The lovefest will continue because Steve Nash day isn't quite over yet. If you don't like it, then I guess you're just not a good person.

Over the course of this season, we've seen what can be gently described as sub-par, boring basketball from a declining Suns franchise. Our own fans are calling the team "boring to watch".

Boring to watch. Wow. That's the one thing that we've never been before. That's one of the reasons I root for this team through the thick and the thin. The other reason to keep watching? Super Steve. When he handed out his 6,519th assist at the Hornets game on Wednesday, becoming the Suns' all-time assists leader, I was there giving him a standing ovation. The way he plays the game, and the way he views life, is all about the assists, as Wil's article on him earlier today mentions.

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Ho, despondent Suns Fan, despair not, for all is not as bleak and dreary as it seems.

It's quite possible all of you will hate me by the end of this article but here goes.

The Phoenix Suns are having a down season, if you haven't noticed. Currently occupying the 12th spot in the Western Conference with Golden State and Sacramento close on their heels, and ranking 23rd overall in efficiency differential, the Suns have looked flat-out.....well, flat so far this season.

A 5-game losing streak capped by a 21-point loss to the Bulls and Friday's 38-point drubbing by the Portland Trailblazers have left fans daydreaming about the 2012 off-season and wondering whether it's even worth it to try and sneak into the playoffs at this point. Even short-term boons like yesterday's win and Nash's amazing play haven't been enough to redeem this team that seemed destined for an NBA championship or two just a couple years ago. For Suns fans, one season missing the playoffs is quite enough. Two really poor, frustrating seasons push even the most die-hard fans into a dark, dark place.

Finished reading already? Don't quit on me.

I'm gonna pull a crazy here, and insist that we here at Bright Side of the Sun look at the bright side of every situation.

Read on and make fun of me in the comments.....

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In a movie we've all seen before, the Phoenix Suns lacked the firepower necessary to climb back from a first half 14-point deficit to the San Antonio Spurs. Making the game just barely close enough to keep the fans watching and anticipating throughout, the Suns managed to claw back from a first half deficit to 5 points, with 5 minutes left in the game, when everything fell apart again.

A "rested" Steve Nash carried the Suns on his back for most of the game, logging 35 minutes, 20 points and 10 assists, most of which went to Marcin Gortat, the other bright spot tonight for the Suns. In keeping with his NBA-leading field goal percentage, Marcin went 11-20 for 24 points and a season-high 15 rebounds. Markieff Morris had another great game for a rookie, going 6-10 from the field for 14 points, and Jared Dudley added to the fun by finally making a three, going 2-2 from behind the arc and notching 12 points.

How did the Suns lose, then? Well, everyone else was pretty bad.

The Spurs capitalized early on the Suns' absolutely atrocious defensive rotations, getting the ball to DeJuan Blair and Tim Duncan early and often. Duncan was able to notch a season-high 24 points and matched his season high with 11 boards, while Tony Parker sliced up the Suns' "matador-style" defense as per usual with 17/9.

How about those other Suns?

0-7 Channing Frye

2-5 Grant Hill

0-4 Michael Redd

0-2 Hakim Warrick

0-3 Robin Lopez

5-10 Shannon Brown (I begrudgingly give him a full 5 makes, though. Some of those shots were hideous chunks in the general direction of the basket)

The Roll Call is after the jump.

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Come on Suns! Let's get our mojo back in the second half.

Box out. Rebound. Drive. Those are some hints to help get you started Suns.

Click the Jump for the Roll Call...........

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Let's make the Alamo City cry.....cry I say!

But really let's get a win. And be good sports on the game thread.

G-G-G-ET your Flailin' Fingers Flexin' Fellas (and Ladies)! Roll call will be E-E-E-EPIC tonight.

EDIT: I have been informed that the Spurs' Malcolm Thomas is out with a stomach thing. We got this one in the bag.

Today, the Phoenix Suns kick off their five-game road trip in a trip to my home state to face the San Antonio Spurs. San Antonio is off to a dominant 8-0 start at home, with an 8-4 record overall.

The Suns are reeling from a three-game losing streak capped by a Steve Nash- and Grant Hill-less loss to the New Jersey Nets on Friday. The past two losses have seen the Suns give up big numbers to opposing point guards Kyrie Irving and Deron Williams, a problem that could continue today against the Spurs' Tony Parker, the team's leading scorer at 17.8 ppg.

The Spurs are playing without star and team leader Manu Ginobili, who broke his shooting hand two weeks ago, while the Suns may be without Steve Nash and Grant Hill, who are both questionable with sore legs and Steve's chronic back pain.

After compiling the best record in the Western Conference and promptly losing in the first round of the playoffs to the Memphis Grizzlies, the Spurs are out to prove that their run as an elite NBA team isn't over yet. The Suns are struggling in a similar vein, trying to remain competitive while transitioning from being an elite team to a rebuilding one.

The Suns look to improve on their 1-3 record last season against the Spurs, and the Spurs are seeking to even the all-time wins between the teams at 72 apiece.

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If you viewed this game as an NBA fan, you may have been entertained. As a Suns fan, it was just painful to watch the Phoenix Suns lose 101-90 to the Cleveland Cavaliers while allowing strong rookie PG Kyrie Irving to predictably torch the Suns for a Cavs season-high 26 points to go along with 6 assists.

The Suns' offense, as has become the standard this year, was spread out equally among a number of players, with 6 guys scoring between 10 and 16 points. Michael Redd came out Redd-hot (sorry), hitting his first two 3-pointers in the first quarter to chants of "MICHAEL REDD IS GOD" and other ridiculous things from the BSoTS Game Threads.

Unfortunately, the Suns' defense gave the Cavaliers a little boost in their power rankings, allowing Kyrie Irving to drive the lane at will and slacking off of one of the best three-point shooting teams in the NBA so far this year. It was a game that the Suns were "supposed" to win, but we all know that that means nothing, and has in fact been an area of weakness for Suns teams in the past.

The Cavs looked young and fast tonight, and the Phoenix Suns looked simultaneously like an aging squad and a young, inexperienced one.

The Suns lost the rebounding battle 39-47 and gave up 17 rebounds to Anderson Varejao, the other floppy-haired guy, and allowed the Cavs to shoot over 52% from three. It's quite difficult to win when you give those two categories away.

Click the jump for Game Notes and the RollCall!

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Come on, Suns......

Let's pick it up in the second half! JD, take a shot!

View the ROLL CALL after the jump!

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Fun Michael Redd factoid #1: Scored a career-high 57 points against the Utah Jazz November 11, 2006.

Discuss amongst yourselves as we wait to see Steve Nash dissect this Cavs team.

The Matchup

Tonight the Suns play host to the Cleveland Cavaliers, a team that so far looks vastly improved from last year's dismal 19-63 squad with the lowest efficiency differential (-9.3) in the league. The Cavs are now 4-5, however, and are coming to Phoenix having lost the last 3 of four games on the road.

The Suns have won the last 2 of three, with Tuesday's well-documented and lamented loss to the Kobe-led Lakers the notable exception. The Suns look to bounce back against a Kyrie Irving and Antawn Jamison-led Cavs squad, who are allowing the least fast-break points in the league and are the definition of an okay team at 16th overall in efficiency differential.

The New Arrival

For Phoenix, a little lineup shakeup is in order with the arrival of Michael Redd, who has been working with the Suns training staff to get himself into "game shape". The Suns' need for a go-to and late-game scorer could be met in the low-risk acquisition of Redd, but only time will tell. He'll likely take a few minutes from Jared Dudley and more minutes from Shannon Brown as he finds his way onto the floor tonight.

Click the jump for some more tidbits.

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The Phoenix Suns sure are putting together an interesting early season for us fans.

So many new and interesting things are happening on the court: rookie Markieff Morris has been making the Suns front office look good for once, Channing Frye is finally finding his range (4-4 last night from 3!), and Steve Nash is reminding us yet again why we come back year after year to watch the Phoenix Suns play ball. That said, one thing has remained unchanged: fourth-year big man Robin Lopez remains an inconsistent enigma.

Last year, Robin struggled with a persistent back injury, eventually conceding his starting position to new acquisition Marcin Gortat. During this season's training camp, Robin displayed a new positive mindset and an optimism about his renewed health and energy level, saying that he "feels bouncier". He put this new trait on display in the first game of the season against the New Orleans Hornets, breaking out for 21 point on 8-12 shooting, including a confident 3-5 from beyond 16 feet and 7 boards.

In the next five games combined, he had 21 points, 16 rebounds and his usage rate dwindled from 30% to around 16%.

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Deja Vu (all over again).

The Phoenix Suns ran out of energy early in the second half, giving up 58 points in the second half to a more controlled and consistent Denver Nuggets team. The Nugs were led by Danilo Gallinari's game-leading 23 points, and had no trouble driving the lane and, more importantly, creating foul trouble for the Suns. Both Robin Lopez and Markieff Morris were in foul trouble throughout the game.

The fan energy in the U.S. Airways Center was great early on, led by our own Dragic_is_Magic, Eutychus, and Seth Pollack, among others, who no doubt solely contributed to the combined 5 blocks for Morris and RoLo in the first half. Lopez, starting in place of the injured Marcin Gortat (right thumb), seemed quicker and more aggressive in general. Jared Dudley led the Suns in scoring with 17 athletic points on 5-6 shooting, cementing his starting spot over the more erratic Shannon Brown, who ended up 5-11 and -13.

The glaring problem here is the ability of the entire team as a whole to sustain a decent level of play over 48 minutes. From mid third-quarter on, the team looked pretty listless on both offense and defense. Josh Childress answered Alvin Gentry's call-out with a line of 0/1/1 and -14. Actually, using Childress as a scapegoat for this loss would be wrong. By the end of the game, everyone on the team had a negative +/-.

With only a few days before the season opener on Monday, the Suns still have a lot of questions. Join me after the jump if you really just don't like yourself.

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Morris with 3 blocks, Robin with 2.......the flame has been lit. GO SUNS!

Let's hope that Mickael Pietrus the new guys really show up to play today! Bassy, compete for the PG2 spot! Rolo, compete for the starting position! Marcus Landry, compete for........GO SUNS!

WHEN: 7 PM MST

WHERE: Phoenix

LISTEN: Sports 620 KTAR

After getting out-hustled and out-played in the first game against a real opponent in over 200 days, the Suns look to bounce back against the Denver Nuggets, this time hosting them at the U.S. Airways Center in Phoenix.

The Suns gave away the first game of the preseason to this team, allowing 127 points on 53% shooting. The Suns also committed 16 turnovers, 12 of which belong to our new backcourt acquisitions Shannon Brown, Ronnie Price, and Sebastian Telfair. We shouldn't take too much information from the preseason games, however. These two games will strictly be a tool for Alvin Gentry and the coaching staff to preview different lineups and combinations of players before the Suns regular season begins in earnest on Monday.

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With the 13th overall pick in this year's NBA draft, the Phoenix Suns selected standout Kansas forward Markieff Morris. Not the first, not the second, but the third NBA brother (and second NBA twin) to join the Suns, Morris was drafted to help bring depth to the position vacated by Amar'e Stoudemire a year earlier.

Morris has yet to set foot on the court, in practice or otherwise, as a Phoenix Sun, but that won't stop me from speculating about what his potential impact will be this season and beyond.

• Finishing Ability: As a Jayhawk, Morris was known as an excellent pick-and-roll finisher, converting almost 70% of his touches at the rim last year. He's been working on improving his back-to-the-basket moves, but is known primarily as an attacker. The Suns like the pick and roll. Steve Nash likes the pick and roll. I like the pick and roll. It's all good.
• Rebounding Skill: Steadily improving throughout his 3-year collegiate career, he averaged 8.3 rebounds last year and improved his rebounding rate in each year. Alvin Gentry can expect a guy willing and able to attack the boards when Markieff's name gets called. I don't think we're in for another Taylor Griffin experience in this category, but one thing Morris will need to do is stay in the weight room. He's not a huge body in the paint but he has good footwork.

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To add to all the no-brainer news lately, sources close to the Phoenix Suns organization are saying that the Suns have already decided to waive Vince Carter for the upcoming NBA season.

Espn's Chris Broussard and Marc Stein, at least one of which tends to have trustworthy sources, report that Phoenix will opt to buy out Vince's contract for $4 million, making him an unrestricted free agent. The waiver must be complete within 72 hours of the opening of the free agency period, which begins this upcoming Friday.

Perhaps more noteworthy is the fact that there are a few teams with possible interest in Vince, including Chicago, Miami, and San Antonio. Carter has been a common punching bag for Suns fans throughout his potentially short tenure with the Suns, with many questioning his competitive drive and ability to be an effective teammate.

This shall be an interesting free agency period, indeed.

Phoenix Suns to Play Denver Nuggets in Preseason- AZ Central

The Phoenix Suns' front office has some burned bridges to repair. With less than a month before the projected opening day of the 2011-2012 NBA season, Robert Sarver and Suns management must convince an alienated fanbase that they're committed to turning a new leaf and starting anew.

The Suns will start off the preseason against the Denver Nuggets on a to-be-determined date. Today is the first day that contact with player's agents can be made, and Dec. 9 is the first day that free agents can sign contracts.

Deal could give Phoenix Suns owner Robert Sarver Fresh Start- AZ Central

Sarver's "Project Refresh", initiated during the extended offseason, aims to improve fan relations in every aspect of the franchise. The transition from being a notoriously hard-line owner during the lockout and becoming a franchise ambassador to the fans, will be an awkward one for Sarver. One of the most popular Phoenix Suns of all time, Steve Nash, was vocal about his displeasure with Robert Sarver during the lockout, an opinion shared by the vast majority of Suns fans as a result.

As a Suns fan, I'm going to need a lot more than a new CBA to believe that Robert Sarver is the man for the job. Actions speak louder than words here, certainly, and I'll be happy when I see the Suns front office making deals, leaked information about Lon Babby talking to player agents, and the Suns getting back together to practice.

Suns players can start practicing together, sans coaches, tomorrow. I'd love to be there.

Or better yet, does it matter?

Aaron Brooks is signed with the Guandong Southern Tigers of the Chinese Basketball Association through the 2012 season (regular season ends Feb 15). Because the CBA has restricted NBA players from playing unless they waive their right to opt out of their contract for the 2011-2012 season, we can safely assume that Brooks will be in China until at least mid February. 

So, what do we do? We all know exactly what we have in Steve Nash, and Suns fans also are aware of the value of having a capable backup point guard to rest Nash during (increasingly longer) stretches of the game. Because the shortened NBA season will by necessity include more back-to-back games this year, it's even more important to have that PG-2 spot filled before the season begins on Dec. 25. 

Zabian Dowdell, a hardworking but underwhelming guard, currently owns the PG-3 spot with pride but as Seth points out, without significant improvement he's not going to be reliable given potential big minutes on the floor. 

Free agency presents a few alternatives, such as Ronnie Price or J.J. Barea. Price is a quick, undersized guard with great athletic ability who sits third on the Jazz depth chart behind Devin Harris and Earl Watson. Juan Jose Barea is a diminutive guard that we know too well. His energy is unmatched and his decision making is getting better and better with increased playing time in Dallas. 

What do you think, Bright Siders? Can Zabian Dowdell hold the Phoenix Suns back point guard position until late February, or does it even matter? 

This past Wednesday, the Player's Association renewed lockout negotiations with the NBA at a Manhattan-area hotel. Though little progress was expected to be made on the lockout negotiations which so far have resulted only in verbal sniping from both sides, the meeting Wednesday showed dramatic improvement in negotiations. 

"We decided on Papa John's", said NBPA President Derek Fisher. "In the beginning we were skeptical that any compromise at all could be reached, but we just put our heads down and went to work." According to the New York Times, the NBA initially refused to budge, with NBA Commissioner David Stern citing the "awesomeness of Little Caesars' Hot-and-Ready pizzas for carry-out", but eventually the two sides were able to come to a deal when nobody wanted to get their car and drive to pick up the pizza. 

In an official statement, the NBA said that "this day of compromise gives us hope for the future of the league and hope for NBA fans everywhere. We are extremely pleased by not only our ability to reach an agreement but also by the quality of the Meat-Lover's pizza, down to the very last slice." 

"You should have seen [Deputy Commissioner Adam] Silver just dig into that slice of Papa-J's Hawaiian", said Fisher. "It gave me goosebumps. It's a hopeful image for the future of our league, our players, our player's children, and the future of humanity and the world itself."

Though no future talks were scheduled, the negotiators who attended the meeting were in unanimous, emphatic agreement that Papa John's would be the exclusive caterer for all meetings in the future. 

They're not making headlines. They're not at the mic during press conferences, or leading the huddle during timeouts. They're the engines behind player development and team preparedness for our Phoenix Suns, but we might not know much about them at all. 

They're the Phoenix Suns assistant coaches. 

Let's see.....you may know we have former Phoenix Sun all-time favorite "Thunder" Dan Majerle on our bench, and we've been talking recently about the new hire, "defensive coordinator" Elston Turner, but what about Noel, Igor, and Bill? We have an off-season and a lockout, folks. Let's use it to educate (or re-educate) ourselves about our Phoenix Suns!

Break it down with me.....

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Now this is thinking outside the box.

The league has filed a lawsuit against the player's association, and it's looking more and more like the season will be delayed if not cancelled entirely. The gut reaction is to think of this as entirely negative. I mean, no basketball equals bad, right?

According to Berry Tramel of NewsOK.com, the NBA could actually be better off starting later:

Why does the NBA season always start in late October/early November? Why do the NBA Finals have to be played in June?

 

Wouldn't the NBA be better served with a Dec. 1 tipoff and a July finals?

 

What Tramel suggests, thinking outside the box and turning a disadvantage into an opportunity, is that the NBA fill a sports-fan need in early July by starting and ending the season later. There's nothing big holding the NBA schedule back from starting later and ending later, and television ratings surely could be improved by taking July as it's own form of March Madness. 

In Phoenix, it could mean extended respite from the summer heat, while watching the Suns compete for a Western Conference Title and NBA Championship. 

Tramel keeps running with his idea:

Tip off the season in December, start the playoffs in late May. You could still play the All-Star Game in February, to avoid March Madness, but the trading deadline could move to late March, maybe a Tuesday, and the NBA could muscle in on some of the basketball jones that for decades the colleges have confiscated for March.

Anyone see any big issues with this? Even if this doesn't work, it's an excellent lemons-to-lemonade reminder that in every challenge is an opportunity for design and redesign: for increased revenue, efficiency, and improvement of the sport. 

The International Basketball Federation, also known as FIBA, announced Friday that NBA players currently "under contract" with NBA teams will be allowed to play internationally, with the caveat that they return to the NBA once the lockout ends.

FIBA stated:

"If an NBA player requests to play for a club of a FIBA-affiliated league, the NBA will not object but will state that the player will have to return to his NBA team as soon as the lockout ends. Consequently, FIBA will deliver a letter of clearance subject to the receipt of a declaration signed by the player, stating that he will return to his NBA team when the lockout is over."

While it's obvious that FIBA would welcome NBA-level talent, it is interesting that FIBA is co-operating with a league that can't fix its own problems. This co-operation with the NBA may open the gates for more players to feel comfortable playing overseas. Any leverage that the Player's Association may have gained by having NBA talent go overseas, though, has been lessened by the contractual obligation to return to the NBA. The chance of injury while playing abroad, though perhaps significant, can easily be equated in the owner's minds to the chances of a player injuring themselves in the States playing pick-up basketball or soccer.  

Even though it's a good welcoming sentiment for NBA players thinking about playing abroad, it isn't going to help their cause in the lockout battle. 

As the NBA Lockout comes to a standstill, with no constructive meetings between the player's union and the league likely to occur until lost games and lost paychecks are imminent, the Greed Theatre between the players and the owners grows, furthering the contempt and mistrust of loyal NBA fans everywhere. 

Matt Moore from ProBasketballTalk recently wrote an article about NBA agents having a principle role in creating what eventually was partially responsible for the lockout: wanting the most money and the longest-term contracts possible for their players, and thus taking advantage of a broken system to guarantee that. 

Moore interestingly seperates the "sides" in the NBA Lockout Greed Theatre into not two, but six pieces: " the rich owners, the poor owners, the moderate owners, the superstar players, the role players, and… the agents". Each piece plays a part, each piece wants the most money possible, and everyone knows that it's simply not possible for everyone to get their way. That's why negotiation is a lofty but reasonable goal: because in this lockout, nobody is going to score a home run. 

The drama that we're seeing now is nothing compared to what it will be in a few weeks when additional pressure on the players, agents, and owners causes everyone to lose. Then all we can do is sit back and watch the action unfold, hoping that someone will fold. 

via chasing23.com

Jim Gray, the interviewer who tossed Lebron James softball questions during the infamous "The Decision" broadcast last summer, says he has no regrets at all about doing the one-hour ESPN special in which Lebron decided to "take his talents".....well everyone knows what happened that night. In fact, everyone remembers where they were that night. I was at a steakhouse that had happy hour all day, every day in San Antonio. I booed a little. I'm getting off track.

In Gray's only interview to date about "The Decision", he joined the Dan Patrick Show to candidly answer some questions about that infamous broadcast. One interesting thing he mentions is that the idea for the one-hour spectacle was originally his idea.

Read a transcript of Jim Gray's interview here, and join me after the jump for a couple questions of my own.

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The entire Phoenix Suns team was included in a recent report by Arturo Galletti of The Wages of Wins Journal which lists the value of every NBA player as compared with that player's salary, giving hard-core Suns fans more fodder for their anti-Vince Carter-in-2012 campaigns. Galletti has created - or "remixed" as he calls it - a list of the most over- and under-paid players in the NBA in 2011 by comparing player salaries with both the number of "Wins Produced" by the player and the average value of any given win (taken by dividing the total NBA payroll and dividing it by the number of total wins in a season). 

The "Wins Produced" statistic, made by sports economist David Berri (who co-authored the Wages of Wins book) using some fancy math, makes all of this possible. The number of Wins Produced by any given player is simply multiplied by the average win value (around $1.5 million). There are a number of arguments against the Wins Produced statistic, throughout which Berri has defended and deflected quite nicely, but for our purposes as NBA fans it will do very well. 

Check the Phoenix Suns' most underpaid and overplayed players for 2011 after thejump!

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