SB Nation User Blog: JSun

Is there a reason former Suns are on The Dirty, but not current ones?

JSun — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 17:43:50 -0000

Is there a reason former Suns are on The Dirty, but not current ones?

Matrix keeps it Dirty

Hope versus Expectations -- Another Poll

JSun — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 20:14:57 -0000

"Do not expect too much from me, and you will not be let down." I love typing, saying, humming and singing that Gin Blossoms lyric.

I'm looking around and seeing posts about Earl Clark and rivalries and Skywalker/Yoda allusions to the Lakers. I had been thinking about this and it was about time to chime in.

What would you rather have?

The Suns' fans have hope. It was a dismal (well, relatively dismal) 2008-2009 campaign and no one's expectations were buoyed by the off-season moves.

Things are fun again. Kind of like D'Antoni's first two years. The sell-outs are coming back, traffic to this site in increasing and Phoenicians are once again talking about the Suns around the water coolers in the month of November. Just as the Cardinals were posed to become relevant happy hour conversation, that other No. 13 has pushed the Suns back into beer-induced delusions of granduer on Friday afternoons.

If the 2006-2007 Suns were 11-3, we'd be talking about how they don't have the fortitude to close-out inferior teams like New Orleans. We'd be saying (which we were saying) that the Suns failed to come up big against the elite (being 1-2 against the best 3 teams they have faced). Success leads to expectations, expectations leads to hate, hate leads to suffering. Of course, if you're just happy to be there, you'll likely get zapped by blue lightning.

Now, however ... well, you're paying attention.

Poll

What would you rather have? Hope or expectations?

Hope

209 votes

Expectations

82 votes

291 votes | Poll has closed

The world is schocked -- Tony Parker's Comrades Cheat, Too

JSun — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:24:59 -0000

Henry, a close friend of San Antonio Spurs guard Tony Parker, patted the ball down like a basketball player before remembering to use his feet.

Anywhere I go, I cannot get away from the Sp*rs. I suppose that's my lot in life.

While the article reports that Henry was offside, I don't think he was the player in the offside position so he should have been able to receive the ball. But Gallas was offside.

Here's some video:

For more on the general tenor in the Emerald Isle, check this guy out.

For more, go to ESPN soccer or Fox Soccer.

The JYD Bark

JSun — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 04:43:19 -0000

What I can't figure out is why the PA doesn't have a bark every time Dudley makes a hustle play.

Amundson has got the "Louuuu!" thing.

LB gets a "beep, beep"

Dudley yelps and barks if he gets a box out that prevents the other team from grabbing a rebound, resulting in a Suns' side-out.

He deserves a bark. Let's vote on it.

If I was talented like Stan, I might have included clips so everyone could hear what I'm sayin'

Poll

Which bark is most appropriate for JYD?

Jane's Addiction -- Been Caught Stealin' (particulary appropriate for defensive plays)

44 votes

Ozzry Osbourne -- Bark at the Moon (evil, just evil)

28 votes

Led Zeppelin -- Communication Song (the beginning part)

4 votes

Werewolf in London -- Warren Zevon (for all you 'Yotes fans)

20 votes

Gin & Juice -- Snoop-a-Loop ('cause there's so much drama in the LBC)

26 votes

122 votes | Poll has closed

I didn't find this on TheDirty.com, but he's no longer a Sun so that's OK

JSun — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:05:50 -0000

I didn't find this on TheDirty.com, but he's no longer a Sun so that's OK

More Shaq-nanigans. Via The Big Lead

More Stoudemire-Curry-Ellis Information

JSun — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 19:08:14 -0000

More Stoudemire-Curry-Ellis Information

I guess this explains the recent issues with Ellis and Jackson a little better. And adds legitimacy to the Curry trade speculation.

Remember when Odom couldn't decide between LA and Miami?

JSun — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 19:11:42 -0000

Remember when Odom couldn't decide between LA and Miami?

CBA CLE Basics

JSun — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 19:55:53 -0000

I recently went to a Continuing Legal Education course put on the Suns. In addition to getting one of the fifteen hours I need every year, I got this picture, a sales pitch and I heard Steve Kerr use the phrase "salary dump." I thought I'd take a minute to pass on some of the highlights of the CBA, because it was eye-opening to me.

"BRI" is "Basketball Related Income" and is nearly all revenue in the NBA. According to the Suns' attorney, it has about a 70-page definition. From this, we get several important numbers (I think I'm right, I didn't take notes and they served free beer):

The salary cap is set at 51% of the projected BRI for the upcoming season, minus projected player benefits, and divided by 30 teams.

The luxury tax is at 61% of the projected BRI, minus projected player benefits, and divided by 30 teams.

Players' salary and benefits must be at least 57% of the BRI. At the end of each season, there is an audit and the players get at least 57%. It wasn't clear the precise mechanism, but I think it goes to the union and is counted in the "benefits" category of "players' salary and benefits."

Salary cap:

There are about 8 exceptions to the salary cap -- that is how you can be over the cap legally. The most interesting one is the "Bird Exception" (because Larrry Bird was the first to use it). A player who has played for your team for at least the last three years and re-sign for any amount and that amount is not counted against the cap (but it counts against the luxury tax). It's not that the player's team can sign him for more, its that it restricts that player's team less and therefore makes him a less attractive free agent target. For us fans, the question becomes whether another team is going to offer Amare the max, given this restriction. To give him close to $20M/yr with a $57M cap means that you've got to have a lot of other players on your team with one of the other exceptions to the cap.

As most of you know, the tax money is put into a pot and divided amongst the non-tax-paying teams. The Knicks paid over $24M in tax last year with a $71M threshhold -- that's a $95M payroll. The Suns paid $4.9M, the lowest of the tax-payers. Also on the list: Mavs, Cavs, Celtics, Lakers and Blazers.

Other notes:

Ticket sales is about 37% of revenue for the league.

There is a revenue-sharing system in place, but teams get 100% of revenue if it occurs within certain geographic locations (maybe it's not 100%, but my understanding is that it is quite a bit). Again, the specifics are in the CBA tome, but it essetianlly means that if you buy an Amare jersey in Phoenix, the Suns get all the profit but the Suns have to share the profit if someone in Atlanta buys an Amare jersey. I think that Tucson is outside of the radius, which would explain why teams like the Cardinals and the DBacks make more of an effort to reach out to those fans.

This geography-based revenue-sharing thing, coupled with the inability to broadcast on Fox Sports AZ at the same time as TNT, means that the Suns make less money on a TNT broadcast than a Fox Sports AZ broadcast.

Aside from the trade restrictions (e.g., getting within 125% of salaries if both teams are over the cap), the front office needs to successfully navigate all the cap and tax restrictions as well.

In regard to player contracts:

Most are guaranteed against a "lack of skill" (i.e., you can be cut, but they've still got to pay you).

Steve Kerr's first contract prohibited him from engaging in "counter-revolutionary activities" -- I guess he would have been barred from stopping any secessionists or insurgents.

Amare Stoudemire is not permitted to go SCUBA diving without a licensed diver with him. He is not allowed to own a motorcycle, but he is allowed to have a convertible.

Oliver Miller's "calorie cap" actually existed and the Suns' have a special scale able to reach weights high enough to monitor his weight.

Sarver indicated (as he's done in the past) that he made some mistakes. This, of course is with hindsight being 20/20. E.g., signing Richardson at the expense of not extending Johnson during the summer of 2004. He said that in his business world, he was pretty good at making decisions, and that with the benefit of hindsight he was probably right over 80% of the time. He claims that player personnel decisions are much more difficult to predict and that if you're over 50% you're probably doing a good job. I tend to agree. In business, banking and construction, there are long-term trends and patterns that are susceptible to documentation and study. You're looking at the general activities of a large sample size and making very educated guesses. With athletes, how is one like the other? What can the past experience with Stephon Marbury tell your about the future success of Steve Nash? Sure, there is some anecdotal information and some "gut feel" stuff, but that is about it. In the end, it seems to be about how good your gut is.

Final Note:

I went to the "Town Hall" a few months back and got hot dogs, chips and soda. A bunch of lawyers show up and there's complimentary wine and beer along with fancy food. Just sayin'

Another Goggles Update

JSun — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 22:23:48 -0000

JSun2 has been diagnosed with bilateral amblyopia. Which apparently means that since we've caught it now, he should have fairly normal vision if he consistently wears his corrective lenses (glasses) for a few years. If we hadn't caught this within the next couple of years, though, it could have caused him to go legally blind.

In an effort to cheer him up about wearing glasses, I went searching for images of Amare dunking with glasses on. I was having trouble finding anything in action (most of it was just him interviewing with glasses or goggles on). The good people over at the Suns' marketing department found this one of Stoudemire going over Duncan. Double bonus. I hope you can enjoy.

Steroid Scandal in the NBA?

JSun — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 21:05:45 -0000

Steroid Scandal in the NBA?

I just ran across this. I tend to believe Lewis, but NBA news is slow so here it is.