Suns' quest begins in EuropeBob YoungThe Arizona RepublicSept. 30, 2006 12:00 AMThe Suns departed for Europe on Friday to begin two weeks of training camp with stops in Treviso and Rome, Italy, and Cologne, Germany.It's a long way to travel to lay down a foundation, but that's where the Suns hope to begin building a championship team that has come up a couple of bricks short the past two seasons.Steve Nash, the two-time NBA MVP, is the cornerstone, but the Suns have kept the core around him largely intact, and believe this might be their time.advertisement "We're deeper. We're better," said coach Mike D'Antoni, whose rapid-fire offense has turned Nash and his teammates loose.He said the only question is whether the Suns can recreate the chemistry that brought them together last season with injuries to Amar? Stoudemire, Kurt Thomas and - in the playoffs - Raja Bell."Can the players do that this year? We think they can," D'Antoni said. "That's why it's exciting to get started, to see what we have."We know we have talent. Now we see if we have a great team."That likely will be determined by:? The Amar? factor.Stoudemire has undergone surgical procedures on both knees and played in only three games last season. He said he expects to be 100 percent healthy for the team's season opener on Oct. 31."If he's healthy, the sky is the limit is what we're thinking," Bell said. "It's not what happens in October as far as he goes, but what happens when the money is on the table."However, Stoudemire hasn't played with many of his teammates. It remains to be seen how he'll fit in."It's a little touchy," Nash admitted. "He's a dominant player and we've been a dominant team, so it would be great to make the two complement each other."? Improved depth.The Suns didn't keep Tim Thomas, a mercenary who helped fill in after injuries to Stoudemire and Kurt Thomas last season. But beyond that, their core is together and they added point guard Marcus Banks, forward Jumaine Jones, shooter Eric Piatkowski and big man Sean Marks."We lost some good players, but we got some good players," veteran forward Shawn Marion said. "I see it as kind of like an even swap."? Experience under fire.NBA history says teams usually have to pay painful dues before breaking through to a championship. The Suns have lost in the Western Conference finals to San Antonio and Dallas the past two years, but that experience might pay off."It's huge," Bell said. "Every time you play in a hostile atmosphere in a playoff game with your back against the wall, it gives you that much more confidence when you go into that the next year."Having guys who have done that; and knowing we were an injury here or there from winning a championship is going to make us a much more confident group."Led by Nash with 86, the Suns have a combined 411 games of playoff experience on their roster.Maybe nobody benefited more than Boris Diaw, whose playoff numbers were equal to or better than his regular-season statistics almost across the board.? Defense.D'Antoni is so serious about it, he swears he's not even going to make jokes about it."We're better defensively than you (media) guys think," he said. "Points per possession, we were fourth in the league. That's pretty good . . . I'm going to change my tune this year. I'm not going to joke about it. We're going to play defense and we're going to be good at it."Marion added that Banks on defense is "a little bulldog. That's a little pit bull right there." And D'Antoni said the return of Kurt Thomas will shore up the interior.Of course, D'Antoni hasn't forgotten his own foundation."And we're going to run more this year," he added. October 06: Suns vs. Roma, 3pm ET (12pm MST) NBATVOctober 10: Suns vs. 76ers, 3pm ET (12pm MST) ESPN2October 11: CSKA/Maccabi loser vs. Sixers/Suns loser, 12pm ET (9am MST) NBATV - OR - CSKA/Maccabi winner vs. Sixers/Suns winner, 3pm ET (12pm MST) ESPN2Sweet, I'll get to see a couple of these games. Hopefully the regular preseason games are on too. I wonder if Amare is playing.
This was in the Arizona Republic.EDIT: Woops, didn't see that you had that posted at the beginning there. My bad.But yeah, I will probably be able to see the games that are being broadcasted on ESPN2...if I remember when they are on.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Phoenix Suns beat Roma 100-93 in exhibitionBy ANDREW DAMPF, AP Sports WriterOctober 6, 2006ROME (AP) -- Shawn Marion scored 19 points and Steve Nash had nine assists as the Phoenix Suns beat Virtus Lottomatica Roma 100-93 in an exhibition Friday.The game was part of the NBA Europe Live tour, which also features three other NBA teams playing on the continent. The Suns will play two more games in Cologne, Germany next week against the Philadelphia 76ers and another European team.ADVERTISEMENTThe Suns trained in the northern Italian town of Treviso for four days before coming to Rome.Phoenix led from the start and only struggled when coach Mike D'Antoni pulled his starters midway through each quarter."We played our game," D'Antoni said. "Our speed was too much for them."Raja Bell and Brazilian guard Leandro Barbosa each had 18 points for Phoenix. Suns forward Amare Stoudemire, recovering from knee surgery, did not play.Marion scored the Suns' first nine points and Phoenix led 27-17 after the first quarter. Roma rallied on several occasions, but the gap remained about 10 points for most of the game.Former Temple guard David Hawkins led Roma with 22 points.The Suns have been scouting Hawkins, and D'Antoni said after the game that Hawkins is good enough to play in the NBA."It was extra motivation for me. That's the ultimate goal," Hawkins said. "Hopefully, I'll be there one day. The sooner the better. Right now I'm with Roma though and I'm concentrating on the Euroleague and the Italian league."NBA commissioner David Stern sat courtside next to Euroleague CEO Jordi Bertomeu and Rome mayor Walter Veltroni, an acknowledged basketball fanatic.Former Boston Celtics star Bill Russell received a standing ovation when he was brought out onto the court during a break in the second quarter.Longtime European star Dejan Bodiroga used his trademark double pump fake to perfection and scored 17 points. On one of them, the Serbian faked out three-time NBA All-Star Marion for an easy basket."The years keep passing by, but it still works," Bodiroga said with a smile. "They controlled the game to the end but we got within four, six points. We did our best."Over the course of a career in the Italian, Spanish and Greek leagues, Bodiroga has led his teams to three Euroleague titles and six domestic league championships."Bodiroga is terrific," Nash said. "He's so clever. It's really a joy to play against him."After the game, D'Antoni, who formerly coached Benetton Treviso, thanked the fans in fluent Italian on the public address system.The Suns open the NBA season against the Los Angeles Lakers on Oct. 31 and this was their preseason opener. Roma begins the Italian league season Wednesday.</div>
I love the uniforms they have.http://www.nba.com/gallery/suns/061006_1.htmlI wouldn't mind them using those awesome unis in a few reg season games...
I actually thought those looked like crap. Too many different colors for me, good thing it's not their real jersey.
Did you see the Suns vs. Roma game? Nash did a great job spreading the ball around, and Barbosa was electric like always. He was able to score a few points..
I didn't see it, I'll watch their next two games though.Hah, in the paper it says after a day of pain and stiffness Amare said he was ready to go and wanted to play in the game...wow...why can't he just shut up about it? lol, I'm tired of this.
