AZ Central Normally we try to look at the glass as half-full here at The Heat Index. After all, there's enough bad news everywhere else in the newspaper, what with earthquakes, the mess in Iraq, hurricane recoveries, ridiculous gas prices and critics already bashing the second season of Desperate Housewives. Man, how quickly things can turn. That's just what has us concerned. A year ago at this time, we had no expectations for the Suns, other than maybe hoping they could improve enough to get into the playoffs. Then they went on their magical run. It was golden, almost fantasy-like. They captured first the attention and then the imagination of hoops fans everywhere with their daring Nash-and-dash style of play. Heck, the NBA All-Star weekend could have been titled "Celebration of the Suns." They went through the season with no major injuries. Everybody got along in the locker room (or so we were told at the time). Players accepted their roles. And boy, did they win a lot of games and take everybody on a thrill ride. In short, they were charmed. Now, preseason games haven't even started and we're seeing stuff that's making us squirm: ? A bum knee. Amar? Stoudemire, fresh off of an off-season of cashing in on endorsements and a contract extension, turns up with a sore knee - and everybody's being all secretive about it. ? Apathy. Not from fans, but from players who failed to show up early for informal workouts before the start of camp. With only five familiar faces in the gym, that's a bad sign. ? Shawn Marion's musings. An All-Star last season playing out of position at power forward, he indicated he'd fill in for Stoudemire for now, but . . . "I don't want to be there for long." ? Experimental chemistry. The off-season was tumultuous, at least for fans, because of all the changes and the Joe Johnson fiasco. But the changes weren't just to the starting lineup. The Suns didn't have much depth last season, but the guys who didn't play didn't grumble about it. Will the new guys be as supportive? ? Contrary indicators. In the stock market, they like to say the time to buy is when you start seeing pictures of bears on magazine covers. The time to sell is when it's a bull on the cover. Well, last year, nobody was on the Suns bandwagon before the season began. Now they're among the top three to five in virtually everybody's "power rankings." OK, we worry too much. But we can't help wondering if the luck is starting to run out. And we can't help thinking that it's a lot harder to go from 29 victories to 62 than it is to go from 62 back to 29. Source
