For a couple of Suns seasons, Shawn Marion was a kid in a playground during recess. He was the first one out of the classroom and the last to return. There was more bounce in his legs than an overinflated basketball. Expectations were somebody else's problem.
It was as if nobody had bothered to tell Marion that the game was a business. Not that it would have mattered.
Marion's pogo stick-like energy always has been filled with undisguised delight at being the first to climb above the elbow-throwing battle for position. If you can't grab a little fun while grabbing a rebound, what's the point?
The kid is still there. So is that bounce. But after a couple of seasons, NBA realities have tempered some of the wide-eyed naivete that two years ago made Marion look like a 21-year-old going on 10.
"Some stuff is given to you, but I'm trying to earn my way right now," he said. "Know what I'm saying?"
Via
Phoenix Suns
Read the Full Story
Discuss
Send Feedback
Buy Tickets
Give a team three All-Stars and another who has the potential to be one, and it's going to get considerable respect.
That's the Suns on paper.
But in reality, they're Team Question Mark as they open their season tonight against the Denver Nuggets at America West Arena.
Via
Phoenix Suns
Read the Full Story
Discuss
Send Feedback
Buy Tickets
When the Suns made the stunning announcement that they had traded Jason Kidd to the New Jersey Nets for Stephon Marbury, chairman Jerry Colangelo admitted it was risky business.
After all, the Suns gave up a known quantity in Kidd, who was named first-team All-NBA the past three seasons, won a gold medal with the U.S. Olympic team and became a perennial All-Star with the Suns.
In return, they got a player
Via
Phoenix Suns
Read the Full Story
Discuss
Send Feedback
Buy Tickets
Suns Oct 2001 Archive
-
| Oct 29, 2001
NBA.
-
| Oct 29, 2001
With the season opener against Denver coming Tuesday night at America West Arena, Suns coach Scott Skiles and the club's front office have some decisions to make.
-
| Oct 29, 2001
In this week's NBA Notebook presented by Jeffrey Denberg of the Atlanta Journal-Consistution Washington Coach Doug Collins says High Schooler Kwame Brown is not receptive to coaching and is not in shape to play, to which Brown responded that Collins misreads his body language and that he is doing everything Collins has asked him to do.
-
| Oct 27, 2001
LOS ANGELES – If a troubled final night of the preseason is any indication, the signs aren't good for the Suns.
-
| Oct 26, 2001
LOS ANGELES - It's a word that most basketball players disdain, but Tony Delk rolls it off his tongue with a certain amount of pride.
-
| Oct 25, 2001
Regardless of whether rookie Alton Ford makes the 12-man roster to start the season, he already has shown in the preseason that he can give the Suns something they haven't had in recent years.
-
| Oct 23, 2001
At least the Suns had their starting five together for one preseason game.
-
| Oct 22, 2001
There was only a sparse crowd at America West Arena to see it.
-
| Oct 22, 2001
PHOENIX - Stephon Marbury and Penny Hardaway played together for the first time Sunday night, giving the Suns a brief - if blurry - glimpse of their future.
-
| Oct 22, 2001
Just because he wears a fancy suit and a tie now doesn't mean he has lost any of his fire.
-
| Oct 21, 2001
If it's possible to have a preseason within a preseason, the Suns have just ended one.
-
| Oct 21, 2001
Miami or Philadelphia?
-
| Oct 20, 2001
SAN DIEGO - Nothing in his statistics lately indicated that Tom Gugliotta was on the verge of a breakthrough.
-
| Oct 20, 2001
SAN DIEGO - Tom Gugliotta scored 19 points, and Stephon Marbury led a key fourth-quarter run as the Phoenix Suns beat the Los Angeles Lakers 112-101 in an exhibition game Friday night.
-
| Oct 19, 2001
SAN DIEGO - Maybe it's a kinder, gentler Scott Skiles coaching the Suns this season.
-
| Oct 19, 2001
In the grand scheme, Byron Scott has more important concerns than Stephon Marbury jabbing at his former coach, teammates and organization.
-
| Oct 19, 2001
Kurt Thomas's verbal bouts with players and fans have become commonplace since he joined the Knicks in 1999.
-
| Oct 19, 2001
After practice today, Nets forward Keith Van Horn carefully sidestepped the oblique criticism his former teammate Stephon Marbury offered about him on Wednesday.
-
| Oct 18, 2001
Stephon Marbury yesterday went right back at his former Net teammate Keith Van Horn, who has expressed giddiness over the Coney Island point guard's departure to Phoenix and Jason Kidd's arrival in Jersey.
-
| Oct 18, 2001
A typical, uneventful preseason game turned into something pretty darn interesting Wednesday night at America West Arena.
-
| Oct 17, 2001
With the Suns short-handed at guard last season, coach Scott Skiles actually toyed briefly with the idea of playing.
-
| Oct 16, 2001
OAKLAND -- All of his life, Warriors rookie Gilbert Arenas has laughed when coaches, scouts and the so-called experts have misjudged his ability to play the game.
-
| Oct 16, 2001
X-rays taken Monday indicated that Suns swingman Dan Majerle has a broken ring finger on his right hand.
-
| Oct 15, 2001
Maybe it was a good thing nobody was looking Sunday night at America West Arena.
-
| Oct 15, 2001
PHOENIX - Tony Delk scored six of his 11 points in the fourth quarter as the Phoenix Suns rallied to beat the Seattle SuperSonics 69-62 in an exhibition game Sunday night.
-
| Oct 14, 2001
PHOENIX - Tom Gugliotta might never be worth the $58.
-
| Oct 12, 2001
The Suns rotating injury door continues to spin.
-
| Oct 12, 2001
PHOENIX - The Phoenix Suns lowered their preseason roster to 16 players Thursday by waiving rookie guard Kendrick Johnson.
-
| Oct 11, 2001
ALBUQUERQUE - It was the Houston Rockets and former New Mexico star Kenny Thomas who had top billing Wednesday night when the Suns opened their preseason at The Pit.
-
| Oct 11, 2001
ALBUQUERQUE - Tony Delk scored nine of his 20 points in the final seven minutes as the Phoe-nix Suns beat the Houston Rockets 88-80 on Wednesday night in the exhibition opener for both teams.
-
| Oct 7, 2001
Despite what Scott Skiles called the best training camp the club has had since he joined the organization five years ago, it's hard to get a handle on what the Suns have here.
-
| Oct 6, 2001
FLAGSTAFF - While there's been a lot of talk this week about the arrival of Stephon Marbury and the comeback attempt of Penny Hardaway, the Suns' third guard has quietly had a solid training camp.
-
| Oct 6, 2001
FLAGSTAFF - If Tom Gugliotta walked under a ladder, broke a mirror or took possession of some cursed monkey's paw, surely he's paid his penance by now.
-
| Oct 5, 2001
-
| Oct 3, 2001
FLAGSTAFF - Suns forward Penny Hardaway left training camp today to undergo three days of treatment in Toronto for tendonitis behind his left knee.
-
| Oct 3, 2001
How will Alonzo's kidney hold up with an 82 game season on the horizon?
I'm through with it," says Allen Iverson on the topic of his rap CD, which he has decided not to release.
