Suns update

Diaw drops 7 lbs
D’Antoni said Diaw had his best practice of the season on Monday and was pleased that he dropped about seven pounds in the last two weeks and was looking quicker on the floor.

Jalen Rose's number woes
When Rose became a Sun on Friday, he expected to be able to wear No. 5, which he has worn since his high school days. But Ring of Honor member Dick Van Arsdale, the original Sun, wore that number, and it has been retired for nearly 30 years.
Rose understood, and asked for No. 42. Sorry Jalen, that number belongs to NBA Hall of Famer Connie Hawkins. Finally, a team manager suggested No. 8 — the only single-digit number that isn’t either retired or currently being used — and Rose agreed.

When will Jalen actually play?
But with only one day of practice, Rose may not play in the next two games — the Suns have five days off after playing Memphis Saturday to immerse him in the system.

FWIW, some encouraging words from Coach Antoni
“We don’t have the right combinations or the right substitution patterns right now, and we have to find them,” D’Antoni said.
“When we do, this team is going to take off.”

Amare update
Amare Stoudemire will start Wednesday night against Tim Duncan and the San Antonio Spurs.

Is it all mental?
"(But) it has nothing to do with mental; it's all physical," said Stoudemire, who turns 24 on Nov. 16. "When you feel pain, that's not mental. I don't see where people can get that. I can agree with playing through pain. But there's got to be some point in time when it gets better. Pain is pretty much telling your body that you need to stop doing what you're doing."

Experts' Opinion
- Leif Smith, a licensed clinical sports psychologist based in Ohio, put it this way: "Basically, what an injured athlete learns is that he's not invincible anymore. When you lose that invincibility, then hesitancy comes into the equation, and you can't have hesitancy as a professional athlete, especially in a fast-paced game like basketball."

- "It's not enough to believe your way through this," said Smith, the sports psychologist. "You get your confidence back by playing. There's a window, kind of like a mental probation that you have to break through. He has to go out and get so into the game that he's not aware of the pain. It takes patience."

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