Read More: nba free agents 2011, Michael Redd (G – PHO), Jared Dudley (G – PHO), Phoenix Suns

The Phoenix Suns are getting off to a pretty slow start in the 2011-12 NBA season. And they look particularly weak in the shooting guard position. Jared Dudley is a solid enough bench player, but he can’t be a starter and expect to put up big numbers and sustain that type of effort for an entire season. Shannon Brown has had a disastrous start, and has a lot of work to do if he plans on logging big minutes anytime soon.

So Phoenix went into the well and worked out former All-Star Michael Redd, and it looks like they’re ready to sign him. Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic has more.

Michael Redd, who has a scary knee history, worked out for the Suns at US Airways Center on Tuesday, and the Suns are expected to sign the 32-year-old today to address their need for scoring and shooting.

Redd likely would not play immediately as he learns the Suns’ system and works into playing shape.

To discuss the possibility of Redd and the Suns, go to Bright Side of the Sun.

That’s all the news for today.

by Jahna Berry – Dec. 20, 2011 06:20 PM
The Arizona Republic

What are your opinions.

Robert Sarver read through the NBA schedule last night when it was released, and he’s not happy that many of the Eastern Conference’s top teams won’t be making their way to Phoenix, since that represents a big financial loss at the ticket counter. From the Arizona Republic: “Phoenix is the only team that will not have a home game this season against Boston, Chicago, Miami, New York or Orlando. ‘I was disappointed for our fans,’ Suns Managing Partner Robert Sarver said. ‘When the preliminary schedule came out, I asked the league to reconsider and they didn’t. You’ve got to factor in all the arenas and timelines, and they weren’t able to move dates around.’ Although some West teams are visiting only once this season, Phoenix will get two home games against the Lakers, Mavericks, Clippers and Spurs, Sarver noted. Eleven of the other 14 West teams play at least three of those five top East teams at home. Golden State and Oklahoma City host all five attendance boosters. Houston did not fare much better than Phoenix, getting New York at home but not Boston, Chicago, Miami or Orlando. ‘For the most part, the schedule is computer-generated by a consulting firm that does schedules for the NHL and NBA,’ Sarver said. ‘Unfortunately for us, given the short schedule, we’re not going to see some of the elite teams in the East.’ The Suns will be on ESPN or ESPN2 nine times this season and twice on TNT (home vs. Dallas and the Clippers).”

That’s all for today guys, i’ll be back to blog you tomorrow.

by Paul Coro – Nov. 21, 2011 04:22 PM
The Arizona Republic | azcentral.com

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Phoenix Suns update:

Former Phoenix Suns player Cedric Ceballos suffered “a series of small heart attacks” Sunday night and was scheduled for surgery today, according to his publicist, Crystal Guy.

Ceballos, 42, played in a Sunday victory for the Arizona Scorpions, an ABA team which he partly owns. After going home, Ceballos felt some discomfort that prompted him to go to the hospital, Guy said. (p.m. update: KTVK-TV showed video of Ceballos bent over during Sunday’s game and then coming out in the first quarter)

“I feel blessed and very fortunate to be here today and to have made the decision to go to the hospital and get my symptoms checked out late last night,” Ceballos said in a statement. “I ask everyone to keep me in your prayers and I make my journey back to good health. Thank everyone who has called and is concerned. While I want to respond and speak to everyone, I cannot right now, but will be in touch very soon. God bless you.”

Ceballos played four full seasons and parts of two others for the Suns in his 11-year NBA career. He now serves as the Suns’ in-arena emcee and helps with community relations while operating his own business. His co-owner and coach, Ron Tilley, said Ceballos was the Scorpions’ top performer before the season but Ceballos said he did not plan to play back-to-back games in the league. The Scorpions won Sunday to move to 5-1.

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Monday, November 21, 2011 at 04:07 PM

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That’s all for today guys, i’ll be back to blog you tomorrow.

After nine years of enjoying “one of the best jobs in sports,” Phoenix Suns president and CEO Rick Welts resigned Friday.
Phoenix Suns president and CEO Rick Welts announced his resignation Friday.
(Michael Chow – AP)

Welts, who less than four months ago became the first openly gay senior executive of a professional sports team, told the Arizona Republic he is leaving Phoenix to live with his partner in Sacramento.

“The most important thing for me is to get my personal and professional lives better aligned,” Welts said. “They’ve probably never been aligned. I’m 58 years old and it’s time to do that.
“This isn’t one of those departures to see greener pastures. It really is completely a personal situation. These guys have been tremendously accommodating and any other inference than that is absolutely crazy.”

Two months ago Welts met with Suns managing partner Robert Sarver to discuss his desire to end his contract nearly 10 months before it is set to expire. His partner has joint custody of two children in Sacramento, which would have made a move to Phoenix to join Welts difficult if not impossible.

Welts admitted there is a connection between this decision and the fallout of his announcement in May.

“This has been an incredibly personally gratifying experience, going through that and reaching a different part of my life where I’m able to share 100 percent of my life with people I work with instead of 95 percent,” Welts said. “There’s a great sense of satisfaction and freedom in that. What I’m doing is uncharacteristic of Rick Welts. Leaving one of the best jobs in sports to go figure out what’s next is something I never would’ve done a year ago or five years ago or 10 years ago. Personally, there is a level of confidence and that I can figure it out and the future is going to be terrific. I’m just in a different place.”

Late in the 2010-11 regular season, Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant was fined $100,000 for shouting homophobic slurs during a game. The surprise and disgust from the basketball community came as a shock to John Amaechi, a former NBA player who came out after his retirement and has been an advocate for gay athletes.

Before joining the Suns in 2002, Welts worked as president of Fox Sports Enterprises. He began his career in the NBA world as a ballboy for the Seattle SuperSonics in 1969.

• Related: Rick Welts’s admission isn’t earth-shaking — and that’s good

Thanks for reading! .

Nearly two weeks ago we relayed the story of a burgeoning summer league plan, cobbled together by the Impact Basketball training facility and promoted by Phoenix Suns wing Jared Dudley(notes), set to attempt to replicate NBA-styled ball out in Las Vegas later this month. Real NBA rules, we were promised, as well as real NBA players. Color us real intrigued.

Now, according to Dudley and through Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic, we have a tentative list of players who are not only working out with Impact Basketball right now, but should take part in the collective once it starts up on September 23rd.

From the paper:

Dudley said the field of players will include Stephen Curry(notes), Chauncey Billups(notes), Al Harrington(notes), John Wall(notes), Zach Randolph(notes), Stephen Jackson(notes), Tayshaun Prince(notes), Jermaine O’Neal(notes), Austin Daye(notes), DeMar DeRozan(notes), Kyle Lowry(notes), Eric Maynor(notes) and J.J. Hickson(notes). Dudley said he is trying to recruit teammates Channing Frye(notes), Josh Childress(notes) and Aaron Brooks(notes) to also play in the officiated series.

“You get an actual game feel,” Dudley said, comparing it to other summer leagues that don’t have NBA big men. “Instead of having to finish in the lane against LeBron James(notes), I’ll be finishing against Jermaine O’Neal.”

There is something to that, which is why we had hope for this league and proposed a litany of hopeful traits that would help make this worth our viewing while.

We’re not as hyped about the potential for bigger NBA stars, like James, stopping in; but for major hoopheads amongst NBA players (Kobe Bryant(notes), Kevin Durant(notes), and James, whether you believe it or not, are among that lot) there still should be an allure to a league like this. Once they get past the potential sponsorship issues with working for a company like Impact that might fly in the face of their usual personal trainers, the chance to play against some NBA depth and under solid officiating and scoring could be all a star needs to fly into Vegas.

That, and the Penn and Teller show. That big libertarian just put the little guy underwater!

We should also re-iterate our original point that, if this league comes as advertised, then this is something to get excited about. Sure, there will be missed alley-oops and probable scores in the mid-120s, but the sheer amount of NBA types will make this a nice amalgamation of the usual rookie-filled summer leagues we watch in Las Vegas every year, and the good time Rucker, Goodman, and Drew League games we’ve been mining for highlights all summer.

Related: Jared Dudley, Channing Frye, LeBron James, Tayshaun Prince, Zach Randolph, Al Harrington, Stephen Jackson, Chauncey Billups, Jermaine O’Neal, Kobe Bryant, John Wall, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Phoenix Suns, NBA lockout

That’s all for today.

Aug. 26, 2011 10:05 AM
The Arizona Republic

That’s all for today.

By Seth Pollack

– Regional Sports Editor

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Jul 12, 2011 – The Phoenix Suns are known as an offensive oriented team. The Phoenix Coyotes are more known for their defense and poor scoring proficiency. Both teams will try to address their weaknesses by making changes to their rosters but both teams also, in the same week, have added an assistant coach to help as well.

The Phoenix Coyotes on Tuesday announced the hiring of John Anderson to serve as the team’s assistant coach. 

“We are very pleased to have John join our coaching staff,” said General Manager Don Maloney. “John has experience as an NHL head coach in addition to having won several championships as a head coach in the American Hockey League. He sees the game from an offensive perspective and he will be counted on to help improve our offensive performance. Both he and Jim Playfair will be great additions to Dave Tippett’s staff.”

The Phoenix Suns haven’t formalized their announcement, but according to a report in the Arizona Republic they’ve selected Elston Turner to be the team’s “defensive coordinator”.

Phoenix Suns hire Elston Turner as new defensive assistant coach
Turner will be charged with evaluating game tape and the roster and deciphering what strategies will work best for the Suns defense. He also will be in charge of the Suns’ defensive portions of practice. Each one will now have a committed 40-minute defensive session to improve on last season’s 26th-ranked defensive field goal percentage. Turner is being hired now, despite the lockout, to begin planning with Gentry on next season.

The impact of ability of an assistant coach on a basketball or hockey team to make a big impact is questionable, but at least the Coyotes and Suns are trying to address their weaknesses.

Read More: Elston Turner (A – HOU), Phoenix Suns, Phoenix Coyotes

What are your opinions.

Colorado, shooting guard, 6 feet 6, 193 pounds

Burks was barely a top-100 recruit who picked Colorado over Wichita State, Drake, Missouri State and Santa Clara last year. Now, he is the top shooting guard in the draft with an upside to be a prototype off-guard if he can shoot more consistently and strengthen his slender frame. Burks, who turns 20 in July, averaged 20.5 points as a freshman and showed an ability to score in a variety of ways.

Paul Coro/The Arizona Republic

Leave any suggestions in the comment box.

by Paul Coro – May. 16, 2011 09:17 PM
The Arizona Republic

Thanks for reading! .

Rob Schumacher/The Arizona Republic

Dec. 15, 2010: Phoenix Suns’ Steve Nash against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

That’s all for today.

(US Presswire)

What are your opinions.

Did triple-OT loss doom Suns? (Paul Coro, Arizona Republic).

Decisions on horizon for Oden, Blazers. (John Canzano, Oregonian).

Lockout could keep Vazquez from Magic. (Josh Robbins, Orlando Sentinel).

Amar’e “schedules” off day for Knicks. (Frank Isola, New York Daily News).

 

Thanks for visiting our blog =).

Feb. 17, 2011 03:47 PM
The Arizona Republic | azcentral.com

What do you guys think about this.