God put you in front of me, so how the hell could you front on me?

Brent Barry went back to the dark side. It looks like Gordan Giricek will be the newest member of the team, but that's not 100% yet. According to the first two articles, even though Sam Cassell got waived by the Clippers, he's almost definitely not going to Phoenix, but instead will most likely become a Celtic.

I was linked to this by a friend, and it is kinda amusing even if I don't know anything (or honestly particularly care) about wrestling.

Oh no! The Wizards just can't catch a break.

The Storm are going to stay in Seattle no matter what happens to the Sonics. Yay separate (and female) ownership!

Tamika Catchings signed a four year deal with the Indiana Fever. She still might not be ready to start playing when the season begins due to the torn Achilles that she suffered in the playoffs.

Here's a very interesting (if long) overview of the future of international players in the NBA. The conjecture is fine, but what I really like is the discussion of what role they play now.


Charles Barkley is seriously awesome. If you don't want to read all that, just watch the youtube clip that is in that post too:

My scales are beautiful, the color of the ocean!

Last night's game sucked. I didn't read any recaps, and I probably won't.

I'm starting to slip from my position of acceptance that the Shaq trade was a good idea. It looks like Scott Bordow of the East Valley Tribune agrees with me.

The most interesting part of that article for me was the statement that Memphis’ Rudy Gay went off for 36 points Tuesday; that doesn’t happen if Marion has a crack at him. It brought to mind a quote from Marc Iavaroni after the Memphis game (from an article that I linked to yesterday). He said, I don’t think they had an answer for (Gay) tonight. I think they were just trying to outscore us. I can't help but wonder if that was Iavaroni's way of saying that Kerr wasn't the smartest for getting rid of Marion.

Other people are becoming more despondent too.

Who the hell knows when Brent Barry will make a decision. If he doesn't pick the forces of good, Philadelphia is expected to buy out 6-foot-6 shooter Gordan Giricek so that he can join the Suns. To which I say two things: 1. Who? and 2. Why does Philly want to do that for us?

I don't know why, but I kind of like Devin Harris. Even if I feel like he looks about 15. It is because of my appreciation for him that I link to this. Plus the Nets helped give me the game that was both the first NBA game that I ever saw live, as well as being the best one that I will ever see, no contest. Oh, double overtime amazingness.

Stern gets uppity at a congressional hearing. I don't know what I think about any of that.

I had some dreams, they were clouds in my coffee

It's not a huge win, but the Suns beat the Memphis Grizzlies last night 127-113. It's nice to see a W after Sunday's game of doom. Interestingly, the Arizona Republic's recap almost seemed as though it were about a completely different game. A game in which the Suns played really poorly. Whatever. In a world in which the Suns can lose to Minnesota twice and Miami once, I'm glad for any win they get. Even if it makes for a frustrated Marc Iavaroni.

Tonight they play in New Orleans. It'll be interesting to see if Shaq can be of any help there, considering that they've been giving Nash and company fits this year.

Ok, so maybe we'll learn where Brent Barry is going today. If he decides to go with the forces of evil and becomes a Spur again, maybe we can get Sam Cassell. The Suns are getting so old, so quickly. Also, if it's Cassell in purple and orange, so alien-like.

This article isn't on the original page anymore from what I can tell, so that's an archived copy that ends prematurely. It's about how the Mavericks pick up of Jason Kidd is basically a statement of "damn, we should have kept that Nash guy around." I hadn't really thought of it that way, but it's very true.

Anderson Varejao is back to playing with the Cavs. But now that they've been completely overhauled, how will he fit in?

What I'm burning is your attire

Sometime this morning we should know if Brent Barry will be wearing purple and orange.

The after-shocks of Sunday's mind-numbingly embarrassing 116-86 loss to the Pistons. I'm divided on this. Yeah, they need to have some time to build a cohesive team, but at the same time Shaq's mouth appears to be writing checks that his body (and the team as a whole, it seems) can't cash. I guess we have little choice but to wait and see what happens.

To quote Sports Night, "it can't rain at Indian Wells." This article is especially cool, because I didn't know that this had been done before, and it was interesting to read the players' recollections.

The "big man club" doesn't really talk to one another, but that's alright with Shaq. I'm glad to see that he's not mad at Dwight Howard for taking on the nickname Superman. Even though "you can't give yourself a nickname." Why yes, I am feeling like quoting Sport Night as much as possible tonight. Thanks for asking.

Butler, Thomas, and Arenas all have setbacks in their returning from injury. I feel really bad for the Wizards, as they're an awesome team, but just can't escape from being injury laden.

Tony Parker is back to practicing with the Spurs. Damn.

One of the men responsible for the death of Michael Jordan's father is having trouble getting parole. Legal jargon and loopholes commence.

WNBA free agency is open. In list form here's some highlights:
* The Washington Mystics re-signed Alana Beard. YAY!
* The Minnesota Lynx signed Nakia Sanford (of the Mystics) to an offer sheet. The Mystics had five days to match or beat the offer.
* The Mystics matched the Lynx's offer. YAY!
* The Lynx picked up Anna DeForge.
* The Connecticut Sun (boo hiss) re-signed Lindsay Whalen (who I actually kind of like).
* Katie Douglas (boo hiss) (of the Sun) went to the Indianapolis Fever in exchange for Tamika Whitmore.
* As predicted, Swin Cash went to the Seattle Storm from the Detroit Shock in return for the number 4 pick in this year's draft.

Speaking of the Draft Day, the WNBA draft will be held on April 9th to coincide with the NCAA Women's Final Four.

The Mystics are holding open tryouts a week after the draft. I don't know what else to say about that, but it's kind of interesting. I wonder if other teams do that.

Jesus can kill you if you don't get along

Oh, Cedric. What were you doing driving with a suspended license? And more to the point, what's going on with the clerk calling the cops for an invalid credit card? I want to hear more about this story, but I bet this is all that will come out about it.

I've never felt that Barkley hated the Suns, just that he doesn't want to be seen as playing favorites so he's hard on them. I think he wants them to be better, wants them to win a championship, so he gives what he feels is honest criticism.

Here, have an interesting comparison between Sir Chuck and Shaq.

It looks like the deal is going through to send Kidd to the Mavericks. This bums me out a little, but whatever. Mostly I'm happy that I actually remember who Van Horn is considering he last played in the 2006 Finals, and I was still trying to figure out what was going on then. I can't wait for the trade deadline when all this juggling will end.

Juggling like this. It's just a rumor, but man do I not want it to happen. It would make the Lakers better and the Wizards worse, and neither of those makes me happy.

Arenas and Thomas have started practicing with the team. No solid idea when either will return.

Arenas will probably not be asked to join Team USA in Beijing. This has got to be rough for him, considering that he once said that he'd rather win Olympic Gold than the Larry O'Brien trophy (scroll down because Gilbert loves to write novels instead of entries).

I saw this suggested somewhere else last year and still wish it would happen. I would love to see a team of international All Stars. Even if it couldn't be the new face of the ASG, I'd love to see it happen as a part of the weekend.

Speaking of the NBA making international play a regular part of the season, my guess is that this won't happen, but how cool would it be? I would love to watch an NBA team play in an actual international competition.

Team France has picked their new coach. It's Michel Gomez. Apparently he used to coach for them in the mid-nineties. What does Diaw think about him? So glad you asked.

Denmark has just thrown their hat into the ring of potential hosts for the 2014 FIBA World Championship. Again, I'm mostly just interested to see how this process works.

Today marks the first day of the WNBA free agency. The first blockbuster trade? Swin Cash has reason to believe it'll send her to the Storm.

Libraries gave us power

The Suns beat the Mavericks last night. It was a pretty awesome game. I particularly enjoyed Hill playing D against Dirk decently for all of his playing time and the time that I noticed Shaq *finally* getting up to cheer for an Amare play.

The Onion's take on the Shaq trade. If I were still in my 20s, maybe I could sustain a burst of energy more powerful than the sun could emit over a 10-billion-year time period. But Steve Nash has to understand that I have a bad hip.

Steve Nash is made of awesome, but his shoes are made of scraps. I think this is super cool. I wonder how much they will cost. I'd be tempted to get some. Oh wait, never mind (scroll down). 100 bucks is crazy for that. Oh well.

Kobe won't have surgery. He won't do the 3-point shootaround, but he still might play in the ASG. My bet is that in the end this will really hurt the Lakers. Which, y'know, I don't really mind.

What do The Suns think about the potential Kidd to Dallas trade? They don't seem to care too much.

Information on the Devean George situation. I just don't really get how he gets to do this. Something about Larry Bird? So confusing. And he's the only one in the league? How is this different from Kobe's ability to block a trade? So many questions.

An article about the Mystics' center, Gillian Goring. I'm taking all of the information in here with a grain of salt. It's not a very well written article, and it seems to think that the NBA and the WNBA are the same. All the same, having an article that long on one of the Mystics whose name doesn't rhyme with "Weird" is pretty cool and definitely worth linking to.

Is he strong? Listen, bud.

First things first: LEANDRO BARBOSA HAS A BLOG. *ahem* Ok, now for the rest.

This is almost a week old, but I wanted to put it in here in case I wanted to find it later. Nash really really wanted to play with Shaq.

Yesterday I talked to someone who kept insisting that I had to hear what Shaq was saying about Bill Walton. But I couldn't find it anywhere. Tonight I found it, and it was worth the anticipation.

Any little crack in the armor can cause disruption. I don't want to be the crack in the armor. I want to be the extra coat on the metal. Boy, Shaq sure likes his extended metaphors.

The pluses and minuses of playing with Shaq and without Marion.

I have been (clearly) having the "can Shaq still play?" conversation with a lot of people lately. One thing that I keep bringing up is the amazing training staff at the US Airways Arena. I'm glad that this finally got addressed in the media with regard to Shaq. Now I feel less crazy. About that, anyway.

There's not a very good chance that Shaq will play tonight against the Warriors. He might play tomorrow against the Mavericks (though I doubt it). Most likely is that they would wait until after the All Star Break and have him play in the game against the Lakers. As an aside to this, I'm kind of pissed that he would find it funny to put down Erick Dampier by comparing his play to the WNBA. What is he, seven? "Hey, Dampier! Shaq says you play like a girl." WTF?

I'm so nervous about tonight's game. Apparently I'm not the only one. Facing the Warriors all depleted? Ugh.

While I'm not a Wizards fan, I do have an appreciation for them. I hope that Arenas coming back helps them, but I'm more eager to see Caron come back.

This is crazy. I wonder what he thinks of Donaghy. It's probably not safe for work or small children. Just a guess.

All Star Weekend from a WNBA perspective. Yay for Nikki Teasley being involved!

An interesting article on how women's college coaching is changing because of the WNBA.

A few videos:

Jeff Green misses a dunk in the Sonics @ Suns game on 2/8



Wally Szczerbiak calls a time out when his team doesn't have one, making the Suns glad that that rule has been changed since 1976.



A WNBA/The L Word fanvid that has a song that keeps getting stuck in my head (stupid Gwen Stefani). It's mostly up here to show my sister, but I think it's fun--so there.

And I said "Rhino...stop making things up."

I have been writing lists of links about basketball (mostly the Suns and the WNBA) in digest form and sending them to my sister almost every day. Recently I had the thought that maybe I should start posting them here, so other people could access them too.

So here goes, my first posted digest. Hopefully I'll have them up every day or so.

An interview with Mike Jones, an American playing pro ball in Iran. I rather enjoyed his emphasis on how friendly people there are and his description about what there is to do for fun. Surfing the internet ten hours a day instead of two. Hee. It was kinda cool that he wants to stay there (if the money is right).

I don't understand this. How can Chris Kaman play for Germany just because it's where his great grandparents were from? Doesn't he need to live there? Or have a passport already? Or at least citizenship? My head hurts from thinking about it.

France wants to host the 2014 FIBA World Championships. It's interesting to see how FIBA is picking this, since Japan (the site of last year's games) isn't exactly a basketball powerhouse. It would be pretty cool for the French national team to have it at home though.
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Boris Diaw answers 6 questions. He talks about basketball, movies, books, and photography. It's interesting (and rather gleeful) to me that he talks about his international basketball experiences with as much importance as his NBA experiences. I mean, I want him to care more about the *Suns* than the French national team, but I love that he doesn't shortchange international competition in favor of the NBA. (Photo from suns.com)

The recap of Monday's Suns game against the Wizards from the East Valley Tribune. Of note to me: Barbosa has the flu (which makes so much sense as to how invisible he was). It was honestly a crappy win, but without Marion (anymore) and without Shaq (yet) it's a take what you can get situation.

Shaq practices with the Suns for the first time. He gets winded (of course) and probably won't play until the Lakers game after the ASB (of course). I did enjoy that he and Grant Hill were carpooling. It'll be a good way to save on gas, diesel or otherwise. He also admits to not being Superman (crazytalk!). As a result of this practice, some of his new teammates have strongly requested that the team reinforce the apparatus currently supporting the two baskets at the team’s practice court. After watching one of Shaq’s slams during his personal workout Sunday, guard Leandro Barbosa shook his head and said "Man, that thing is coming down."

Shaq is huge and Pete Wentz is pocket-sized.

Latrell Sprewell is in more trouble. The "best" part of this to me, is that this is the same boat on which he choked a woman without her permission during consensual sex. Oh, Latrell...