Some links to get you through this Friday...

Adrian Wojnarowski, in this article on the Suns and Shaq, briefly touched on an aspect of this trade (and the Suns success in general) that has been overlooked by the media:

Kerr insist the Suns doctors – considered the benchmark staff in the sport – are sold that they have a rehab remedy for Shaq’s troublesome hip to work him back into shape.

“He’s going to make dramatic improvement with us,” the two doctors told Kerr, and that carries credibility with the Suns basketball people. Before the Suns signed Nash, Hill and Antonio McDyess with serious past injuries, the medical staff assured them that they could keep these players healthy.

The job the Suns' medical staff has done is tremendous.  Take Steve Nash - one of the reasons that the Mavs let him go, and that few teams went after him, is that a lot of people at the time felt he was a big risk.  He was an aging point guard who was a product of playing in a high octane offense, with a chronic bad back.

He's been incredibly healthy (especially with the back) since coming to Phoenix.  Ditto Grant Hill, who has played most of the season (missing a few games for minor ailments).  Amare Stoudemire has become the benchmark in coming back from the career-threatening microfracture knee surgery.  In fact, few other players have even comeback from a microfracture with even 60% of their previous skills and explosiveness.  Amare, without a doubt, has had the most complete comeback.

If anyone is going to get Shaq to stay healthy over the next two seasons, it'll be the Suns.  You might, and maybe should, write them off for this season, but next season... I wouldn't overlook them.  No matter what happens the rest of this year, I'm already getting ready to drop some loot on the 2009 title possibly going to Phoenix.
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Just to reinforce my point about Nash, let's take it back to 2003.  Specifically, November 2003... this is from Bill Simmons' running diary of his basketball fantasy draft.  It's on Steve Nash getting drafted in the fourth round of his draft:

5:06: Sully and J-Bug just grabbed Steve Nash about 10 picks too early. I'm not sure they agreed on that one -- J-Bug has the Pedro Martinez "I Can't Believe Grady Just Left Me In For 123 Pitches" face going.

Mind you this is in a draft that admittedly took place two weeks into the season! 

Some other good points about that running diary: the following players went in the second round:  Gilbert Arenas ("is it the fourth round already" jokes Simmons), Stephon Marbury, Kobe Bryant (only because of the uncertainty with his court case at the time), Zach Randolph, and Steve Francis.  Wow.  Isiah's rebuilding of the Knicks centers around guys who were great players at the time he got the job (2003).  Is it possible that Isiah hasn't updated the player files and scouting reports since he got the job?
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This post from Alan Hahn's blog gets Knicks fans caught up on the current status of Jared Jordan, whom Isiah traded for earlier this year, but had to cut because of roster limitations.  Includes some nifty YouTube video of Lithuanian basketball.
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Generally I don't link to Deadspin stories, mostly because most people who read my site are also aware of Deadspin, and probably read it frequently.  But I did really enjoy a couple of stories this week - one, this story of a Giants fan who sneaks into the victory parade and after party at the Meadowlands.  It's a fun little story of one man's adventure that he'll remember for the rest of his life.

Like most people, I can't say I've ever a story like that.  The closest I've come is the time I snuck into a luxury box at a basketball game by pretending I worked at AT&T, just to get free beer and food. 

Or that time I snuck into the Puerto Rican Day parade by jumping on Fat Joe's float.  Actually, that's not that unusual... I also snuck into the Indian Day Parade by jumping onto a float with the Indian Playa. 

Or the time I snuck into a job running dirty tricks for a NYC mayoral candidate, and found out just how shady politicians really are.  That's the only time I've ever felt I was around people much shadier than me.
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You remember our boy Skeets?  Turns out he's moving up in the world quickly... he's now writing for Yahoo!, and here's part of his interview with Ernie Johnson, focusing on the Shaq trade.  Check it out, and the rest of the interview, too.

I wonder when Tas is going to get a gig on NBA radio or something.
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Speaking of Skeets, he might still owes up on a bet we made last year.  But I think if he did pay up, it was to The Hotness that is Becky.  It appears that she's back to writing again after a bit of a lay off, just in time to see the Nets struggle.  Silly fun game recap here.
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Fire Joe Morgan is a funny site.  I've always been a big fan, and enjoyed this post early this week on Johan Santana, and an article written about him by a local scribe.  Ken Tremendous is at his best when he's ripping the shabby work of local scribes.

He also, in the process, makes a compelling case for why Santana is the best pitcher in the league, and why the Mets are going to come out looking like geniuses after all is said and done.
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And that brings us to our second Deadspin link:  Turns out Ken Tremendous has unmasked himself, and is a writer for TV show The Office. 

Also, like a lot of the writers on that show, he plays a recurring character - in this case, Dwight Schrute's brother Mose.   The head writer of the show is also the guy who plays Temp (or Ryan), I believe.

This would be my favorite clip from the show, from probably my favorite episode:

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Le Basketbawl is a fun new site that has gotten off to a good start over the last couple of months.  This week they got some good love from major sites for their Shaq's New Uniform post.  But I like this post a little better - it's about the NBA's planned effort to do some good in New Orleans during the All-Star weekend.   Check it out.
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Larry Brown Sports found the video of the Reebok commercial that would have aired had the Patriots won.  Good thing they were prepared in case of the upset, huh?
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Former Net front office employee, and new 76ers GM, Ed Stefanski, continues his interviews with major Philly bloggers by chatting with the 700 Level.   Gotta love this guy... don't forget he started off by reaching out to, and chatting first with, our boy Brian from Depressed Fan.  Ricky, you might be next...

In all seriousness, we like Stefanski's responses.  In particular, we like his philosophy on how an offense should run:

"I like to put pressure on you all the time and then if you do a good job stopping my pressure I want to run a solid half court offense."

He talks about building a team that can and will run, but that can also play halfcourt basketball if the running game isn't there.  Sounds sort of like what Steve Kerr is trying to do in Phoenix right now, and it's not a bad idea.

I've said it before, but here's my views on the Suns of the last three seasons:  The win games for a reason.  That reason is that players don't take the night off when they are having fun playing basketball, particularly run and gun offensive-basketball.  That system is conducive to winning lots of games a year. 

Teams that are built on playing hard defense, half court basketball - they tend to take nights off during the regular season, especially meaningless games against bad teams.  You see it every year, when the Spurs play the Knicks, and it's a close game.  The Suns never have that problem - they are always ready to play, because by definition they aren't playing "hard".  They play soft.

That's great for piling up the regular season wins.  But come playoff time, they needed to be able to play "hard" basketball - defense, halfcourt offense, all that.  They haven't in the past, and while some might argue that they should have kept trying to win with that style, the reality to me is this:  D'Antoni and Kerr both realized that they weren't beating the good teams this year.   They couldn't beat them in the regular season (barely .500 versus the good teams in the West this season), so how are they going to win in the postseason?  Something had to be done to change the team.

Will it work?  Maybe not this season - it takes a while to work out the kinks.  But by playoff time next season they might just be the team to beat.
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