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"When we acquired Boris in 2006, he was probably the fastest guy on the team from end to end. He could also really leap. Yet somehow he doesn't rely on his athleticism to get things done. It's almost like he uses it as a last resort."

You hear similar tales of awe from those who were with Diaw in Atlanta too.

"Everybody loves the chase-down block that LeBron is so good at, right?" Stotts said. "When we were watching video of [Diaw] before we drafted him, I can't tell you how many of those we saw. He's deceptively athletic with great timing and instincts. He has a wingspan that's deceptive too."

The capper comes from Cleveland Cavaliers general manager David Griffin, who, like Quinter, was an integral part of the Suns' front-office team when Diaw was acquired in a sign-and-trade for Joe Johnson orchestrated by then-Suns personnel chief Bryan Colangelo.

"Boris walks into the gym one day wearing flip-flops and holding his customary cappuccino, which was a staple for him every morning," Griffin recalled. "It was during pre-draft workouts, so he sees the Vertec [machine] and asks what it is.

"We tell him it measures your vertical leap by determining how many of the bars you can touch. He asks what's the highest anyone has ever gone, and we tell him Amare' [Stoudemire] cleared the entire rack.

"Boris puts down the cappuccino, takes off his flip-flops and clears the entire rack on the first try. Then he calmly puts his flip-flops back on, picks up his cappuccino and walks away, saying, 'That was not difficult.'"

scooper1030 wrote:For any Suns history buffs out there, The Timeline Podcast (which I must shamefully admit I co-host) just released a documentary episode about the 2009-2010 season. We got an original interview with Espo who shows up throughout the episode, but we also filled it with soundbites of game highlights, player interviews, reactions from analysts like Bill Simmons and Jalen Rose, and more. It's the first time we decided to go for a narrative episode instead of a discussion about the current team...but we'll be back to discussing the current Suns next week.

If you're interested in listening you can find the episode here (https://thetimelinepodcast.com/2018/08/09/episode-10-special-an-oral-history-of-the-2009-2010-phoenix-suns-featuring-espo/) or by searching The Timeline: A Phoenix Suns Podcast on iTunes, Google Play or Stitcher.

Hope I'm not breaking any self-promotion rules here by doing this, if so mods just please let me know.

Thanks!

bwgood77 wrote:

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sunskerr wrote:

bwgood77 wrote:

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I maintain that we should have parted with Amare for a different star after Diaw broke out. If we could have grabbed KG we'd be looking at two championships back to back in 07 and 08, provided a duo of KG and Diaw don't leave the bench against the Spurs and Tim Donaghy isn't officiating. Nash/Bell/Marion/Diaw/KG is much, much more well-balanced with more playmakers to take pressure off Nash.

Or maybe Diaw was just a fat ass and would have ruined our chances even if we acquired KG. I don't know.