Carlos Powell hopes to return quickly to an NBA uniform (Photo by Max Simbron)

View full size photo »

Congratulations to Carlos Powell for being selected #1 overall by the Albuquerque Thunderbirds!

With the 9th pick the Iowa Energy pick Rashad Anderson, a 6-5 guard from Connecticut.

And for all the rest of your draft coverage check out Ridiculous Upside

Continue reading this post »

Phoenix Suns guard Leandro Barbosa re-injured his right wrist during the Suns win over the Minnesota Timberwolves. (Photo by Max Simbron)

View full size photo »

Phoenix Suns guard Leandro Barbosa re-injured his right wrist during the Suns win Sunday over the Minnesota Timberwolves. He initially hurt the wrist while leading his Brazilian National Team to a gold medal in the FIBA Americas Championship tournament this summer.

In an exclusive post-game interview with Bright Side of the Sun Leandro said this about the injury, "It's bad man. They told me I have a cyst on the wrist so it's been tough for me to catch the ball and I got hit in the game so I don't know what's going to happen."

The speedy Brazilian guard only had 6 points in 14 minutes of play in Sunday's game. He was visibly pained by the swollen right wrist.

"I guess it just got worse and worse and now it's bad to the point that I can't catch the ball so it's kind of bad for me," said an unusually somber Barbosa.

Leandro said that the doctors don't think that surgery is an option and that they will give him anti-inflammatory medication.

Continue reading this post »

Anyone who's seen Phoenix Suns Managing Partner Robert Sarver sitting court-side for a game knows that he's not one to keep his thoughts to himself.

Today he might just have stepped in it during a radio interview with Sports 620 KTAR.

At around the 10 minutes mark of his interview, Sarver (after a little discussion about a Michael Jackson tribute) asks host John Gambadoro quite the personal question.

"Gambo, your wife uses a white glove doesn't she?"

After an awkward pause, Gambro tried to play it off joking about cleaning but then he decides to fire right back, "By the way, I think I left my watch at your house the other day."

Sarver takes the bait, "My wife said that was a fun 30 seconds."

Isn't it great to have an owner who is just willing to say pretty much anything on the air?

Who said talk radio was boring...

Audio from Jarron Collins first media session as a Phoenix Sun. Listen for yourself and get to know our newest player.

Also posted full audio from Coach Gentry's weekly appearance on Sports 620 KTAR's Gambo and Ash show.

Continue reading this post »

[Note by Phoenix Stan, 10/26/09 4:41 PM MST ]

I added a poll....chime in. I don't know what else you ungrateful maggots fans would have the Suns do. They are already over the luxury tax so they can't afford anyone really good and they really can't and don't want to make any trades.

The options were Collins, some other guy with either no experience or bad numbers or save the money and do nothing.

They needed a big man to pick up minutes behind Frye and bang a little. Why not Collins? Good guy. Smart player. Good defender. Big. Cheap.

What else are you expecting?

[Note by Phoenix Stan, 10/26/09 4:56 PM MST ]

Of course, this also means that the Suns don't think Clark is ready to play the PF position in the NBA. Shocking, since the kid played the perimeter at college so to expect him to come in and battle in the paint as a rookie is obviously a stretch.

[Note by Phoenix Stan, 10/26/09 5:13 PM MST ]

Here's what Gentry said about Jarron Collins on Sunday after practice:

"He's been a guy who's lasted in the league and done a good job. He's a big guy."

I asked Gentry if it matter that Collins had played 8 years in Utah for Jerry Sloan. Gentry said it didn't matter where he played.

Press Release after the jump...

Continue reading this post »

More photos » by Rick Bowmer - AP

Browse more photos »

According to reports out of Portland, Jarron Collins coming to the Suns to fill in from Robin Lopez at center.

If true, he would give Phoenix a record number of brothers on any one roster. I am totally making that up but I challenge anyone to find another team that has three players on the one team who all have brothers who are also on NBA rosters. And two of them have twin brothers in the league!

How could that not be some kind of record? Just call us the Phoenix Sunsbros

At least in this case you can't argue that we got the "lesser" brother in Jarron vs Jason because frankly, they are about the same over their careers.

[Note by Phoenix Stan, 10/21/09 5:24 PM MST ]

Here's what Basketball John from SLC Dunk had to say about Jarron. And with a name like "Basketball John" how could he be wrong?

Off the court, you'd be hard pressed to find a better guy.  He's intelligent, well spoken, and is an awesome chaperone.  He's a model citizen.

 On the court his repertoire includes flopping and taking charges and flopping.  On offense, you're not going to get anything from him.  He has a high basketball IQ for what it's worth.   And he'll be a good locker room guy.

He's not going to be much of a factor for you, but you probably knew that already.

Continue reading this post »

More photos » by Sue Ogrocki - AP

26 days ago: Phoenix Suns head coach Alvin Gentry questions the call of an official in the first quarter of a preseason NBA basketball game against the Oklahoma City Thunder in Oklahoma City, Monday, Oct. 12, 2009. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Browse more photos »

"Work in progress". "Rebound by committee". "Pleased with where we're at"

That's pretty much sums up what Phoenix Suns Head Coach Alvin Gentry is thinking right now with his team 2-2 and half way through the preseason schedule.

So far the focus has been primarily on the defense and Coach is pleased with what he's seeing so far.

I was a bit surprised when I was poking around the stats page this morning and saw that the Suns are leading league with 13.25 steals per game with Jared Dudley as the individual leader with 3 spg in only 19 minutes and Grant Hill at 4th (2.3 spg).

Gentry isn't impressed with those numbers, "Don't read anything into it. I don't read anything into that. I think what you have to do is take the whole body of work and look at that. I think from our stand point we've gotten better at what we are doing defensively in our rotations and being able to simplify things and be consistent in what we're doing. We've been pretty consistent in what we are doing."

The Suns however, will be a team that is aggressive on the defensive end and looks to force turnovers unlike a good defensive team like San Antonio who traditionally hasn't recorded a lot of steals.

"I think we have to try and force turnovers. We've got an athletic group of guys and we don't have that big long Tim Duncan back there to protect the basket for us. Especially with Robin (Lopez) out. With Robin out we play a little bit differently with that second group defensively. But right now, Earl (Clark) and Louis (Amundson) have been terrific on that second unit there and we're really undersized but they've done a great job of just being active and talking and getting in rotations so I've been real pleased with the way they've played," Gentry said.

So far, Gentry is happy with what he's seen from his rookie lottery pick but he warned not to read too much into that either. "Let's not confuse anything that happens in the regular season with what happens in the pre-season games."

Coach Gentry is keenly aware of how undersized the Suns are without Lopez but is looking at the glass as half-full, "There's some limitations we can't do anything about. We've just got to do what we do. The things that we do well we've just got to try and take advantage of that."

Continue reading this post »

Today, NBA.com released the results of its eighth annual survey of the league's general managers. The majority of GMs believe that the Lakers will repeat as NBA champions for the seventh time in their history, and that LeBron James will earn his second straight MVP award.

More than 70 percent of those who responded believe that the Spurs, with the additions of Richard Jefferson and Antonio McDyess, did the most to improve their team this summer. And even though 17.3 percent believe the Magic made the best moves of the offseason, only 7.1 percent believe Orlando will make a return trip to The Finals.

Below are select results from this year's survey. The full results (60 questions in all) are posted at NBA.com

Continue reading this post »