SB Nation - Jarron Collins

'Twas the Night Before Clips-mas

Mike Lisboa — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 18:25:20 -0000

Why this picture? Cuz that's LA Clippers' Summer League participant Dionte Christmas watching Robin Lopez dunk, that's why. (AP Photo/Laura Rauch)

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With apologies to Henry Livingston, Jr or Clement Clarke Moore, here's our second annual Bright Side of the Sun "Night Before Christmas" as read through purple and orange glasses. You can read last year's poem here.

Happy Holidays, everyone!

'Twas the night before Clips-mas, in the Grand Canyon State

And the Suns had just finished a cruel winter slate.

December'd been tough, with losses a-plenty,

Delaying their dreams of win number twenty.

A loss to the Cavs had left them all crabby,

Though 18 and 10 wasn't too shabby.

And 'Mare in his goggles and Nash in his tuque,

Wondered if their hot start had been just a fluke.

Then there on the schedule, served on a platter

Were the poor hapless Clippers, their record a-tatter.

Away to the others flew ageless Steve Nash

To brighten their spirits with news of this clash!

Don Sterling's a racist and a slumlord to boot,

With an owner like that, hope never takes root.

But in the off season, hope did appear:

An Okie named Blake, presumed Rook of the Year!

But alas poor young Griffin, he broke his patella

Cuz the Clips are the Clips: Sorry, young fella.

But back to the Suns where Coach Gentry was thrilled

He whistled and shouted and thusly he trilled:

"Now, J-Rich! now, Channing! now Jared and Steve Nash!

And, Grant Hill! And Goran! And you, Max Contract!

These Clips, they can't stop us so when you get the ball...

Just bomb away! Bomb away! Bomb away all!"

At this time last year it was Coach Terry and Shaq

And under those two, the scoring punch did lack

But now it's a new game; by new I mean old

With running and gunning till the shooters get cold.

Steve Nash is a-passing at an MVP pace

And if no one's open, he'll nail a shot in your face.

Amare's bum eyeball ain't affecting his shot

He can sure put it in, but he jump-shoots a lot.

Grant Hill is still a baller, from his fade to his kicks;

These youngsters he's schooling with his veteran tricks.

J-Rich comes to play, but his shot's been lacking

But even when bricking, he just won't stop attacking.

And Frye! How he drain 3s! How he runs up the court!

If only in the paint, he could hold down the fort.

Off the old bench, it was Leandro and Lou

But now those DEEP Suns have a gosh-darn wrecking crew!

The strides by young Goran need their own song

His new nickname is "Frosty," "Tragic" is long gone.

Barbosa's been ailing, but the Blur's coming back

With blow-bys and goat sounds in his Santa's sack.

And Jared can play when he's not all a-Twitter

But Taylor and Robin? Still the runts of their litters.

So thank goodness for Lou, and his pogo legs

Cuz Jarron and Tucker's +/- is negs.

Steve Kerr's got a winner; Sarver's saving bucks,

But those off-season moves: shrewd skill or dumb luck?

The Planet Orange faithful give not a care,

Winning's what counts and these Suns do it with flair.

Phoenicians, rejoice! When the Clippers come to town,

It's all but assured that they're gonna go down.

Victory will be ours, so tune in Saturday night,

Merry Christmas to all! (It's not on TNT, right?)

Preview: Kings at Suns

Ziller — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 21:30:14 -0000

More photos » by John Froschauer - AP

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THE OPPONENT

The Suns are 14-5. The only good thing about that, for Kings fans, is that the Suns were at one point 14-3, which means the Suns have lost two straight. One loss came at the hands of ... New York (guh), an embarrassing blow-out defeat in which Danilo Gallinari lashed out at the creation of MTV's new hit Jersey Shore. The other loss came at Cleveland, which is a bit more understandable. Actually, it's completely understandable. Cleveland is pretty incredible.

Steve Nash refuses to obey human physiology, and Alvin Gentry's gambit (that getting back up to speed would improve the offense more than starting Channing Frye would hurt the defense) has worked. (That will now be dubbed the Gentry Gambit, by the way. It differs from the Bonner Gambit in that the latter states that if you have a good enough defense from positions 1-4, you can play a tall shooting guard at center.)

			FG			3PT			FT			Rebounds			Misc
	G	M	M	A	Pct	M	A	Pct	M	A	Pct	Off	Def	Tot	Ast	TO	Stl	Blk	PF	PPG
Amare Stoudemire	19	33.8	7.2	12.5	57.1	0.0	0.1	0.0	4.8	6.4	75.4	2.1	5.0	7.1	1.1	2.9	0.6	1.2	3.5	19.2
Jason Richardson	17	31.4	6.2	12.4	50.5	2.5	5.6	44.2	1.8	2.5	72.1	0.9	4.1	5.0	1.7	0.9	0.8	0.4	2.1	16.8
Steve Nash	19	32.3	6.1	11.7	52.3	1.6	3.6	44.1	2.7	2.8	94.4	0.5	2.3	2.8	11.5	3.8	0.4	0.2	1.2	16.5
Channing Frye	19	30.1	4.6	9.9	46.8	2.7	5.7	46.8	0.9	1.2	78.3	0.8	4.9	5.8	1.4	0.8	0.8	0.8	3.4	12.9
Grant Hill	19	30.2	4.6	9.6	47.5	0.4	1.0	42.1	2.4	3.0	78.9	1.4	5.3	6.7	2.1	1.3	0.6	0.3	1.6	11.9
Leandro Barbosa	14	21.4	4.6	9.4	48.5	1.2	3.0	40.5	1.2	1.7	70.8	0.3	1.6	1.9	2.0	1.1	0.6	0.1	2.0	11.6
Jared Dudley	19	22.1	2.8	6.3	44.5	1.5	3.3	46.0	1.5	2.2	70.7	1.5	2.3	3.8	1.2	0.8	1.0	0.2	1.9	8.6
Goran Dragic	19	15.9	2.5	5.6	43.9	0.7	2.1	35.9	1.1	1.9	56.8	0.6	1.7	2.3	2.9	1.6	0.5	0.2	1.7	6.8
Louis Amundson	18	15.2	1.9	3.6	53.8	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.9	1.6	58.6	1.8	2.7	4.4	0.4	0.9	0.1	0.9	1.9	4.8
Alando Tucker	7	6.1	1.3	3.0	42.9	0.1	0.6	25.0	1.9	2.4	76.5	0.6	0.3	0.9	0.4	0.3	0.0	0.0	0.1	4.6
Robin Lopez	4	9.8	1.8	2.8	63.6	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.8	1.0	75.0	1.5	1.8	3.3	0.0	2.0	0.3	0.8	2.0	4.3
Earl Clark	15	10.3	1.7	3.7	45.5	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.3	0.5	50.0	0.6	1.1	1.7	0.5	0.7	0.3	0.4	0.5	3.6
Taylor Griffin	1	8.0	1.0	2.0	50.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	1.0	1.0	0.0	1.0	0.0	0.0	1.0	2.0
Jarron Collins	11	7.3	0.5	0.7	62.5	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.2	0.8	22.2	0.5	1.5	2.0	0.1	0.3	0.0	0.3	1.2	1.1

The Suns are a bad rebounding team (13th on offense, 30th on defense) so feast away, Mssrs. Jason Thompson and Jon Brockman! The real battles are at ... well, hold on.

THE KEY BATTLE

I think that, assuming at some point Paul Westphal wants to bring Beno Udrih back into the starting unit as he did to open the second half of the Pacers game, this is not the right game to do it. We know factually that Beno can't guard Nash. We assume Tyreke Evans will also have problems, but the chance Evans can slow Nash a bit (plus make him work hard on the other end) plus the idea that Donte Greene will cause more problems on defense for Jason Richardson than Evans would, and ... I think you go Evans/Greene again. The issue would be whether Westphal wants to keep up with Phoenix (score every time they do) or to slow them down enough to keep pace (spend energy defending, hope you make enough shots). Ideally, both. But this is a real world, you know? As such,

Guards vs. Guards.

INTERESTING SIDESHOW

I have no idea whether any current Phoenix residents actually lived there during Westphal's tenure. But if so, this is like ... Dick Motta returning, right? How would I react if Dick Motta got hired by the Grizzlies and came to ARCO? Hmm. I hope I don't spend the first quarter ignoring the game while pondering this.

BOLD PROCLAMATION

Florida's white helmet-white uni motif is worse than the Kings' short-lived gold lamé kits.

NUMERIC PREDICTION

Suns by 5.

DETAILS

This will be a 6PM Pacific tip. Game thread at 6, post-game thread at 8:45. Recap under the sea.

Game Preview - Phoenix Suns vs. Cleveland Cavaliers

Mike Lisboa — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 20:11:43 -0000

Amar'e Stoudemire must start AND FINISH with his gorilla game for the Suns to have a chance in Cleveland tonight. (Photo by Max Simbron)

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Hopefully the Suns can make like Alando Tucker and wash the icky residue of last night's loss to the Knicks off their hands before mixing it up with the Cavaliers in Cleveland tonight.

The Suns head into Cleveland 2-1 with a chance at salvaging a winning record on this eastern road swing before coming home to face the Kings on Saturday. Last night the Suns came out flat on both ends of the court and despite rallying to get within 6, never recovered offensively or defensively.

So, which Suns team will show up tonight? The 14-3 power rankings darlings or that group of zombies that took the court in New York last night.

The Cavaliers come into tonight's game riding a 4 game winning streak, including a 16-point thumping of the Mavericks on Saturday. That's right: Saturday. In addition to being at home, Lebron and company have 3 days of rest. For their part, after taking most of yesterday's game off, the Suns should be plenty rested as well *rimshot*.

Match-ups

Guards

At the point, we have Steve Nash going up against Mo Williams. On paper, this would seem to be a clear advantage for the Suns, but last season Mo torched the Suns for 30 points in their meeting in Phoenix and 44 in Cleveland (Nash missed this game with an injury). Off the bench, it's Daniel Gibson vs. Goran Dragic. While Boobie is capable of getting hot, in 8 games this year, he's only averaging 6.8 point per game. If Dragic can bounce back from a terrible performance in New York, they should basically cancel each other out.

I thought it was the 30-somethings that were supposed to struggle with back-to-backs? Jason Richardson has been a key ingredient to the Suns potent offense this year, averaging 17.4 points per game, good for 2nd on the team behind Amare Stoudemire. However on the 2nd night of back-to-backs, all of J-Rich's offensive numbers have taken a hit: -7.7% on FG%, -4.9% on 3PT%, -32.1% on FT% (yipes!), and -6.1 PPG. There's no reason he shouldn't reverse that trend against Anthony Parker (and you thought the Suns had cornered the market on lesser siblings! He has to play in the shadow of his sister Candace.) and he'll have to if the Suns want to win this one.

Off the bench at the 2, it will be interesting to see who the Suns go with in Barbosa's absence. After pouring it in (14 points on 4-7 shooting), Alando Tucker may have earned some increased minutes. Equally mysterious is who the Cavs will bring off their bench behind Parker. After seeing limited use thus far this season due to personal and health reasons, Delonte West played a season-high 29 minutes against the Mavs, scoring 10 points and grabbing 10 boards.

Forwards

Grant Hill will have his hands full with LeBron James. If he and Jared Dudley can combine to keep LBJ around his averages, the Suns will probably consider that a success. I don't think anyone has any illusions of stopping him.

Off the bench, Jamario Moon is something of a Matrix-Lite, so he and Jared Dudley will engage in some kind of sideshow hustle competition.

At power forward, the Suns have what should be their clearest advantage, offensively at least. Amare Stoudemire needs to bring his vaunted Gorilla Game to exploit Cleveland's tandem of Anderson Varejao and J.J. Hickson. If he can stay out of foul trouble, look for Amare to log heavy minutes and heap piles of offensive abuse on the Cavs while not having to worry too much about being challenged on the other end. Except for rebounds.

Center

Here's where line-up and strategy will come into some serious play. It's entirely possible the Cavs elect to send Varejao and Hickson out on Frye at the perimeter, keeping Shaquille O'Neal and Zydrunas Ilgauskas in the lane to defend Amare on the pick and roll. If that's the case, look for Amare to log heavy minutes and heap piles of offensive abuse on the Cavs. (See what I did there?)

Defensively, Channing Frye doesn't have the bulk to keep up with Shaq in the post and the Cavs will probably go to this mis-match early and often, much like the Lakers did with Andrew Bynum earlier in the season against the Suns.

Robin Lopez will probably get some early minutes on the defensive end to see if he can help stop the bleeding in the paint against the much larger Shaq. Robin vs. Shaq has the potential to be explosive as Robin looks to heap some punishment on the The Big Mentor who rode his Fuzzy-head pretty hard last season.

Of course, that's just wishful thinking. Shaq will destroy Robin given the chance.

Predictions

Offensively, the Suns will look to spread the floor against the Cavs using their dead-eye shooting (which hopefully they bring with them tonight) to exploit the lack of speed of the Cavs big men. If his shot his falling, Channing Frye could have a career night. Similarly, if the Cavaliers lumbering bigs stay at home on Stoudemire, he and Nash should have a field day running the pick and roll till the cows come home.

Defensively, the Suns will have to find a way to limit Cleveland's opportunities in the paint AND contain the speedy Williams AND contain LeBron James. If the Lopez and Frye struggle with Shaq, look for Jarron Collins to come in and provide 6 additional fouls against O'Neal. I'm pretty sure Robin will use his up fairly quickly.

In a perfect world, the Suns draw the Cavaliers into an up-tempo shoot-out, regain their accuracy and out-run the Cavs. For their part, Cleveland and their 8th ranked defense (100.6 points per 100 possessions) will look to keep things slow as molasses (7th slowest pace in the NBA), bogging the Suns down in a half-court game. Look for them to pound it inside and run plenty of isolations for LeBron James. Like, 70 of them.

While I think the Suns will come out more focused than they did last night in New York, I don't see them winning this game. They'll keep it close in the first half, but their porous defense will be their undoing as the game wears on.

Final score 105-93, Cavs.

Suns vs Cavaliers coverage

Suns vs Cavaliers preview

Fear The Sword

Game 11 Recap: Fourth quarter defense propels Suns to 111-105 victory over Rockets

Tom Martin — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 04:54:58 -0000

More photos » by Bill Baptist - NBAE/Getty Images

HOUSTON - NOVEMBER 17: Jason Richardson #23 of the Phoenix Suns attempts a slam dunk versus the Houston Rockets on November 17, 2009 at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Bill Baptist/NBAE via Getty Images)

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You knew Jarron Collins was going to blow up at some point. Er, perhaps not.

He didn't exactly "blow up" either. Six points in twelve minutes is hardly a combustible stat line. But on three of three shooting, with six rebounds, two blocks, and the dagger in the final minute, Collins' contribution might have made the sliver of a difference down the stretch for the Phoenix Suns. Alvin Gentry knew he wasn't substituting dead air for Channing Frye to end the game. At least not on this night.

Shoving particulars aside, the Rockets couldn't have started any hotter, nor could they have finished any colder. Trevor Ariza and Aaron Brooks hit four out of the five three pointers that Houston knocked down to start the game. The Rockets controlled the first quarter and much of the second quarter before losing their mojo to finish the first half with a three-point lead. That, and Amare Stoudemire realized that beating 6'6 Chuck Hayes one-on-one wasn't as hard as everyone said it was. For a while I thought that Stoudemire might drop another President Grant on us.

You know what else I was thinking? That this game eerily mirrored the first half of the Dallas game... which ended in us getting blown out. Not exactly the script you want to keep following.

The Suns were quite hot themselves (psych!) to start the second half, but Houston managed to counter Phoenix's offensive onslaught by continuing to move the ball to find easier shots. Compared to only seventeen assists against Dallas, the Rockets piled up twenty-six dimes, thirteen coming from Aaron Brooks. For ninety percent of the game, ball movement was a strength rather than a weakness.

As the third quarter progressed, the Suns shifted focus from Amare to Jason Richardson, who lost all sense of hesitation and began chucking up (and making) shots any time he caught a pass. But he eventually cooled off, and the Rockets had the lead going into the fourth quarter. I wasn't ready for the hair-pulling ending about to ensue.

Steve Nash became relevant again in the fourth, locking down Brooks defensively while facilitating the offense to perfection. He finished with sixteen assists, and while he only shot 2-10 from the field, he was able to make an impact one way or another.

Chase Budinger, as awkward and out of control as he was for much of the game, made two clutch three pointers in the fourth to give the Rockets a chance as the game came down to the final two minutes. It was at this point that the Rockets fell victim to dribble-as-much-as-you-can-through-traffic-eosis and threw away any hope for a miniature comeback. As talented and bubbling with potential as Trevor Ariza is, he clearly can't take anyone off the dribble, not even Stoudemire. Seriously, he couldn't beat 6'10 Amare Stoudemire off the dribble.

Brooks couldn't find any dribbling room either, and nor could Shane Battier. As the Suns locked down defensively, the Rockets couldn't answer. You'd like to think that the "system" could overcome this, but at the end of the day, you create either your own shot or someone else's shot; someone has to create. If passing alone could produce points at all times, you'd never see anyone dribbling. It's still a weakness for Houston, the ability to create offense late in close games.

On a final note, I'd like to nominate Joe Crawford as a candidate to replace Steve Javie as the NBA's worst official. He managed to screw both teams over multiple times with blatantly idiotic foul calls. At least, for tonight, his famous ego didn't show in the process.

Really, though, you would have liked to see the Rockets pull this one out. Kudos to the Suns for playing such determined defense at the end.

Three Up

Carl Landry -- 27 pts, 9 reb. This was clearly Carl's best game of the season, as he single-handedly kept the Rockets close throughout the second half. His jump shot looked much improved from the first ten games, and his dirty work under the rim was impressing the heck out of the Suns broadcasters, who happened to really, really suck.

Aaron Brooks -- 16 points, 13 ast. It wasn't Aaron's best shooting night, but he managed to contribute in the assist category and moved the ball well in the second half to set up good shots for teammates, namely Landry and Scola.

Trevor Ariza -- 19 points, 9 reb, 4 ast, 3 stl. As a whole, Trevor's game was on the mark tonight, as he rebounded well and made several big defensive plays. But his shot selection was much poorer than usual, and it didn't help that he led the team in shots.

Three Down

Luis Scola -- I thought he had a chance to make a bigger impact. Each time he caught the ball on the block, he couldn't do a thing with it. He looked lost at times. The Luis we saw tonight was not the Luis we are accustomed to seeing.

David Andersen -- Started off well offensively, but lost his touch late and kept fouling like he was still in Europe. He really needs to work on playing defense with his body and not with his hands.

Scott Williams, Suns announcer -- I just can't get over how tough it was to watch this game with Scott Williams in my ear. If it wasn't because of the fact that he repeated the same phrase about a billion times, it was his goofy voice in general. Really, just horrible commentating.

Next Game: Tomorrow @ Minnesota. Twin cities, yah. Twin cities.

Nash, Defense Spark Suns Victory in Miami

Wil Cantrell — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 06:09:34 -0000

More photos » by J PAT CARTER - AP

about 1 month ago: Phoenix Suns' Louis Amundson tries to block Miami Heat's Dwyane Wade from shooting during the second quarter of an NBA basketball game in Miami, Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2009. (AP Photo/J Pat Carter)

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At Suns Media Day a couple months back, Steve Nash was asked how he felt. The 36 year old point guard looked down and thought for a moment, then replied with a smile: "joyous." The joyous Steve Nash led the Suns with 30 points in a hard fought come-from-behind victory against the Miami Heat tonight, 104-96. While going 4-5 from three-point range, Nash also became the Suns All-Time 3-point leader.

The Suns looked sloppy and fell behind early during a 17-1 Miami run in the first half but managed to keep things close until Nash caught fire and the defense tightened in the second half. While Amare Stoudemire, Jared Dudley, and Louis Amundson scrapped for rebounds and blocked shots, Grant Hill, Jason Richardson and company held Dwayne Wade to a meager 23 points. After the game, Stoudemire quipped, "the guys are really taking defense to heart." It is easy to believe Sun Tzu after his words followed a gutsy team performance. From a fan's perspective it doesn't get any more exciting than watching your team fight back from a deficit and show so much fire in doing so. Seeing Jared Dudley scream in delight after scoring a hard fought basket warms my heart and makes me want to be ORNG.

The bench played excellent tonight including Jarron Collins, whose box line doesn't do him justice. The guy played tough and didn't hurt us. The rest of the rotation played inspired, aggressive basketball:

Louis Amundson: 10 points, 5 rebounds and 3 blocks
Jared Dudley: 8 points and 3 boards
Goran Dragic was solid in 11 minutes of play with no (zero) turnovers and a nice take to the hoop

Grant Hill struggled from the field going 2-11, yet managed a double double with 10 points and 12 boards, nicely complimenting Stoudemire's 11 rebound, 3 blocked shot performance. While everyone contributed in this victory, it was Nash's 25 point second half that led the way to an improbable win. For a half the Suns looked destined to give this game to the Heat, shooting nearly 40% from the field and 50% from the free throw line. Dwayne Wade picked apart the defense while Jermaine O'Neal and an oddly athletic looking Quentin Richardson buoyed the Heat offense.

Some more items of Suns interest:

Grant Hill is leading the Suns in rebounds, averaging 10.3 per game
The Suns bench of Amundson, Dudley, Dragic and Collins shot a combined 10-18 from the field
Channing frye has made more three pointers in 4 games this season than in 63 games last year. In his prior three seasons in the league he made a total of 9.
Earl Clark registered his first DNP of the season tonight
The Orlando Magic are the Suns next opponent tomorrow in Orlando at 5 P.M. MST. The Magic are returning from an 85-80 loss in Detroit.

[Note by Phoenix Stan, 11/04/09 6:49 AM MST ]

The Suns in the fourth quarter of this game were simply amazing outscoring Miami 29 to 15 and holding the Heat to 22% shooting. 22%!!!

The quarter started with the Suns down 81 - 76 and Nash on the bench. The unit of Dragic, Richardson, Dudley, Collins and Stoudemire went on a 10 - 3 run so that when Nash and Frye came in at the 7:18 mark the Suns had taken a 2 point lead.

Catch that? The Suns took the lead with Nash on the bench. How huge is that?

Here's what Gentry said about the bench, "I thought our reserves did a good job. It's really tough to have Steve sitting over there especially when the games on the line and you want him in there all the time. I thought Goran [Dragic] did a really good job of coming up with a few baskets and just being aggressive and getting guys some open shots. Jarron [Collins] came in and it was the first time he played for us and I think he set some really good solid screens to open guys up for shots and did a good job defensively. We're happy with the win but like I said, we're not ready to crown ourselves yet."

Sure, it helped the Wade was on the bench as well but credit where credit is due and that goes to those bench guys for giving Steve the time to rest so that when he came back in he could score 8 points and 3 assists and zero missed field goals.

But Wade was back in the game when Dragic blew by his man on the wing and went hard to the rim. Wade, a fantastic defender, came over for the block but Goran was able to adjust in mid air and drop the ball into the front of the rim. It's not the kind of play that ends up on a poster - but it should.

The Suns used the zone defense with great effect as well as which Nash said worked well, "We haven’t really used it much or had much success. It really came out well for us tonight."

Amare was fantastic. Richardson and Dudley did great work on Wade. Nash is playing as well as he's had in at least two or three years.

To overcome a night in which the Suns missed 10 free throws and Frye's shot finally went cold (we knew it would eventually) was very impressive. This was a great win.

Post Game Links

Suns vs Heat coverage
Suns vs Heat recap
Suns vs Heat boxscore
SUNS: Postgame Quotes: Suns @ Heat, 11/3/09
Suns defense key in road win
Their first use of the zone defense this season kept Wade out of the lane and made the Heat shoot over the Suns. Miami made just 10 of 38 shots after that point.
PopcornMachine's GameFlows
GameFlows or graphical boxscores of NBA games
Suns are in the zone, beat Heat in battle of unbeatens | Philadelphia Daily News | 11/04/2009
"I thought the zone was for college, personally," Quentin Richardson said. "I thought that was the difference between the NBA and college." - Q, if you make your shots then the zone doesn't work

and remember this one?

Waive Goodbye, Part 2

Jon L — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 13:00:42 -0000

More photos » by Nam Y. Huh - AP

Go ahead and smile, Derrick Byars. You made the team. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

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Today we continue our look at the players waived or, occasionally, kept by NBA teams as the regular season begins. Next up we move into the middle of the country, or as I like to call it, "America's already-bloated snackhole." (I can say that because I live there.) That's right, it's the Central and Southwest Divisions. (Except that I was looking at the wrong division list when I wrote this and it's actually the Northwest Division. Deal with it, America.) And if you're just tuning in, don't forget to check out part 1.

Chicago Bulls

Who got cut: Curtis Stinson, Chris Richard, Steven Hill

Who got kept: Derrick Byars

Forget Stinson and Hill, this really came down to Byars vs. Richard for the last roster spot. And with all due respect to Richard, they made the right call. Richard played okay, although he averaged less than seven points per 36 minutes, and given that the team that already sports Joakim Noah in the frontcourt they really probably can't handle yet another guy who can't produce on offense. Not that Richard unequivocally can't, he just didn't demonstrate that sort of ability in the preseason, which is when he needed to demonstrate it. Byars helps the team in case Deng gets hurt again, or if John Salmons starts creaking (he turns 30 later this year). I won't discuss Byars in great detail here, because you can read this. It probably makes up for the Bulls cutting DeMarcus Nelson, maybe. Stinson and Hill are both probably headed to Europe, though I could see Stinson sticking around the D-League.

Cleveland Cavaliers

Who got cut: Luke Nevill, Andre Barrett, Russell Robinson, Rob Kurz, Darryl Watkins

Who got kept: Coby Karl

See Marge? These guys get it. Karl actually didn't play particularly well in the preseason, but he had a pretty good Summer League with Denver, and he's definitely talented. He's a nice multi-faceted player who can shoot (and make) threes, help distribute the ball, pick up some steals and rebound a little bit. So in other words he's exactly the right kind of guard for Cleveland. He's also worked damn hard, and he deserves another shot at the NBA. It never feels good to get cut (I'm assuming), but it's probably especially hard for Rob Kurz, who was starting for the Warriors just last season. He'd definitely be a prime call-up candidate should he go to the D-League, as he's a 6'9" guy who can make threes, although he could stand to pick up his rebounding and defense. He also profiles well as a Euroleague guy, so he could end up there. Russell Robinson also could pick either option. He played pretty poorly both in Summer League and the preseason, with turnovers being the major problem. Another stint in the D-League could help that, as he averaged just two and a half per 36 minutes for Reno last season. I'll mention again that I haven't been including Jawad Williams in this discussion because he was signed at the end of last season and has a partially-guaranteed deal, so while he theoretically could be waived later on, the team has been somewhat more committed to him than these other guys. I'm somewhat optimistic about Williams's playing time, since at this point he's more capable than J.J. Hickson or Darnell Jackson, but Leon Powe and maybe Jamario Moon are around to take most of the backup forward minutes.

Denver Nuggets

Who got cut: James White, Kurt Looby, Keith Brumbaugh, Dontaye Draper

Who got kept: Joey Graham

Massive disappointment here, although there's nothing personal against Graham. There was just so much hope that this would be White's year in Houston, then the team decided it wouldn't be, then Denver decided it wouldn't be his year for them, either. Looby getting cut isn't a huge surprise, as he's still carpaccio-raw. But, White getting the boot on top of Sonny Weems being sent away is enough to make one question Denver's commitment to ~~Sparkle Motion~~ the D-League. That would be rash, of course, and unfair to Denver who is clearly trying to win soon. Graham's per-36 numbers are almost identical to White's NBA figures, but I guess there's still too much uncertainty over what White can do when there really shouldn't be. He's headed over to Europe now, I assume, since he's said he's done with the D-League, and who can blame him. If an NBA team says they're committed to your development, then semi-promptly gets rid of you, that would be disheartening for anyone.

Detroit Pistons

Who got cut: Maceo Baston

Who got kept: No one.

Sorry, Maceo. Have fun at your House Party. (Admit it, that's not the clip you were expecting.) (Also, note to self: when you get older, shave your head but leave the sideburns and add a mustache.) But hey, here's a crazy idea; the Pistons also waived their second round pick Deron Washington, who's a 6'7" small forward. James White is a 6'7" small forward. WHAT IF THEY'RE ABOUT TO SIGN JAMES WHITE? They're probably not, but they should be. While Austin Daye looked really, really good in Summer League, and Jonas Jerebko could be pretty good, it seems a bit crazy to rely on three rookies (remember DaJuan Summers) as key bench contributors, rebuilding or no rebuilding. And while James White doesn't have that much more NBA experience, he's been around for a few years and he can contribute. Come on, Joe Dumars. LET'S DO THIS.

Indiana Pacers

Who got cut: Rod Benson, Demetris Nichols, Lawrence Roberts

Who got kept: No one.

Rod Benson is probably going back to Europe this year, even though he didn't have the best experience there last season (although being injured didn't help). I'd guess Nichols goes the same route, and both of them are good enough to play in the NBA right now. (Roberts is already over there.) As for the biggest question, whether we'll seee a return of Boom Tho-ness, I have no idea. Personally I wouldn't expect too much except maybe a continuation of his posts over at Ball Don't Lie. If this website were FreeDarko I'd probably launch into a discussion about whether this year's return to (or first crack at) seriousness for Benson and Gilbert Arenas reflects some kind of "down to business" vibe given off by the Obama Administration, but I have neither the time nor the ability to get into that right now. Or who knows, maybe Benson could write a book that would probably be better than Paul Shirley's (which I haven't read, but Benson's a better writer than Shirley so it's pretty much a lock.)

Milwaukee Bucks

Who got cut: Marcus Hubbard, Mark Tyndale, Charles Gaines, Dominic James

Who got kept: No one.

This was bound to happen eventually, but I don't really have much to say about these guys. Hubbard could do with another season or two in the D-League and work on either a.) becoming a proper interior player, or b.) shooting better than .256 on his three-pointers. Because this in-between thing isn't working. Gaines played well for Austin last season, averaging 15 points and 10 rebounds per 36 minutes, and shot a good percentage with Maccabi Tel Aviv. I'd like to see him in the D-League again this season, but I'm not sure he's close enough to a call-up to make it worth his time. Let's see, what else can I talk about with these guys...uh hey, I think Ersan Ilyasova can be pretty good, but that's not really under the purview of this series. Three or four players likely going over to Europe. Whee.

Minnesota Timberwolves

Who got cut: Jack McClinton, Alonzo Gee, Jared Reiner, Devin Green, Mustafa Shakur

Who got kept: Jason Hart

I don't have much to say about Jason Hart since he's 31 years old now and last played in the D-League eight years ago. This is probably a stale comment by now, and the team waived Antonio Daniels so they haven't gone completely crazy, but what's the deal with Minnesota and point guards? Who are these people? Who are the ad wizards that came up with this one? I've already written about this, but whatever NBA team ends up with McClinton (and there will be one, eventually) is going to love having him, and kick themselves for not having him earlier. Reiner got a raw deal by getting cut right before the game in his hometown, sure. But Nate Jawai is in Minnesota now, and that's something, right? It's at least as much a something as Oleksiy Pecherov being there, certainly.

Oklahoma City Thunder

Who got cut: Michael Ruffin, Tre Kelley, Mike Harris

Who got kept: Ryan Bowen

I saw Kelley play a little bit, and he looked pretty good. He's very quick, and he can get to the basket. Of course, he was being guarded by Curtis Jerrells at that point so take it with a grain of bacon salt. He's almost certainly headed to Europe. Michael Ruffin, eh. I have a sort of personal animus against him through no fault of his, since Eddie Jordan overused him when they were both with the Washington Wizards, but he's already landed on his feet overseas. The question of what Bowen can give the team at this point in his career is a good one, as he's 34 years old and has been pretty inconsistent the last few seasons. I just have to keep telling myself that the Thunder still have D.J. White and Serge Ibaka, and be content with that.

Portland Trail Blazers

Who got cut: Ime Udoka, Jarron Collins, Donell Taylor, Quinton Hosley

Who got kept: No one.

I wonder what will happen to Udoka, as he's probably still good enough to contribute at the back of someone's rotation, but he's also 32 years old and most of the teams that would be interested in him are already full up. He's a solid candidate for a mid-season replacement in case some small forward somewhere gets hurt. He can shoot the three a bit, his rebounding has improved the past few years and he doesn't turn the ball over much.

What, you want me to talk about Jarron Collins?

Utah Jazz

Who got cut: Ronald Dupree, Alexander Johnson, Paul Harris, Spencer Nelson

Who got kept: No one.

Wes Matthews and draft pick Goran Suton aren't really included in this, but in the interest of full disclosure Matthews is in and Suton is out. Suton would be a solid big man in the D-League should he decide to go that route. You're probably expecting me to express disappointment at Dupree being waived, but the fact is that he didn't play well in the preseason. At all. Well, I suppose that's not completely true as he averaged about ten points per 36 minutes, but he's capable of much more than that, and he didn't really contribute much in the way of rebounds, assists or steals. He's really only had one good game, though, against the Clippers when he shot 4-7 from the field and 3-4 from the free throw line, and in the rest he shot 5-13 overall. I'd like to see him in the D-League again this year, and maybe if he plays his normal solid, slashing game he'll restore some of his call-up-ability.

Meet Jarron Collins (and hear from Coach Gentry)

Phoenix Stan — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 23:28:56 -0000

Audio from Jarron Collins first media session as a Phoenix Sun. Listen for yourself and get to know our newest player.

Also posted full audio from Coach Gentry's weekly appearance on Sports 620 KTAR's Gambo and Ash show.

Jarron Collins

Coach Gentry

SUNS AWARDED JARRON COLLINS

watdogg10 — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 22:35:00 -0000

[Note by Phoenix Stan, 10/26/09 4:41 PM MST ]

I added a poll....chime in. I don't know what else you ungrateful ~~maggots~~ fans would have the Suns do. They are already over the luxury tax so they can't afford anyone really good and they really can't and don't want to make any trades.

The options were Collins, some other guy with either no experience or bad numbers or save the money and do nothing.

They needed a big man to pick up minutes behind Frye and bang a little. Why not Collins? Good guy. Smart player. Good defender. Big. Cheap.

What else are you expecting?

[Note by Phoenix Stan, 10/26/09 4:56 PM MST ]

Of course, this also means that the Suns don't think Clark is ready to play the PF position in the NBA. Shocking, since the kid played the perimeter at college so to expect him to come in and battle in the paint as a rookie is obviously a stretch.

[Note by Phoenix Stan, 10/26/09 5:13 PM MST ]

Here's what Gentry said about Jarron Collins on Sunday after practice:

"He's been a guy who's lasted in the league and done a good job. He's a big guy."

I asked Gentry if it matter that Collins had played 8 years in Utah for Jerry Sloan. Gentry said it didn't matter where he played.

Press Release after the jump...

PHOENIX – The Phoenix Suns today announced that the club has been awarded the rights to center Jarron Collins. Collins, who spent the preseason with the Portland Trail Blazers, became available after being waived October 22, 2009.

The 6-11, 249-pound Collins is an eight-year NBA veteran who has spent every career regular season with the Utah Jazz. The 30-year-old owns career averages of 4.3 points and 3.1 rebounds in 16.9 minutes in 480 games (206 starts). Collins, who has averaged 8.8 rebounds per 48 minutes over the course of his NBA career, is a durable post player who has appeared in 70 or more games in five of his eight NBA seasons.

Collins was a four-year performer at Stanford where he helped lead the Cardinal to the 1998 Final Four. He is one of 10 players in Stanford history with 1,000 points and 700 rebounds.

Jarron is the younger twin brother of Hawks center Jason Collins. He joins teammates Robin Lopez (New Jersey’s Brook) and Taylor Griffin (L.A. Clippers’ Blake) as Suns players with brothers in the NBA. Phoenix now has a member of three of the NBA’s five active brother pairings.

The Suns tip-off the club’s 42nd NBA season this Wednesday, Oct. 28, visiting the L.A. Clippers at 7: 30 p.m. on My45.Phoenix returns home to open the home portion of the 2009-10 slate on Friday, Oct. 30, hosting the Golden State Warriors at 7 p.m. at US Airways Center on FOX Sports Arizona. All games can be heard on Sports 620 KTAR.

Poll

Sensing a lot of unhappiness with the Collins pick-up. I ask you what else would you have the Suns do to fill in for Robin until he recovers?

Nothing. Suns are better off w/o Collins no matter what

31 votes

Collins was the best option out there. It's something

189 votes

Like to see some other big like maybe Sims, Siler or Earl Barron

38 votes

Make a trade to get a better big (if you pick this, explain in comments)

25 votes

283 votes | Poll has closed

Utah Jazz Previews

Jeff Clark — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 00:36:01 -0000

More photos » by TOM HEVEZI - AP

Wake up Deron. Time to start the season.

Browse more photos »

Jerry Sloan is one of the most respected coaches in the league. Does he have the kind of team to get back to the finals? Can he keep juggling Boozer and Millsap? How does it all fit?

2009-2010 Season Preview - Utah Jazz - SLC Dunk

The Jazz were in wait-and-see mode all off-season. They had three players, Kyle Korver, Mehmet Okur, and Carlos Boozer that could have opted-out. In the end, all of them ended up opting in for various reasons. Korver decided that the This is The Place Heritage Park reminded him of his home state of Iowa too much to leave. Okur decided that launching threes in the thin mountain air while making $10M per wasn't such a bad proposition. And of course Boozer, he who was opting out and getting a raise, regardless. Then, as young people who try to move out of their parents' house find out, things are not as easy financially as they seem. Having no suitors willing to give him a raise with a long-term deal, Boozer opted back in and then went on his nationwide tour of radio stations to drum up interest for a trade.

2009-2010 Jazz Preview

What are the team’s biggest weaknesses? Defense. I don't even wanna get into this again, but I guess I'll give it a shot. The starting bigs don't play any. The wings gamble a bit too often, though they do end up with a couple of steals here and there. What that gives you is a combo where opponents don't face much opposition when they try to drive in, and then face a couple of bigs who's concept of defense seems to have been cultivated by watching Jarron Collins defend Shaq (aka... hack away). And there still isn't a tall guy who seems like he'll be able to get minutes behind Okur.

Reports from Portland: Jarron Collins to the Suns

Phoenix Stan — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 22:35:54 -0000

More photos » by Rick Bowmer - AP

Browse more photos »

According to reports out of Portland, Jarron Collins coming to the Suns to fill in from Robin Lopez at center.

If true, he would give Phoenix a record number of brothers on any one roster. I am totally making that up but I challenge anyone to find another team that has three players on the one team who all have brothers who are also on NBA rosters. And two of them have twin brothers in the league!

How could that not be some kind of record? Just call us the Phoenix Sunsbros

At least in this case you can't argue that we got the "lesser" brother in Jarron vs Jason because frankly, they are about the same over their careers.

[Note by Phoenix Stan, 10/21/09 5:24 PM MST ]

Here's what Basketball John from SLC Dunk had to say about Jarron. And with a name like "Basketball John" how could he be wrong?

Off the court, you'd be hard pressed to find a better guy. He's intelligent, well spoken, and is an awesome chaperone. He's a model citizen.

On the court his repertoire includes flopping and taking charges and flopping. On offense, you're not going to get anything from him. He has a high basketball IQ for what it's worth. And he'll be a good locker room guy.

He's not going to be much of a factor for you, but you probably knew that already.

Here's Jarron's career stats:

Year	Team	G	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	OFF	DEF	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	TO	PF	PPG
01-02	UTA	70	68	20.6	0.461	0.000	0.740	2.0	2.3	4.2	0.8	0.4	0.3	0.80	3.30	6.4
02-03	UTA	22	7	19.1	0.442	0.000	0.710	1.5	1.3	2.7	0.6	0.2	0.3	0.86	3.20	5.5
03-04	UTA	81	31	21.4	0.498	0.000	0.718	1.4	2.5	3.9	1.0	0.3	0.2	0.98	3.10	6.0
04-05	UTA	50	38	19.2	0.414	0.000	0.697	1.1	2.1	3.3	1.2	0.2	0.1	0.68	2.90	4.3
05-06	UTA	79	41	21.9	0.461	0.000	0.717	1.7	2.5	4.2	1.2	0.5	0.3	0.77	3.20	5.3
06-07	UTA	82	9	11.1	0.441	0.000	0.651	0.9	1.2	2.1	0.7	0.2	0.1	0.45	1.80	2.5
07-08	UTA	70	9	10.0	0.439	0.000	0.622	0.6	1.1	1.7	0.5	0.1	0.1	0.31	1.50	1.7
08-09	UTA	26	3	7.7	0.457	0.000	0.727	0.8	0.7	1.4	0.3	0.1	0.0	0.35	1.30	1.5
Career	--	480	206	16.9	0.459	0.000	0.706	1.3	1.8	3.1	0.9	0.3	0.2	0.66	2.60	4.3

and here's Jason's:

Season	Team	G	GS	MPG	FG%	3p%	FT%	OFF	DEF	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	TO	PF	PPG
--	--	0	0	0.0	0.000	0.000	0.000	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.00	0.00	0.0
Career		572	429	23.4	0.410	0.207	0.648	1.5	2.8	4.3	1.0	0.6	0.5	0.94	3.10	4.

Looks pretty darn close to me.

The Suns have been saying that they would only replace Robin Lopez (who will be out until early December) with a guy that is ready to come and play. No projects allowed.

Collins with 8 years in Utah should fit that bill. A defensive big that can take up space, defend and grab some boards.

This isn't an official done deal yet so stay tuned as the story develops.