Isiah Thomas gone wild

I have received a few quotes for the proposed hit on Manu Flopinobili. Some of the respondents have offered to break Manu's beak for a lifetime of free food at Taco Bell. With Raja being a spokesman for Taco Bell, it shouldn't be too hard to arrange something.

In related 'ugly news' Isiah Thomas (IT) went at Bruce Bowen (BB) last night after the latter stuck his feet under Jamal Crawford (JC) even as he was landing after a jump shot. I was watching the game on MSG and the verbal exchange was along these lines:

IT to BB : Stop sticking your foot under my player.
IT to JC : Next time he does that, break his feet!

Poppovich to IT : Stop talking to my player..
IT retorts : Ask your player to stop sticking his foot under my players.

It turned ugly after this, as Poppo and Isiah spewed venom at each other (the side story to this being that Poppo is best friends with Larry Brown and was Best Man at his wedding). Thomas was ready to rumble as he was restrained by Asst Coach Herb Williams.

Both Isiah and Bruce Bowen were rightfully honored with technicals, but Poppovich got away scot free -- just like whiny ole' Timmy D almost always does. Isiah though went up to Poppovich at the end of the game and kissed and made up. I don't know why (because-I-freaking hate-Poppovich-and-don't-give-a-rat's-ass-about- IT) but I found it to be a nice gesture from Isiah.

Lets leave these geezers aside and look at what can be done to Bruce Bowen, the Foot Monster. Its one thing when a big-footed klutz like Shaq (maybe accidentally) undercuts someone (read RJ) but Bowen has done this for the second time in a week's span. He did the same to Stevie Franchise at the Garden last week, sending him out with a sprained ankle which he still hasn't recovered from. Stu Jackson reviewed the play but took no action.

With Manu's elbow-dig that injured Raja Bell's rib cartilage, that makes three attempts at injuring an opponent, two of which were successful -- all withing 2 weeks of play! Vince Carter and Ray Allen have already spoken out by Bowen's foot-sliding tendency and dirty play in general.

I know David Stern has this blog on his favorites, so let me talk directly to him:
Listen, you 4 foot-litigious-bitch -- go ahead, feed your Napoleon's complex by lording over these giants and changing the ball so it feels like your own...but if you turn a blind eye to these asSAssins, you're gonna regret it -- I'll make sure you do!

btw, accepting offers to break Bowen's foot now..

SI answers12 questions

After the usual rhapsodies on LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, the biggest questions in the NBA were addressed in an article by Sports Illustrated (full story)

Highlights:

Will Amare's return help the Suns reach the Finals?

On paper, the return from injury of a 20-point, nine-rebound 23-year-old talent should be enough to bridge the gap from two-time conference finalist to NBA finalist.

"Amaré hasn't quite figured out defense yet; he gives up a lot on the [defensive] end. Until he -- and the Suns -- stop being so generous defensively, Phoenix will remain a Western bridesmaid."

About Cuban

"He's at every game, he's on the bench, he's screaming about every call. It's a tremendous distraction and it's got to affect the players. You don't worry about things you can't control; you're wasting your energy and misplacing your focus."

On Isiah Thomas' coaching prowess -

"I scouted Isiah a lot when he was coaching Indiana and, in all honesty, I didn't see him bring a lot to the table," says a former Central Division scout. "I never really had much of an understanding of what he was trying to do and I often had a feeling that he didn't have an understanding of it either."

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Pre-season impressions

KT - lean, mean fighting machine

Kurt Thomas has been one of the brightest spots on an otherwise ordinary preseason for the Suns. Last night he turned in 20 points, 9 rebounds in just 24 minutes on the floor. He was pretty out of shape and clearly couldn't keep up with the frantic pace of the Suns during his comeback attempt in the playoffs last season. This time, however, he's in excellent shape to lead the Suns back to being one the premier defenses in the league.

In Coach D'Antoni's words, "He's way ahead (of last year)". I wonder if Jenny Craig had a role in whipping KT into shape...
What was that...bad joke? Hell no! Did you know that Jenny Craig is part owner of the Suns team?? So every time you buy Suns' tickets you're putting a few pennies in Kirstie Alley's pocket.

Amare update

Amare Stoudemire played close to 20 minutes in last night's preseason loss to Seattle. He finished with 13/5 -- not bad considering how far along D'Antoni thinks he is in his comeback - halfway. When asked about Amare, this is what he had to say

"Basketball wise, he's still about halfway there. He's got a lot of rust."

IMO, its gonna be at least 2-3 months before we can expect to see the Amare of old. For now, the Suns will look to work him into the lineup with 10-15 mins a game at the start of the season. And yes, he's not going to start for a while now. Before you guys begin to freak out, you need to realize that the Suns are solid enough to put together an impressive regular season record. Amare's presence is of paramount importance only in the playoffs, when teams have time to plan for the Suns and start pounding us at the post. Till such time, Amare purely needs to work on meshing well with the team and ridding himself off the rust he's accumulated.
The Suns will work out just fine this season.

For now, the positives about Amare:

• He's being aggressive at the post. (yes, there are going to be off days like last night when he was tentative).
• He's trying to play good defense from time to time.
  

It's just the preseason!

Suns' fans also need to stop taking preseason games so seriously. The coach and the team experiment a lot in these games and one shouldn't put much stock into the game results.
Case in point: A rather intriguing defensive match up we used in the previous game against the Lakers -- Marion on Bynum, KT on Odom


My concerns

-Banks' inability so far, to man the point effectively. I feel he will get better as the season wears on...but what scares me is

-D'Antoni's impatience with reserve players and his proclivity to run Nash into the ground because his backups aren't half as effective as him. This, IMO is D'Antoni's biggest weakness as a coach. He needs to show more faith in his bench and be more committed to resting Nash. Damn! Nash is 32 and our window of opportunity for a championship lasts only as long as Nash is on the team. Preserve the MVP!

-the team's shooting. We've been abysmal from downtown and need to improve our shooting. Part of the reason could be the new ball (blast!). The vets like Bell, Nash etc. will get used to it. James Jones was 3-5 from the three point line last night, so he's OK.
Banks and Jumaine Jones are the ones who really need to get their act together.

Injury update

• Barbosa sat out last night's preseason game against Seattle with a right big toe sprain
• Piatkowski made a comeback after missing five preseason games with an ankle sprain
• Sean Marks is out with a left elbow sprain

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