SB Nation User Blog: Aluminum Foyle

Screw the NBA

Aluminum Foyle — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 02:30:16 -0000

Has anyone noticed all the slo-mo, black and white commercials, highlighting the Spurs and Lakers, with the Suns being on the losing end? Almost all of those commercials have had the Suns on losing end. It's bad enough David Stern screwed us over two years ago, but why continue to kick a man or team in this case, when they're down. God forbid they show any positive highlights from the Suns the past few years in the playoffs, I'm sure they could dig up a few if they wanted to find some good ones.

What if the Suns win the lottery?

Aluminum Foyle — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 17:49:19 -0000

Now, I hope the Suns can make the playoffs, mainly because I believe they have the potential beat the Lakers in the West and go on a serious run. But if they miss out, which seems highly likely now, and they go into the lottery and miraculously win it, which is less likely than me winning a $100 million in the lottery, who would you pick? In my opinion, there are 3 options here: Blake Griffin, Hasheem Thabeet, Ricky Rubio, or sell the pick. Sorry I forgot about the popular 4th option.

Blake Griffin, is arguably the best power forward to come out of college in years, and could certainly give us insurance in case Amare's eye never heals, or if Amare leaves town as a free agent. According to nbadraft.net,he compares similarly to Charles Barkley and Boozer.

Hasheem Thabeet, is the best shot blocker to come out of college in years, and could give us a defensive anchor that we havent had since maybe, ever. He may be the second coming of Dikembe Mutombo, and though he may be offensively limited, but he could certainly help lead our fast break, and be the long term replacement to Shaq.

Ricky Rubio, is probably the best international player right now. He is the top point guard prospect, and gives the Suns, potentially its next great point guard for the next several years. Granted you have Goran Dragic, as possibly an emerging player, but he's still young and uncertain. Nevertheless, what's wrong stock piling point guards, remember our 97-98 Suns team : http://www.hoopsstats.com/basketball/fantasy/nba/phoenix-suns/team/roster/98/21/1. According to nbadraft.net, he compares similarly to Steve Nash and Walt Frazier!

Or we sell/trade the pick to an up and coming team, and watch the guy blossom elsewhere. I think that elite fraternity of Luol Deng, Rajon Rondo, Nate Robinson, Rudy Fernandez, Sergio Rodriguez, etc. wouldn't mind welcoming another guy to their group.

Poll

Who would you pick?

Blake Griffin

59 votes

Hasheem Thabeet

13 votes

Ricky Rubio

29 votes

Pick Jordan Hill or James Harden, because you're a homer

9 votes

Continue with recent tradition with selling/trading the pick

12 votes

122 votes | Poll has closed

Trade J-RICH!

Aluminum Foyle — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 19:40:50 -0000

Everyone put your heads together and come up with the best possible way to get rid of Jason Richardson. Let's face it, this was a bad trade, I never understood it the moment it happened, but a lot of people around here and elsewhere didn't seem to mind.

It's not just the DUI's, but his play. The guy never plays defense, that's why Roger Rabbit, I mean Mason, beat us on Christmas Day. He models his game after the current Michael Finley, not even the old Michael Finley, who the Suns once drafted, and became a star for the Mavs. His contract is not expiring, so therefore he provides no value to the Suns. There is still a few days to get rid of him. Who's with me?

New Coach Poll Question

Aluminum Foyle — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 04:25:42 -0000

Ok, let's help our GM, the great fraud, Steve Kerr make his next decision, if it's not trading Amare and company.

My list has a few defensive minded coaches (JVG, Slavery, Riley) and a few offensive minded coaches as well (Jordan, Iavaroni), and who knows what Dan Majerle is thinking, but I figured if Vinny Del Negro can be a coach, why not Majerle, haha.

On a side note, I would really hate to see Jeff Van Gundy coach again, because he is really good on TV, as an analyst.

Poll

If the Suns fire Terry Porter, who should they hire?

Avery Johnson

9 votes

Jeff Van Gundy

6 votes

Eddie Jordan

4 votes

Sam Mitchell

0 votes

Reggie Theus

2 votes

Pat Riley

2 votes

Marc Iavaroni

9 votes

Alvin Gentry

6 votes

Dan Majerle

2 votes

40 votes | Poll has closed

Fire Porter, Hire Avery Johnson

Aluminum Foyle — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 03:46:01 -0000

Let's face it, Porter is in a no win situation. I think he would be a great coach for a young rebuilding team, but this is not his place. Now of course it's not his fault, that he is surrounded with a lot of talent that doesn't mesh well together.

So let's go get the "Little General" Slavery, j/k, I mean Avery Johnson. He will certainly be a demanding coach, who will let the offense play to its strengths, but also bring a tough defensive mindset and approach that this group of individuals is missing. He may have some flaws, but I can't think of any other coach out there, who is available, that is as good as Avery. And please don't say Pat Riley. We don't need any more dinosaurs then what we already have in Phoenix.

It doesn't help when your GM is a moron, and came to town preaching "defense," but traded away the four best defensive players (Matrix, Kurt Thomas, Raja, and Diaw). Let's face it, when Grant Hill is your best defensive player, and it's 10 years after 1999, we have issues.

But with that said, Avery did a great job with the Mavericks, as he should have won a ring, if he wasn't surrounded by a bunch of chokers. The Suns have some clutch players in Nash, Hill, Shaq (except w/ Free Throws). Tell me what do you guys think.

Bruce Bowen, 3rd in voting behind Amare???

Aluminum Foyle — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 01:14:35 -0000

Can I say W T F? Obviously something happened here, because on Jan 8th, Bowen only had 509,593 votes, and was ranked 7th among all Western Conference Forwards.

Vote Tally on January 8th:

http://www.nba.com/2009/news/01/08/010809allstarreturns/index.html

Forwards
Player	Votes
Tim Duncan (SA)	1,454,918
Carmelo Anthony (Den)	905,121
Amare Stoudemire (Pho)	894,690
Ron Artest (Hou)	890,992
Dirk Nowitzki (Dal)	837,482
Pau Gasol (LAL)	618,943
Bruce Bowen (SA)	509,593
Shane Battier (Hou)	482,724
Luis Scola (Hou)	281,372
Josh Howard (Dal)	255,698
LaMarcus Aldridge (Por)	212,651

Final Vote Tally:

Forwards
Player	Votes
Tim Duncan (SA)	2,578,168
Amare Stoudemire (Pho)	1,460,429
Bruce Bowen (SA)	1,392,398
Ron Artest (Hou)	1,362,565
Carmelo Anthony (Den)	1,337,519
Dirk Nowitzki (Dal)	1,107,926
Pau Gasol (LAL)	948,301
Shane Battier (Hou)	694,112
LaMarcus Aldridge (Por)	497,550
Luis Scola (Hou)	405,851
Josh Howard (Dal)	298,810
Guards
Player	Votes
Kobe Bryant (LAL)	2,805,397
Chris Paul (NO)	2,134,798
Tracy McGrady (Hou)	1,678,516
Manu Ginobili (SA)	1,642,350
Tony Parker (SA)	1,084,361
Steve Nash (Pho)	677,211
Jamal Crawford (GS)	665,038
Rafer Alston (Hou)	550,199
Jason Kidd (Dal)	477,792
Brandon Roy (Por)	468,688
Chauncey Billups (Den)	466,073

Who do you root for?

Aluminum Foyle — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 19:26:09 -0000

I thought I would root for the Celtics initially versus the Lakers, but then I remembered something, they probably don't make it to the Finals without assistance from David Spurn, in the Atlanta series. Remember it was after game 4, with the series headed back to Boston, tied 2-2. Boston of course, never won a game in Atlanta.

And I know for sure that there is no way that at least 27 other teams in the NBA, would get away with guys coming on to the court, and have their star player (KG) push a ref, and not be penalized. We Suns fans will always be bitter for what happened last year, when Amare & Doris, were suspended for coming to the aide of their leader, Steve Nash, for essentially the same thing the Celtics got away with in the 1st round. Only differences were, that nobody on the Hawks leveled one of the best players, and nobody on the Suns, pushed a ref.

And to second that, I found myself, like many of you to be rather happy with the lesser of two evils prevailing, with the Lakers beating the Spurs. Nevertheless, I still hate the Lakers. I want to root for the Celtics, but I'm not sure they make it to the Finals without sheer ignorance from the NBA. I at least know that the Lakers earned their way to the Finals, granted they received a gift in the most sided trade in years, with Pau Gasol. And if not for the Gasol trade, maybe we don't trade for Shaq. Also KG, should be a Sun, and not be in Boston. That pains me too.

Nonetheless, this is a dream come true for the league, ABC, and many basketball fans, who grew up watching the great Lakers/Celtics rivalry. The Bandwagons are loading up. It's the return of the blue bloods. Regardless, I know that this will atleast be a better NBA FInals series, as opposed to the one where only 37 people outside of Cleveland and San Antonio watched last year.

Shame on the Utah fans

Aluminum Foyle — Sat, 10 May 2008 01:21:43 -0000

think it's safe to say that the Utah Jazz have the worst fans. Yes, they may be loud, but to boo Derek Fisher, that's just classless. They booed him in the regular season, and they booed him again tonight.

Now, I hate the Lakers with a passion as much as any Suns fan, but to boo Derek Fisher is just senseless. He did what any sane parent would do for their child. I guess in the land of polygamy, with big families, losing a kid or two won't hurt, since you have so many offsprings anyways. I hope this is not the thinking of the people there. I'm sure it's just the Laker jersey, but in this case you gotta be respectful.

Regardless, I hope the Jazz get swept, the people there deserve it. Now, if only we could have them lose in similar fashion as the Suns did the past two years.

P.S. I would also love to see the Spurs and Lakers find lose like that too.

Bill Simmons hits the nail on the coffin...

Aluminum Foyle — Thu, 01 May 2008 22:15:08 -0000

How true it is about the end of the Suns era. What could have been, if better decisions using common sense had been applied in the front office.

Here's Bill's solace to the Suns/Spurs rivalry:

"Maybe the Suns didn't win a championship, but we'll remember them 100 times more fondly than the brutally efficient and hopelessly bland Spurs, who taught everyone over the years that the regular season doesn't matter, transformed the NBA Playoffs into a flopathon, revived the vile and fan-unfriendly Hack-A-Shaq strategy and did everything short of sending Bruce Bowen out on the court with a chain saw and a taser. If the Spurs were the Team of the Decade, no wonder ratings dwindled until the league's big comeback this season.

The real shame is that all the mugging, acting, eye-rolling, flopping, rule-bending and hysterical shrugging obscured what should have been remembered as a throwback sports team, a shrewdly assembled roster of well-coached guys who played beautifully together, didn't care about credit and revolved around the best power forward who ever played. Instead, we'll remember them as the team that turned the NBA Playoffs into the World Cup. Congratulations, fellas."

[Note by Phoenix Stan, 05/03/08 6:25 PM PDT ]

A couple days late, but I finally worked up the courage to read this article. There's no news here and yet seeing it all splayed out is just too depressing for words...

All teams have their "what if" moments (Sam Bowie ) but I think going back to their earliest days, the Suns have to be right up there with any other sport organization ever...ugh

I just don't understand...

Aluminum Foyle — Fri, 02 May 2008 17:11:03 -0000

why nobody was suspended from the Hawks/Celtics series after an altercation in Game 4. It basically the same crap where guys jumped off the bench, but not only that no punishment for KG pushing a ref. I know the Celtics are Stern's mealticket out of the East come on now.

Now, they finally punished someone in the playoffs, in Darius Songailia, for barely slapping LeBron, after he was trying to free his hand. What's up with that? I swear, David Stern has got to go. There are more double standards in the NBA, than any other league. We need a fair commish, not a hypocrite/backstabber in David Stern.