Ed note - this is a mixed media blog post with audio clips inserted at the appropriate points. Open the links to hear directly from the source.
At today's Suns practice we hear Steve Kerr (who postponed for undisclosed reasons his scheduled knee surgery) talk about the Suns interest in Shaun Livingston.
This comes just hours after the Suns released Dee Brown for what appears to be primarily financial reasons.
Coach Porter for his part reportedly said it was "all financial" when asked the reason for the release and seemed please with his play and would like to have Brown back if he doesn't get signed by another team.
I don't want to read too much into this, but one does sense a bit of tension between the front office bean counters and the coach who was happy with the player. Let's not forget that 13 is the minimum number of roster slots and that even if Brown stayed, the Suns could certainly sign one of these buy out types if someone interesting (NOT MARBURY!) becomes available.
Dee Brown has done well and would be good to have on the roster. I certainly would like to see him getting minutes ahead of Dragic at this point. It was widely expected Goran would be headed to Iowa to work on his game last week. That seems to make the most sense from a basketball standpoint but financially it costs less to cut Brown now so as not to have his contract become guaranteed on the 10th and that means Goran stays with the team for the time being.
The Suns are not reported to be in any hurry to fill the slot and have until January 19th to do so. All this roster tap dance might make sense in the cost-cutting economy we are all facing but it sure doesn't feel good.
Kerr for his part was also content with Brown saying "he did everything we asked" but it is not guaranteed that the Suns will look for another guard. This supports my plan to sign Courtney Sims to a 10 day and send Lopez to Iowa. At some point either Lopez or Dragic or both need to go to Iowa and get some remedial playing time.
As for the rest of the team - practice practice practice...to the point that the guys are tired of beating up on each other and want to take it out on somebody else.
Speaking of which, Lou Admunson practiced with a bandaged and stitched chin which came not from a tumble off his bike but from a Robin Lopez elbow yesterday.
Leandro Barbosa was back after missing yesterday due to personal reasons.
Jason Richardson was surprised to hear that he's leading the NBA in 3-point FG percentage....47 of 97 (48.5%). But not that surprised.
He said if asked he would participate in the 3-point shooting contest during All-Star weekend where he would try to become the first to win both the slam dunk contest AND 3-point contest (Michael Jordan tried and failed). He does not lack confidence.
Audio and practice notes again provided by Sports 620 KTAR.
