<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><span class="vitstorybody"><span class="vitstorybody"> The most honest members of the Spurs' organization understand how close the Phoenix Suns came to eliminating the eventual 2007 NBA champs in the Western Conference semifinals. As the 2007-08 season approaches, the Suns and Mavericks loom as the greatest threats to the Spurs' chances to repeat as champs.</p> Spurs fans, then, should hope former Spurs guard Steve Kerr, now the Suns' general manager, can't find a taker for Shawn Marion, the All-Star forward who has demanded a trade.</p> Marion is a tremendous athlete, a gifted, hard-working player. But he has one of the NBA's most-fragile egos.</p> In their most candid moments, Suns insiders confide that keeping Marion happy consumes more of the staff's time than is used to placate all the rest of the players. If there is tension inside the Suns' team room, most of it is generated in, and around, Marion's locker.</p> What moved Marion to go public with a trade demand, he said, was another summer of hearing his name involved in trade rumors. True, there was a proposed pre-draft deal that would have sent Marion to Boston, with Kevin Garnett landing in Phoenix and a package of layers and draft picks going to Minnesota. Instead of being flattered by being the bait capable of catching a former MVP, Marion's camp reportedly killed that deal by insisting he would not agree to a contract extension in Boston.</div></p> Source: MYSA.com</p> </span></span></p>
