Holes In Thoughts: Suns Scrimmage

Saturday, October 06, 2007

Suns Scrimmage

The Phoenix Suns played an intra-squad scrimmage at McKale Center here in Tucson tonight; six bucks and a 10-minute drive and I was watching a Suns game.

Awesome.

I actually went early in the morning after dropping off Rachel at work, and saw the whole squad come in. I didn't have anything for them to sign, and didn't want a big deal. I asked them if they knew when the box office opened; they shrugged, and I said I'd see them tonight and wished them luck. They looked a bit tired - it was early on the last day of camp.

Hoping to get an autograph, I went by a terrible sports store (Big 5) and bought an overpriced, regulation-sized basketball. I was hoping to get it signed after the game.

I got there about 40 minutes early and was sad to find that the whole bottom row of the stadium had already been filled. While I'm always happy to see that my team is getting some love, I rather would've liked better seats!

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One nice thing about seeing this kind of game is that I got a chance to see how the rookies and deep bench played.

Sean Marks played in all of three games last year. And yet, Marks rocked tonight. There were a few places where he was mis-matched with a smaller guy who dusted him, but otherwise was aggressive, and actually made a lot of plays happen - plus like four or five dunks. One sequence had him making an impressive block, then sprinting back to the other end for a slam dunk. For a 7' guy who played in 3 games last year - wow.

Earlier in the off-season, GM Steve Kerr (a UA alumni) said Marks was going to surprise some people and I took that with a bit of a laugh, but I guess he was right. Whether or not he can play versus other NBA teams .

Marcus Banks had an OK game - an OK beginning, a fairly crap middle, and a strong finish. Basically, the more he was the SG and less he was the PG, the better he was. The more he tried to take it on his own, the worse things ended up. But when he rotated correctly, used screens, and generally used the Suns' system, he did a good job.

There was a guy named Doug Thomas, who had great hops but no contract. He's mostly known for his athleticism, not for his actual game, but he was great at those highlight dunks. I actually think we should sign him, luxury tax be damned. He had a few rookie moments where he looked a bit lost, but he was aggressive, made some awesome dunks, and played well on defense, too. I don't remember a lot of outside shooting, though.

Eric Piatkowski, the 37-year-old guard, actually did a good job - there were a few weird moments where people didn't communicate as well as they should've, but he was solid in his duties. Not bad for an old man - you couldn't really tell. Plus you could tell he can shoot.

The rookies Strawberry and Tucker seemed a bit frustrated on defense at times, but hey they were playing some very good players. Alando took Marion on in the lane and succeeded - that was cool - and Strawberry was all over the place on defense. They did not look like a pair of rookies.

Overall, the whole team seemed very relaxed. I don't think the team was playing at 110% - or even 95% - but there was a lot of good play regardless. There was some sloppy points, too, but overall I'm happy to say that our bench doesn't suck half as much as it used to.

There was one funny moment when Nash drove baseline while saying something to Marion, who was laughing too hard to properly defend him as Nash went for the reverse layup. Marion was still laughing too hard to run back on the offense...

Oh yeah - and #33? He is quick. Very quick. And he shot almost nothing but the 3 before the game. I think he's trying - probably because of his new coach - to integrate that into his game. As if we didn't have enough people who can shoot the three!

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After the game, I stayed around hoping to get those autographs. The only Sun to come out to do so was Doug Thomas, who wanted to meet someone in the crowd who had made a huge sign that said, "Sign Doug Thomas." He signed some stuff and talked for a while.

Long story short - nobody stayed to sign or say hello, and I admit I'm disappointed. The rationale is easy to see: they wanted to go home and get to sleep before 2:00 AM back in Phoenix, but the fan mind isn't rational. At least I have a new basketball.

Afterwards, Rachel and I were going to go to Club Crawl - for our first time ever - and decided we were too tired. We're getting old.

Labels: Suns

posted by Steve @ 11:12 PM

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