So I’m browsing azcentral today, and I read this article about how Amare Stoudemire got poked in the eye. No biggie right? Turns out he tore his iris. How is that even possible? It sounds like some sort of unrealistic plot twist in a Ben Stiller movie. Boris Diaw needs to splurge on a nail clipper for the safety of the team. I’m sure if he asks nicely the Suns will pay for half. Not a good day for Suns fans, but definitely not horrible yet. After all, Amare’s knees are doing fine.
But then I learn that The Office won’t be on NBC because of the VP debates. Really??!?!!? NBC thinks the VP debate is more important and/or entertaining than the office? Ludicrous! I jest slightly, but I can always read about the debate in the papers or TiVo it to watch later. If they don’t air The Office, I’m screwed. You expect to get screwed by your company, but you never expect to get screwed by your girlfriend.
Leave your spam on the presidential debates below.
The NBA Cares. Really, it does. That’s what all the commercials say, where star after star reads to children and builds houses. And that’s a good thing, don’t get me wrong, but sometimes it seems too staged. I’m a skeptic, yes. That’s why it’s refreshing to see Phoenix Suns of now and then doing good things in our community and beyond in a way that seems authentic, genuine and unforced. I’m a homer, yes.
Grant Hill recently teamed with Stop MRSA Now, a group that raises awareness about the deadly staph infection. Hill, who has been diagnosed with the infection before, said he’s raising awareness because he had trouble getting information about MRSA when he contracted it.
Kevin Johnson, fan favorite and member of the 93 Finals team, is helping out in Phoenix now after assisting in his hometown Sacramento the past few years. Andrew Perna reports that KJ was on hand to endorse the Phoenix Teaching Fellows program that teams regular citizens with young students to teach them math, science, language arts, etc. Sure KJ, is in the mayoral race in Sacramento, but Phoenix seems a bit far to stage a publicity stunt. Unless that’s what he wants us to think…Anyways, here’s another video to remember the good old days (though it sucks that our good old days don’t include a championship). It’s all good stuff, but KJ over the Dream is at the end if that’s all you want to see.
Not to mention other good things Suns players have done this summer, including Boris Diaw hosting a camp in Senegal, Steve Nash doing anything and everything and Amare Stoudemire visiting schools and stuff (I think. It’s more on the PR side anyways).
I read an article East Valley Tribune reporter Scott Bordow wrote last week about how Nash doesn’t know if the Suns will be good enough to sit him for a dozen games next season. “If you can get to the postseason well rested, it’s perfect,” Nash tells Bordow. “But you can’t always afford to do that.” It’s been Steve Kerr’s plan for quite a while now to rest Nash for about a dozen games this season. To this end, he traded up in the draft to get Goran Dragic and recently swung a deal to acquire Sean Singletary, who was taken a few spots ahead of Dragic. And as self-centered as it may sound to suggest that the Suns can’t win without him, Nash has two MVP trophies that back up his claims. Not that I think he is self-centered in any way – he has a pretty extensive track record that suggests otherwise.
I don’t think that Nash is saying the Suns’ new rookie PGs aren’t good enough to hold his jock strap, but realistically the Suns aren’t going to have a large margin of error for making the playoffs. Sure, the Celtics won a championship last year with Rajon Rondo starting, but they had the Big 3 who could create their own shots if the second-year guard was struggling. O’Neal has trouble doing that now, and Stoudemire, Barbosa, Diaw, and Hill are pretty inconsistent. Plus, the Celtics were playing in the Eastern Conference, where the lowly Atlanta Hawks made the playoffs with a losing record. Of course, those same Hawks took the Celts to 7 games i the first round, even with self-proclaimed “World’s Best Player” Paul Pierce playing injury-free. But I digress.
So if the Suns will be hard-pressed to make the playoffs this year in a tough Western Conference, can they really afford to sit Nash for 12 games? Maybe. I suppose it depends on who they rest him against. Against the Bucks, T-Wolves, and Grizzlies, Nash shouldn’t have to play for the Suns to win. He’s not the same player he was a few years past, when the Suns struggled against the scum of the league without him. If the rest of the team can’t post a winning record against such teams without Nash’s help, the Suns’ championship hopes are awfully dim.
I suppose another school of thought asks why Nash needs to be removed from games entirely. Wouldn’t it be enough to just lower the minutes he plays per game? Surely Dragic and Singletary can fill in for a quarter and a half each game. I tend to subscribe to former coach Mike D’Antoni’s way of thinking. Does five minutes a game really matter to a world-class athlete? Will he really be that much more rested for the playoffs if he sits on the bench a few minutes less each game?
I think Kerr’s plan to sit Nash is a good idea, assuming of course the games are strategically chosen. I don’t think it would be wise to sit Nash the final 12 games of the season. And as much as this plan has to do with winning his season, it also has a great deal to do with the Suns’ future. Stoudemire needs to prove he can win without Nash, and either Dragic or Singletary need to show themselves capable of starting in the NBA. The Suns need to start preparing for life without Nash. Take a break, Steve Nash. The team afford to play a few without you this season. The question is, can they really afford not to?
