor to be among the top 25. But also, I'm an assistant coach. He has to understand that. But the only guy he can take it out on is me and (Portland coach) Nate McMillan. And you know what? With our defense, he has a chance to get 100. God love him. I hope he can do it. But all I can say is 100 might not be enough.

Ummm, I think I answered for D'Antoni already. Actually, what I said is what D'Antoni wanted to say. Not so hard is it Bickley? Get a blog, you can bullshit all you want. This is where the article gets real ugly.

Bickley: Yet D'Antoni will really need to be on his game in the coming months. All denials aside, there is tension between Stoudemire and Shawn Marion. There are new faces to blend, a creaky point guard who needs monitoring and 10 players who need chunky minutes. The math leads down one path, to an inevitable clashing of agendas.

First off, I've never seen any tension between Amare and Shawn. Shawn's main goal is winning and so is Amare's. Shawn has never been the focus of the offense and that's how it's always been. He is one of the best players for a team; someone who can get 20 and 12 without any plays being run for him. It makes a coaches job easy. Amare on the other hand is the focus. He commands double teams and that's how it's been. Each has their role and embrace it. Nash's back gets too much publicity. He missed what, two or three games last season? I've seen him take some brutal charges and he always gets back up and gives it 100%. The other players have been assigned to the team with clearly defined roles layed out for them. It will not be that difficult to acclimate them into the games. Whoever plays the best shall get more minutes.

Ok, back to the good stuff.

D'Antoni: As for Steve Nash, I know this: I'm competitive enough to say he's going to play as long as it takes for us to win...We're going to be a better team this year... Because I think we can run even more. Last year, we didn't run quite enough.

Amen coach Mike.

SIGN BORIS!

SIGN BORIS!

The latest news on the Boris Diaw contract extension is difficult to read. On one hand they are not entirely near a deal being complete. They are still a couple million dollars apart. This could mean nothing because I don't think Sarver has ever completed a deal without much negotiation first. Most deals come down to the wire and the good news is that they are having open talks, unlike last summers Joe Johnson escapade when Joe shunned the team and wouldn't even take any calls from management. He had decided that he no longer wanted to be in a Suns uniform and no negotiation would change his mind. Diaw, however, made it known what he is looking for. His offer is pretty reasonable too considering his talent, skill set, and upside. I don't care what it takes, I need for this deal to happen or else I might do something drastic. I don't care for business this, business that, at this point, I want Boris locked up for a long time.

Here is a Sports Illustrated article about Boris Diaw and Tony Parker's history, as well as Les Bleus, the French National Team playing in the World Championships. The images have been scanned in so get out your magnifying glasses. The picture above goes with the article.

Michael Olowokandi: Glutton For Punishment

Ok so it's early, just checking my feeds and I get this. Ultimate no.1 draft bust Michael Olowokandi is paying to fly himself out to Phoenix to workout for the team. He's really desperate now. After allowing Amare to get one of the best posterizing dunks of his career on him AND after Suns assistant Alvin Gentry took a jab at him in a Sports Illustrated article, he still thinks that he can have a career year in Phoenix. Apparently this is becoming a trend. I didn't know that he has had decent career numbers of 8.5ppg 7rpg, I really only thought of him as a complete bust and as a soft, lazy player. Career averages like those are pretty good for a role player. A player like that should be able to get picked up by a team. I just don't know if the Suns are that team. At the end of the day, he is a 7 footer. His agent is making the case for the Suns to have another body on the court when he says:

He's eager to get out and play a little bit," said his agent, Bill Duffy, who thinks his client could help Phoenix in spots against Dallas' DeSagana Diop or San Antonio's Tim Duncan. "You can get away with stuff in the regular season that you can't in the playoffs. A 7-footer can make a difference. It comes down to isolated plays. You've got to have a big guy.

It's pretty funny to think about Kandi man coming to Phoenix. In all seriousness it might not be such a horrible move. Look at what ultimate bust Tim Thomas did here. The team could get a legit 7 footer for cheap. Hell they won't even have to pay for his plane ticket. He could actually get some minutes if he try's hard enough. There will be minutes available for either Pat Burke (not likely), Sean Marks, Jumaine Jones, and James Jones and it will come down to who plays the hardest. Besides, I'm sure Mike and Pat could be really good friends.

Amare Stoudemire Rises Like This Blog

"I'm like the Phoenix bird," Amare Stoudemire states as this writer takes that as an endorsement of his blog. Face it people, Amare Stoudemire is a Rising Sun. Unless this is the only website that you go to, which seems impossible to me, you would have heard the latest skinny on Amare Stoudemire's knee rehab. It's pretty much the same as the news reports that came out earlier this summer except this one seems more solid. This one has that feeling of an impending resolution to the saga. The season is nearing and this report is an indication of what we can expect for the first stretch. What I take from this is that he is regaining his explosiveness but is still having some swelling after the days of real high-level dunking and practicing. Stoudemire states:

I'm back to a windmill dunk off one leg. I'm taking off outside the paint. My creativity in the air is coming back. I think I'm going to gradually improve throughout the season. I'm not quite sure if I'm going to be 100 percent by the regular season. But wherever I start the season, I'll gradually improve and next year will even be better

This tells me that he has finished rehab on his fundamental game. He is capable of playing at a high NBA level, doing the regular things like shooting, passing, running, and such. Now he feels comfortable enough to enter the dunk contest. He is working on regaining the facet of his game that made him a man-child. Explosiveness.

Amare otherwise is a 20ppg 8rpg Rookie of the Year who commands double teams. I expect to see this Amare for the first month or two of the season. He will definitely be able to come back to his original dominance over time. The question that remains then, is when? The first time he came back during the 05-06 season I saw the original Amare's competitive intensity emerge during flashes of that game. That is the Amare that will come through once he is acclimated back into competition. I'm guessing that it will be sooner than later.

Considering that structurely, his knee is fine, the weak competition and practice atmosphere of the matches he played in the summer were not enough to witness the man play like the soldier he is. He doesn't have it in him to sit idly while his team needs him. The competitive intensity consumes him. That's why I feel that the final obstacle, which is mental, will be overcome.

You have been warned, Amare Is Losing Furniture

Push That Ass Out, Son!

This picture is a screenshot from the new NBA2K7 game that will be in stores before you know it. I have never played NBA2K7 but they some cool looking screenshots available. I play NBA Live and I don't plan on switching, or even picking up, NBA2K7 but I will say that based on the screenshots, it looks good. Of course, I have found that games often look good in pictures but then turn out very bad. I guess I am placing this game in the same stereotype. Generally these games don't play well, meaning the movements are not fluid and the gameplay slow. NBA Live has very smooth motion. It doesn't usually get major changes from year to year but it has slowly built a very realistic and solid game. I'm not exactly saying that NBA2K7 is using these cool visuals as a gimmick but I'm not ruling it out either. Shawn Marion looks pretty real in these pics but the virtual Shawn needs to push that ass out more to be completely realistic.

NBA2k7 has also released the Suns player ability rankings or whatever one would call it. I'm not going to rant about the inadequacies of this ranking list but just know there are many. The worst one that I can see is Steve Nash's speed (95) being higher rated than Barbosa (85) who is even slower than Marcus Banks (87). I don't know who decided these but obviously the list isn't perfect. Overall I'd say it is pretty accurate otherwise.

I have been getting too excited for the season to start already. This weekend I busted out NBA Live 06 and played with the original rosters. The lineup is as close as I could get to this upcoming season's. I had Amare, Kurt, Joe Johnson, Steve, and Shawn. The current rosters have the Suns roster at the end of the season with Tim Thomas still on the team. I'm trying to forget about Tim and that lineup to prepare for this new season and the new lineup. The basketball jones is creeping in.

Charles Barkley Immortalized

Sir Charles will be immortalized tomorrow morning when he is inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame. Evidently he want's to thank those who have got him to this point and all that. He will start with the typical speak and move to his political motives. The inclusion of Sir Charles into the Hall is warranted as he will forever be remembered for his passion and greatness on the basketball court. He was a monster on all fronts with posterizing jams, lockdown defense, rebounding and volleyball rejections. He was a leader and MVP. Now he is known for his broadcasting work as a basketball analyst.

Today Sir Charles is working on a second legacy in politics. Or so he says. He has been very active and vocal lately about politics especially those in Alabama, where he plans on running for Governor. His politicking is good but it is hard to listen to someone who is known to blow a lot of hot air. His broadcasting character has become an oftentimes critical, jokester.

Barkley was a bit before my time. I remember the Suns 93 season vaguely as I would only be 11 years old yet still caught games. I enjoyed watching the games and the players, especially Barkley and Majerle. As a young child of that age I definitely had other interests on my mind, like blowing things up. The memories were further tainted through high school and into college, which clouded my memory. I'm sure there are longer lasting fans who could describe Sir Charles' legacy much better and more thorough and I encourage those to chime in. Thankfully we have Youtube and can experience it first-hand right here:

Burning Sparrow Tickets Soar

Suns tickets are hot commodities these days as a bunch of business numbers suggest the franchise will sell some games out before the season kicks off. Hopefully this is enough incentive to keep Robert Sarver spending money for needed talent. That's basically all I care about. I am actually kinda pissed that they are so 'hot' right now. This means I will have to pay a lot of cash for some bad seats in the upper section. At least until I get my press pass. Of course that will never happen as my fanbase of six or seven readers doesn't exactly make me credible or sought-after. I will continue to complain until Sarver buys me season tickets and you, my faithful readers, tell your friends. The bottom line is that the team is making money. Good money. They expect 15,000 of 18,422 seats to be season tickets sold before the group and single-game tickets go on sale. Suns President and Chief Operating Officer Rick Welts says it's

Spectacular, there's no other word to describe it... It's really a carryover from last summer... When we go on public sale, for the first time since I've been here, we'll have games sell out before the season starts.

All I'm saying is that Sarver can afford to give me season tickets and a new laptop to live-blog every game. Courtside.

On a side note my Mother ran into Sir Charles Barkley today at Quiznos in Scottsdale. He was here for an induction ceremony into the basketball Hall of Fame. She said some old guy was hanging over him the whole time. She also said that he is huge and that he "is much nicer in person." Sadly she didn't tell him about my blog or work him for an interview. She said that she couldn't remember the domain. I damned myself for choosing such a rediculous domain name. I couldn't even remember it for like a month and a half.

Anyways Barkley is spewing all this political gobbledegook such as,

I want to speak for people who can't speak for themselves... America discriminates against poor people. America is divided by economics. If you're born poor, whether it's White, Black or Hispanic, you're going to be in a bad neighborhood and you're going to go to a bad school. That's not right. And the gap between the rich and the poor is widening.

That's great and all. Very touching speech. But unless he does something about those things he is no better than those who he speaks against. Technically he can't run for governor of Alabama until 2014. Who else suspects his A.D.D. will kick in sometime before that? He has the spin but can he finish is the question.

The Kiwi Mixtape

New Phoenix Suns forward Sean Marks has a mixtape. Inside this rare morsel you will find the best of our new backup PF/C/12th man. Like the other new offseason pickups he has the ability to make that jump to the next level. Will Sean impress enough to get more minutes and perhaps solidify a roster spot? I guess time will tell. He will be able to hit some open jumpers that's for sure. He has nice range, a good turnaround and a sweet fadeaway. Bill Walton even chimes in with a classy catch phrase. He's probably not the most athletic player, he actually falls down after one dunk. Youtube is huge now that Sean Marks has a decent mixtape and even when the music is this corny it's great 'cause somebody else is doing the work for you.

Round Mound Ver. 2.0?

After doing some research on our newest addition, Jumaine Jones, I have been thinking much about what has defined or was supposed to define his game. The question I ask myself is "what was Jumaine's game supposed to become?" Considering he has had a meager career to this point, Jumaine's game doesn't have a personality. It has never held a clearly defined role. I have consulted the Wiki on this matter and found that Jumaine was

Known as the Thrilla from Camilla, he played high school ball in the tiny town of Camilla, Georgia. He spent two impressive years at the University of Georgia, becoming the first sophomore to lead the SEC in scoring since Vern Fleming in 1984. Additionally, he was the first sophomore in school history to score 1,000 points since Dominique Wilkins did so in 1981. That year, he was also selected to represent the U.S. in the 1998 Goodwill Games.

Jumaine clearly had a great start. There isn't very much on a defined style of play or niche set of strengths here other than 'he can score.' This does show that the Thrilla from Camilla was very athleticly talented and could play ball extremely well. I really hope to hear him referred to as the Thrilla from Camilla this season. Jumaine eventually made the NBA and was

selected by the Atlanta Hawks with the 27th overall pick, but was immediately traded to the Philadelphia 76ers, where he spent two years. He then played two years with the Cleveland Cavaliers, before being traded to the Boston Celtics. In Boston, he suffered an injury early into the season and limited his appearances. In 2004 he was sent to Los Angeles, but only after the deal was renegotiated after Gary Payton initially refused to report to the Celtics. On October 26, 2005, Jones was traded to the Bobcats in exchange for a future second-round draft pick. On August 31, 2006, He signed a 1 year contract with the Phoenix Suns.

In a nutshell he was drafted by the Hawks, which is always a potential career-destroying move for any player, was traded immediately to another horrible team (management wise) and continued to be traded to unstable and less than mediocre teams until he had a decent opportunity to play in Charlotte. He went on to have a career year in Charlotte last year. Now, I'm not saying Jumaine has had a mediocre career solely because of the the teams and situations he was on but being in poor situations and playing for bad organizations certainly makes it more difficult for a player to excel.

Jumaine's outlining strengths, according to hoopshype are

Able to play both forward positions... Explosive... Great in the open court... Has three-point shooting range... Very effective shooting from the corner... Pretty good rebounder... Tenacious defender... Should drive to the basket more often... An underrated player.

This looks like the perfect recipe for a player to thrive in D'Antoni's system. It appears to me that he might be better suited playing as an undersized PF and maybe D'Antoni will be able to get Jones' best game from that position, on this team. Who knows, he could blossom into the Round Mound of Rebound 2.0. He certainly looks the part. He has all the necessary skills. Like Sir Charles, he is an undersized PF who can rebound, defend, and shoot. Hopefully he can shoot three's better than Charles Barkley could. I'm sure D'Antoni will give him the opportunity to succeed. I just hope he can find his groove in Phoenix. Since following Team USA this summer I am starting to think that D'Antoni will utilize the same strategy that they did while mixing in his own spice.

At this point the team is basically settled. After much debate last season about the Suns system and how it wears players out by the offseason, I think Suns management did a great job of getting the right players for the team while adding a lot of depth. They addressed the situation so that maybe D'Antoni will be able to play more players this year and get more energy out of them when they do play. He could probably play a pesky full court defense part of the time since the bench is so deep and the players fit his system. They hopefully can wear out teams while at the same time keeping the starters healthy and rested through the regular season and into the playoffs.

A Letter to Agent Zero

Hello Gil, it's been a while since we last spoke. If my records are accurate, the last time was never. I want to discuss some things with you. First off, have you been enjoying your summer? What's the weather been like in Washington? Has the heat and humidity finally gotten to you? I only ask because I read some quotes of yours in regards to Team USA. Let me just say that I was rooting for you. I wanted Gilbert Arenas on that team. I mean come on, Antawn Jamison? Give me a break. I would have picked you over Dwyane Wade. Yeah, who needs a shooting guard who can't shoot? Some recent quotes have come to light that pretty much shelved any chance that I would have been voting Agent Zero for president. I was in denial at first. I thought some chick pretending to be you was on her rag for the second time in the same month and was spittin' pure estrogen. Sadly, that was not the case. What's the deal Gil? I thought you were a man? Quit acting like a little bitch. Let's go over what was said one more time (via TheMightyMJD).

I'm going to be the silent assassin this year... I can't wait to play the Suns and Portland. Against Portland, Nate McMillan, I'm going to try to score 100 in two games and against D'Antoni, I'm going to score 100 in two games. I'm going to try.

I'm rootin' for you to score those 100 points Gil. Hell, our team just might let you. We've got this superstar guard ball-hoggery thing down. You score a million points and we score a million and 10. We win the game. The best thing about it is how you will go about venting your frustrations on the court like an eight year-old child, scorning your team, and losing games. Maybe you and Kobe can start some sort of self-centered guard management group. Wouldn't the 'team' thing to do be to accept the fact that you were cut and act mature about it? Shouldn't you be happy that Team USA had the 'best' players on the floor? What if you were picked? Would you start crying to coach Mike about not getting enough touches?

They were trying to build a true team, Gil, and as you have recently showed, you only care about yourself. You have shown that you cannot be a team player. Until now I always thought you were a stand-up guy Gil. Does it really bother you that you were cut from a team playing in a league that nobody in America REALLY cares about? At this point I truly believe that you will go down as yet another undersized two guard whose team never makes it past the first or second round of the playoffs because the 'franchise' player is a self-centered, non-dominant, shoot-first point guard. Good luck on those 100 point games this year, you'll need it. 'Cause you ain't never gonna be nothin' but a second-round draft pick ya bitch.



P.S. Costco sells tampons in bulk.