[Editor's Note: I love this! You guys are doing all the work for me this week. Thanks a bunch, JSun for maybe the best take on this I've seen so far.]

The "bad marriage" from Trix quote really got to me. I posted a bit of a comment on this over the Clockwork Orange blog. In my experience, the person saying, "It's a bad marriage and we just need to move on" is usually the person who has given up trying.

Now, that person may have had every reason to give up trying ... or, maybe that person is just too immature. For purposes of this discussion, I don't care if Marion had good reasons or bad reasons. The question now becomes what do you do with that person.

I'm going to assume that Marion is the person who is frustrated and giving up but the Suns organization is the person that is still trying to work on it. The Suns may be the abusive husband and Marion is right in giving up. Or, the Suns may be the spouse that doesn't give the other spouse enough attention; but, when the non-attentive spouse mends his/her ways, the other is already "done with it." The third option in my over-generalization is that Matrix is a spoiled brat and his "spouse" has been enabling his co-dependant personality.

Those are sort of the range of possibilities, and I'm sure that the reality lies somewhere in there -- probably with a little bit of truth to every scenario, but much more complicated.

Reports are that the Suns are not giving up on Marion -- at least not yet. He'll show up to camp because he's a pro and he's the type of guy who still bends over to pick up change on the ground. He also professes to love his teammates who also "love" him back in that macho-guy kind of way. His "beef" is with management, but who really loves his/her boss? So, he'll be there for the team.

Can it be fixed? Can it be solved? I don't know, but there is only one way to solve it. The organization (and the fans who rightfully feel they've been betrayed) need to be the "bigger man" -- i.e., let's welcome back our Prodigal Son with open arms and kill the fatted calf (I wonder if I can get a refund on my new Suns-Odom jersey). That's the only way we can possibly fix this. Maybe he'll come around, maybe he won't. Who knows.

The only other option is to kick him in the nuts and tell him to go to Hell.

It's a viable option, don't get me wrong. But it won't fix the situation.

I know, I know, "How many times do we have to tell the guy he's appreciated?" I have no delusions: the Prodigal Son approach may not fix a damn thing. It might even make things worse. But, it's the only other option besides a swift kick to the nuts. Tip-toeing around the issue will get the Suns nowhere.

Maybe he really just wants an extension but the money is not the sticking point? Would he be willing to tack on three years at $15M a year and retire a Sun? I'd still like to see that. Maybe that can happen. Can you imagine the "love-fest" that would go on if something like that happened? Sugar would be oozing out of the walls of USAC and causing vehicles on the roads downtown to lose traction and spin uncontrolably into one another.

In sum, as I see it, you either have to kick him in the nuts and send him on his way or welcome him back. If you don't work on it, you'll never know. The question is whether you're willing to work on it.