The Phoenix Suns today held a full 5 on 5 informal practice session for the first time this summer. As has been the case for a few weeks now, all the team's players were present for class. Even former Sun and Sun Devil Eddie House showed up as an exchange student. The only missing pupils were the excused absences for international competitors Leandro Barbosa and Goran Dragic. Then there's the curious case of Jason Richardson who has decided for reasons as yet unknown to start the semester late.
Jason was expected to be back in town today but is now reportedly now returning until "later this week" according to Mr. Coro at the Republic.
Where in the world is Jason Richardson and why hasn't he returned to join the great chemistry experiment of 2009/10?
The best clues from from his twitter feed which leads to this evidence of off-season self improvement via You Tube:
I suppose we can credit Jason for not falling to peer pressure and holding true to his off-season convictions. That might be one way to look at it. I guess. Me, I would rather see him back in town with his teammates showing us that improved defense he promised to work on this summer.
Amare for all the heat he takes, has been working hard from the moment he was medical cleared to play. He talked today about being back on the floor for the first time in a (semi) real game situation, "You know it's my first day going up and down five on five so I wasn't expecting to be in great shape but I think so far so good."
Amare takes a lot of pride in improving his game during the off season and thinks that despite his eye injury that his jump shot is even better this year. Too bad Jason Richardson isn't around to see it.
Full audio of Amare talking post practice via Sports 620 KTAR