Denial: is the psychological process by which human beings protect themselves from things which threaten them by blocking knowledge of those things from their awareness. It is a defense which distorts reality; it keeps us from feeling the pain and uncomfortable truth about things we do not want to face.

Steve said the following:

"This is the last thing I'm going to say about our coaching situation: Mike's my coach, So I expect to see Mike back here next year. And I know there's a lot of stuff going on right now, but Mike's my coach. I love playing for him. I expect to see him back in October."

Is Steve in denial or does he know something that we don't?

Looking forward to the next season the Suns have some serious needs to address. We have the benefit of this great player-by-player break down and now we will look at positional needs.

Here's a preview for those who like picture books...  

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Michael Cooper.

Think about it, a defensive specialist (gave Larry Bird fits) who played on the Showtime Lakers with Magic, Kareem and Worthy, and won 5 rings.

He has plenty of NBA assistant coaching experience, with LA and Denver, headed the Nuggets for a little while, and even coached the LA Sparks to two WNBA championships.

Culturally, he'd be a good match for the Suns, understanding the need to balance fast break offense with good defense, and he's won under the spotlight, suggesting he'd have a cool head where Mike D panicked this year.

I'm still convinced that the squad we have, with a couple of minor adjustments, is a true contender for next years title, particularly if they can get a full pre-season together.  We had flashes of it before the playoffs.

Having played on a team that had a similar problem, Coop might be able to figure out how to get Shaq and Nash to work together consistently, without getting in each other's way, and without destroying the beauty of Suns basketball.

[Note by Phoenix Stan, 05/07/08 10:12 AM PDT ]

Bob Young at the AZ Republic did a list of the possible candidates in today's paper.

I think he's on the J-Ho diet plan if he thinks popular but inexperiened player/broadcasters like EJ or Majerle would work. If those guys want to coach they need to pay their dues on the bench and not just go directly from the mic to the clipboard.

I love Pliny's idea of Michael Cooper (despite the Laker's ties) and of the other names Paul Silas jumps out as well.

The next coach can't be a "nobody" that Shaq and Amare aren't going to respect. And at the risk of going all pop pyschology, I think having a 'firm father figure" for Amare is very important.

Let's face it. The guy that calls himself "Black Jesus" is likely going to respond better to someone of his own race.

OK, first off, I am beat.  15-hour workdays do not do wonders for one's blogging abilities, nor do they do aid in the formation of coherent arguments or lines of reasoning.  Due to the shittiest work/pay schedule this side of the Green Zone, I've already missed one deadline (Sorry CP3!  I heart you!  You wuz robbed by that mean ol' Kobe Bryant except he's the best player in the NBA west of Bourbon Street and it was just his year, even though he was whining like a baby mere months ago.) and have been near silent on the D'Antoni-Kerr soap opera.  However, I only worked 11 hours today, so here goes...

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Say what you will about the Phoenix Suns and our incredible franchise win/loss record and zero Larry O'Brian's. We lost Kareem in a coin toss and lost to the Bulls and Celtics in finals that included a couple of the best games ever. We've had our share of bad luck in Phoenix. 

But one thing we have also had is a long line of extremely talented point guards. Chris Paul would be a perfect fit in that great Phoenix tradition.

Gail Goodrich, Paul Westphal, Kevin Johnson, Jason Kidd and Steve Nash.

Talented floor leaders who can both pass and score. CP3 is our prodigal sun.

The preceding virtual fondling has been brought to you as part of the Chris Paul Blog Day .  Seriously though, the kid has potential doesn't he? 

[Note by ZonaFlash, 05/06/08 5:04 PM EDT ]

Potential?  I think you don't you come in second for the Maurice Podoloff unless you show you have actual. 

Chris Paul got potential?  No, man, he got actual.

More than his stats, I love his leadership.  He wants to win.  Where Steve Nash, gorilla love him, is a leader by example, Paul is a fiery leader willing to get in his teammates faces to get them to perform.  Backs it up by being one of the nicest guys off the court.

Two games in and the Hive is doing what we could not. Pounding the Spurs and boy does it feel nice.

This series is far from over and you can bet that Pop is going to have his team ready to fight in game 3 after losing the first two on the road. The Hornets though are looking very good and exposing the Spurs main weakness - lack of offensive depth and appearantly some form of unpleasant odor .

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Gambo (on KTAR) is reporting that Coach D is going to New York.

How long will it take for Kerr to reunite with another hard-headed SA Spur guard?

Actually, Gambo is saying it is a "hunch" he's going to NY, but that he's gone either way.  I jumped the gun on calling it a "report."