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.

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...