Read More: Alvin Gentry (H – PHO), Phoenix Suns

The Phoenix Suns are on their fourth day of training camp. They are working hard with two-a-days and doing everything they can to prepare for the season. Like every other team in the league, the NBA lockout cut into the normal preparation time but the Suns are dealing with that.

One challenge the coaching and training staff is facing with the abbreviated preseason is finding the balance between pushing the players to get into basketball shape but not pushing too hard.

“There’s a fine line between going a little bit overboard and having a set back and slowly but surely making sure you’re in better shape,” Coach Alvin Gentry explained.

He stressed that the Suns have a good group of guys that came back in “pretty good shape anyway”.

As Gentry said, the Suns have one of the best training staffs in the league (he actually said they are by far the best) and so they will certainly do everything possible to keep the players healthy and get them prepared for play.

Team scrimmage 

The Suns typically hold an intra-squad scrimmage at the end of training camp that is open to the public. It’s a training session but also is a bit of fun. This year with less time available the scrimmage will take on a slightly different role.

“We don’t have that luxury really to pick a team and have a scrimmage. We’ve got to try and see if we can get some work out of it and see if we can see some things that might be beneficial to us when we go to Denver and play the first preseason game,” Gentry said.

The scrimmage, which is closed to the public this year, will be held Wednesday evening and will have 10 minute quarters with seven or eight players on each team. 

Instead of having a “draft” with an assistant coaching running each side, one team will be made up of guys projected to start and be in the rotation going against the rest of the training camp roster. Assistant coaches Dan Majerle and Igor Kokoskov will each coach one team while Gentry and new assistant, Elston Turner, will observe all the action.

Turner was added to the coaching staff to help bolster the Suns defense. Gentry stressed that while he expects the team to get better on defense this year, it’s not something that’s going to happen overnight. “I think you’re going to see progress as the season goes on.”

Rookie Markieff Morris

Suns rookie Markieff Morris is making progress and adjusting to life in the NBA. He said the practices are more intense than college but also there’s more teaching here.

Morris said the schemes and rotations are more complicated than he’s used to but he’s working his way through that. At Kansas, the bigs played more inside on defense but here he’ll be asked to play on the perimeter more and defend guards on switches. The Suns drafted Morris in part because of his mobility and effectiveness in that area.

Offensively, he’s spacing the floor more than playing in the low post when partnered with with centers Robin Lopez or Marcin Gortat but he is down low when on the court with Channing Frye. That versatility and ability to play both inside and outside also makes him a valuable player.

Asked if he had range from the NBA three-point line, Morris said, “Definitely. It’s really deep but once I get a lot more reps up, I’ll be comfortable with it.”

Morris is close to his twin brother Marcus who was drafted by the Houston Rockets and this will be the first time they are not on the same team. That’s not a bad thing, though, ”I need this time to find myself and find my game so I think it’s best for us.”

For more on the Phoenix Suns, visit Bright Side of the Sun blog.

Phoenix Suns update:

Kevin Durant tweeted this week that the NBA players’ exhibition games are starting to get played out. Tell that to the people who packed the Palesta on Sunday or Hakim Warrick, the man who made it happen for his hometown.

The Suns power forward issued a challenged to his former Syracuse teammate Carmelo Anthony and did not let up until he had Anthony, LeBron James and Chris Paul in Philadelphia for a “Battle of I-95″ charity game. Warrick already had pulled off a victory in staging it and raising more than $100,000 for Philadelphia charities by selling out the game but then did civic pride one better by helping Team Philly beat Team Melo 132-123.

“A lot of people saw the big names and thought we didn’t have a chance but I was confident that the guys I had were going to play hard,” Warrick said. “We had more of a team. They came out with LeBron and Melo and played in a hot gym for 48 minutes.”

And Warrick does not figure that will be the last anyone has seen of Team Philly, led by Kyle Lowry, Tyreke Evans and Lou Williams.

“I don’t think it’s played out,” said Warrick, who says challengers need to come to Philadelphia. “The longer the lockout goes on, people still want to see basketball. If you can continue to see NBA players go out and play hard like we did at the Palestra, people will want to see us.

“It was good for the city. A lot of people in the arena had never got to watch a LeBron or a Melo that close.”

Warrick has never been home in Philadelphia at this time of year. Training camp was supposed to start Monday so Warrick would have been in Phoenix this month for voluntary workouts and scrimmages. Instead, he is watching football with his uncle for the first time since high school and working out on his own as if the season could start next week. Warrick said he is not interested in pursuing overseas opportunities.

Warrick was one of the players who attended Steve Nash’s impromptu Suns mini-camp, when a few of the players gathered in San Diego to play and work out.

“That was good to work out, see the guys and have team bonding and see that they’re ready,” Warrick said. “If the season starts, we are going to hit the ground running because we won’t have a lot of changes to the roster.

“We definitely think we can be better. The game of basketball comes down to two or three possessions here or there and we could be a playoff team. As the season went on, we got more comfortable.”

In the first season of a four-year, $17 million contract (the fourth year is a team option), Warrick had his lowest scoring average since his 2005-06 rookie season with Memphis. Warrick, 29, averaged 8.4 points and 4.2 rebounds despite averaging 12.1 points over the season’s first 25 games. His playing time of 17.7 minutes per game was also his lowest since he was a rookie.

“I really want to get out there,” Warrick said. “I’m excited to play better because I know I can play better. I didn’t have the season I expected and that I know I can have. I want to go out and prove that I can do better.”

Tweetin’ at www.twitter.com/paulcoro

Wednesday, September 28, 2011 at 11:37 AM

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Even though the 2011-12 NBA season is in jeopardy due to the current NBA lockout, the schedule for the season has been released today. In case the lockout is settled, the Phoenix Suns will begin the regular season with a three-game homestand against the Oklahoma City Thunder (11/2), Los Angeles Lakers (11/4), and the Portland Trail Blazers (11/6).

Think that’s bad? The Suns would then head to the midwest for a six-game road trip, with several tough road tilts to deal with including Memphis, Indiana, Detroit and Toronto.

Should Phoenix have the opportunity to take the court this season, they will have ten nationally televised games (eight on ESPN, two on TNT).

Does any of this matter? With Jared Dudley saying the likelihood of a deal is a long ways off, the NBA might just be pandering at this point.

By releasing a schedule for the upcoming season, the owners are placing an urgency on the players to acquiesce to their demands. Their theory could be that fans will grow impatient with the season coming up and the games still in question.

Has that changed the way the NFL has gone about their process? Not really. The NFL’s schedule has been out for months yet the players are still locked out. Unlike the NFL, though, no one really expects the NBA to play in 2011-12. 

Steve Nash, the Phoenix Suns’ star point guard and noted soccer enthusiast, is hosting the fourth annual Showdown in Chinatown, a charity soccer match, on June 22 on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Tony Parker, Grant Hill and Brandon Jennings are among the N.B.A. stars playing in the match, which is free and open to the public. Proceeds from an after-hours event will benefit the Steve Nash Foundation. Nash, who lives in Manhattan in the off-season, has recently become an advocate for gay rights and recently lent his voice to a same-sex marriage initiative in New York State.

Q.

We’re used to seeing you still playing in May. What are you doing with the down time? Are you watching the playoffs?

A.

I haven’t really watched much. Not because I’m not interested; I’ve just been so busy. I’ve been doing a million things. I really haven’t gotten to watch much at all. But I’m following it. I’m interested in it.

Q.

Your good friend Dirk Nowitzki had everyone buzzing with his dominant performance in the Western Conference finals. But he seems like the most underappreciated star of his generation. Why is that?

A.

A lot of it is just he doesn’t kind of seek attention. He’s not out there doing a lot of things. He’s kind of a private guy. Also, there’s so many guys that are dominant athletes these days, I think they take a up a lot of the media space. Dirk’s not really that type of player. But for me he’s got to be 1, 2 or 3 in the M.V.P. voting this year. He’s one of the great closers in the game, too. I would love to see him win it all.

Q.

How are Dirk’s soccer skills? How come he has never played in the Showdown?

A.

Dirk’s not a very good soccer player. He’s not horrible — he grew up in Germany and he understands it — but it was never really his thing. He’s always been busy. And it’s a long way from Germany to come back over for it.

Q.

Rick Welts, the Suns’ chief executive, recently announced that he was gay. How do you think he’ll be received by the players?

A.

I don’t think the players on our team care. Not a lot of guys on the team have a lot of contact with Rick, including myself. Obviously, I have a ton of respect for him and what he does for the organization. I think he’s great at what he does.

Q.

Would the situation be different, maybe tougher, if a general manager or basketball-side executive came out?

A.

In some ways, it would have been a different story because it would have been more high profile. A general manager can’t hide, really. Obviously, there would have been a whole other segment of questioning. There would be a lot of, ‘Really?’ And then a short period later, everyone’s like, ‘Who cares?’ and moves on.

Q.

Is the N.B.A. ready for an openly gay player?

A.

If a player in the locker room came out, it would come and go quickly, too. I really don’t think it’s a big issue anymore. I think it would be surprisingly accepted, and a shorter shelf life than maybe we would imagine. I think the time has come when it should happen soon. I think it will be something that won’t take on this life of its own. It won’t be the O. J. trial.

Well, it’s almost over and both of these lottery teams were playing for nothing. In fact, you could easily argue that both teams would be better served by losing the game and improving their chances to get a higher draft pick. But the players on both side of the court gave a good show and a ton of effort in a thrilling overtime win for the home town Phoenix Suns.

The effort on the Suns’ side was there, for most of the players, but the defensive focus was lacking. Minnesota scored 65 point in the first half on 61.7 percent shooting. Coach Alvin Gentry was not pleased.

“Good win, but obviously we weren’t very good defensively…We got beat off the dribble; we got beat on post ups; we got beat on flash cuts — so we didn’t guard very good at all in the first half.”

They gave up 62 points in the second half as well.

The Timberwolves were led by their pair of young, highly talented, otherwise unwanted forwards: Michael Beasley and Anthony Randolph. Beasley showed a fire and passion on the court that had been missing in the past and displayed exceptional isolation skills against solid defense from Grant Hill. He finished with 26 points on 11-20 shooting.

Randolph was effective against less mobile Suns big men and scored 24 points on 10-20 shooting and also nabbed 10 boards.

The Suns were propelled by the career-high nine threes from Channing Frye and Jared Dudley’s perfect 5-5 night from long range. 

Game rotations were purposely designed to take a look at bench players in different situations. With Vince Carter sitting this one out with a “hip contusion”, Aaron Brooks (5 points, 5 assists, 18 min.) was out-played by Zabian Dowdell (8 points, 3 assists, 3 steals, 15 min.). They traded time playing point with Zabian looking far more effective running the team.

Robin Lopez didn’t play at all as the Suns wanted to get a look at Garret Siler in more realistic game situations. Some in the organization think he can be a backup to Marcin Gortat at center next season. Siler didn’t impress in his 12 minutes of play, finishing with just two points, five rebounds, and four fouls.

In other former Suns news, Goran Dragic got the start tonight for Houston against the Dallas Mavericks. He finished with 15 points, 10 rebounds, 7 assists, 4 steals and just one turnover. 

The Suns have one more game left in the season on Wednesday against the Spurs. San Antonio will likely rest their starters as they prepare for the playoffs giving the Suns a good shot at winning 40 games on the season.

For more on this game visit Bright Side of the Sun.