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Link o'Day

The Basketball Jones - That's a Wrap
There's a great little lunch spot in Phoenix on 7th street called, That's a Wrap which has nothing to do with this link to the final TBJ show of the season. Thanks to Skeets and Tas and JD for their work this season and getting their show out earlier enough in the day to be part of my morning commute. It was great to meet those guys in person during the All-star week. For the record, Skeets is very skinny. Tas is buff and JD is the coolest one of the bunch.

Suns Topic #1

• Suns Name New Dance Team Coach | Ultimate Cheerleaders
  The Phoenix Suns named former Suns Dancer Kari Harrick as their new dance team coach. I was pulling for her. Or the other one...
• Suns looking up at Lakers . . . again
  During the 2007-08 season, when rumors were circulating that Memphis had Gasol on the block in an effort to dump salaries, I asked then-Suns coach Mike D'Antoni if Phoenix had any interest in Gasol. It was no secret the Suns were ready to move Shawn Marion, and his contract would have made that deal plausible. D'Antoni replied that he thought Gasol was a terrific player but too slow for the Suns system. Not long after that, Gasol was in LA, and the Suns sent Marion to Miami for an aging and, at the time, injured O'Neal. - Adding even more fuel to the "what if" fire
  
• KTAR.com - Stoudemire to be sworn in as special deputy
  I think Amare's next nick name should be "The Big Follower"
• Miami Heat | Sun-Sentinel Blogs: The Big Ring Chaser off to Cleveland?
  "It was Heat owner Micky Arison, in fact, who assured Suns owner Bob Sarver that he would have little trouble, if desired, to unload the final year on Shaq's expiring contract." - Interesting. It doesn't hurt that Shaq was 3rd team all NBA center last season either where as he sucked ass in Miami for the last year before coming to Phx
  
• Shaq Twitter: Just how cold is Cleveland? - Valley Sports - EastValleyTribune.com
  It’s amazing. Eighteen months ago the Suns trumpeted O’Neal as the missing link to a championship. Now, they’re willing to give him away for nothing. I think we can safely say the O-Neal-Shawn Marion deal was a colossal mistake. The Suns won one playoff game with Shaq - they could have done that with Marion. Shaq was unable to play effectively with Steve Nash because of their vulnerabilities covering the pick-and-roll, and he ruined whatever salary cap flexibility they might have had. - uh, yup. That about sums it up
• Should the Bulls Listen to Trade Talks for Shaq?
  I love this article which basically say our guy isn't that good, has been hurt, has a huge contract but hey, some people think he'll be decent so the Suns should take him. Love it.
• azcentral.com blogs | PaulCoro: Man of Steal?
  More Shaq trade rumor foder
• Phoenix Suns look for basketball value in potential Shaquille O'Neal trade - ESPN
  And even more on topic A

Other links of random

• A note on divisons and strength of schedule - The Dream Shake
  Another idea to change the schedule and seeding system. The NBA isn't the MLB where a division pennant means something. The current system needs work and here's one idea to fix it.
• DraftExpress: Jonathan Givony
  "Chase Budinger was awful in my opinion. He just doesn’t play. All he wants to do is shoot jumpers. That’s not basketball. He didn’t want to be there. Didn’t want to compete. He couldn’t put it on the floor. You should have seen his face when he was switched onto Paul Harris. He definitely didn’t want anything to do with him. "
• Thunder Notebook: Assistant coaches coming | NewsOK.com
  With just 10 days remaining until the June 25 NBA Draft, one league source said there has been an unusual silence around the league regarding substantial trade talks. The source said the economy is likely the culprit, with the majority of teams primarily interested in shedding high-dollar contracts. "Dumping contracts is going to be the principal thing in this draft as far as trades go," the source said. "You’re not going to see pick-for-pick (trades). You’re going to see pick and bad contract for pick."
• SLAM ONLINE | " Source: T-Mac Being Shopped
  "Rip Hamilton’s a name oft-mentioned as being on the block. Should the Pistons offer a package including Hamilton and its first round pick for Mac, the Rockets would be enticed to accept." - Why on Earth would Detroit does. Oh, right. Rip cannot reportedly won't even talk to his coach so one of them has to go. I read somewhere yesterday that Curry's job might in fact be on the line but I didn't save the link and don't really care enough to try and find it again
  
• Could Kobe Bryant opt-out and take less to help Lakers re-sign Odom and Ariza? | Talking Points
  Let me get this straight. Kobe opts of his $23m contract. Signs for less. A lot less. So the Lakers can re-sign Ariza and Odom? Figure the odds
• SportingNews.com - The Baseline
  Blake compares himself to a young Amare Stoudemire...
• Report: United States vs Italy - Confederations Cup - ESPN Soccernet
  We still kick their asses all over the basketball court...
• Quantifying Basketball’s Intangibles, With Some Help From Computers - NYTimes.com
  Holy big basketball brother Statman. I don't know if this is potentially the coolest thing ever or the end of civilization as we know if. Either way, its big.

The WNBA - Making "W" a respectable letter again

• First Look at 2009 Stats " StormTracker - The Official Blog of the Seattle Storm
  Kevin Pelton unloads some advanced stat geekery on the WNBA. A bit early to read too much into these yet
• Womens Hoops Blog | WNBA Monday Morning Dribble | Seattle Times Newspaper
  Great recap from Jayda Evans on the opening week of the WNBA.
• Bill Laimbeer to resign as coach of Detroit Shock - ESPN
  Bill Laimbeer resigned as coach of the WNBA's Detroit Shock on Monday afternoon. But you probably already knew that since it (literally) was yesterday's news