Today just feels like a video type of day, doesn’t it? We’ve dug up some solid hits for your viewing pleasure on this 4th of July. Be safe and…enjoy:

ESPN’s My Wish: Shaquille O’Neal

Jerryd Bayless’ Video Draft Diary (4 Episodes) From Last Week’s Draft

Of course, I'm not suggesting anybody should actually do this, but the Sonics move is a complete disgrace, and I can't think of a more suitable punishment for big Dave for not stopping it.

But lets be clear here.. the balance of power in the NBA has always been between owners and everybody else.  Remember, the other owners approved this move too.  While David Stern might behave like a low-budget power-mad pocket Napoleon, his actions, while often self-serving, have mostly been to satisfy the whims of the owners, and he leaves no stone unturned in service of that imperative.

The Sonics move to Oklahoma City, is at the end of the day, a result of the city of Seattle failing to sufficiently kiss Stern's ass, while at the same time showing that they in fact love the Mariners and Seahawks more than the Sonics.

Any scrap of respect I had for Stern is gone after this move and the heavy handed way he's handling the referee scandal, which by the way is complete theatrical bs. Why would you hire an ex-general (and one who has been more involved in r&d and logistics than combat, btw), unless you wanted a person in charge who would be, to all intents and purposes, and by virtue of his status, immune to any questions of integrity? It's a sham.

The irony of it all is that if David Stern had decided to be completely open wrt the refs, worked sincerely with the union and players on issues such as the non-leather ball and rules changes, had given Oklahoma an expansion slot (imho, a 32 team NBA ( 4 eight team divisions ) would offer an improved and more competitive product.), rather than allowing a relocation, and had actually tried to work with the city of Seattle to help make the Sonics a more profitable franchise, the NBA would be in a really good position for stable future growth.

The Celtics and Lakers, this year, have given him an opportunity which imho he should not squander, and that is to reorient the marketing of the NBA as a whole towards teams, rather than towards individual stars. It's what the MLB and NFL orgs do, as well as every single soccer team in Europe, and protects those teams from fluctuations in revenue cause by players retiring, getting arrested or other boneheaded behavior.   Stern needs to forget about expansion into Europe or Asia, where basketball is at best a second rate draw, and focus on optimizing his opportunities here.

That being said, I also love NCAA football.  I have four favorites there, University of Arizona Wildcats, Northwestern Wildcats, Northern Arizona Lumberjacks and Notre Dame Fighting Irish.  I got my love of Notre Dame from my wife.  So, with so many choices, what would be my dream doubleheader?  My most favorite teams are in Arizona, but my dream has always been to go to Wrigley Field and watch the Cubs.  Now why keep it at a doubleheader?  I’d rather make it a sports weekend. 

It’s October.  I’d start by flying to South Bend to take in a Notre Dame football game.  Doesn’t matter who they are playing, it’s Notre Dame.  Then I’d have enough time to take a quick flight to Chicago to catch the NL Championship Series game between the Cubs and Diamondbacks.  After the game was over, I’d hop on another plane and make my way back home to Phoenix so I could get to the Cardinals game Sunday afternoon.  Now you ask why not fly back in the morning to make the Sunday afternoon game?  It’s only a 3 hour flight from Chicago to Phoenix.  Well, I can’t miss the tailgaiting.  I must have time to hang out, have a few adult beverages, brats, and hamburgers. 

Now a weekend like that is not impossible.  That was a weekend that could have taken place last year, although the World Series game was a divisional playoff game instead.  Now, I just have to come up with the dough to make that happen.  There’s the real dream. 

Scott Allen

AZScott

I'm all about optimism.  I've been basking in it since the Porter hire, because what's the point of being all gloom and doom before the season has even begun?  But...

For the sake of providing a fair and balanced look at what Suns fans have to look forward to, I dug up these John Hollinger pieces from before the draft.  He did not think highly of either of the Suns' picks before they made them. 

On Lopez:

The Riff-Raff

Walter Sharpe, UAB, 12.45; Joseph Jones, Texas A&M 12.36, J.J. Hickson, N.C. State, 12.31; JaVale McGee, Nevada, 12.25; James Gist, Maryland, 12.23; Sasha Kaun, Kansas, 12.09; Robin Lopez, Stanford, 12.08.

 

This is where things really shift in terms of a player's chances of sticking in the league.

Below 12.5, players face long odds in establishing a career -- forget becoming stars, these guys will just be trying to get to a second contract. Generally, players in this range should be second-rounders, as we're talking about the 14th-to-20th-rated college big men.

Three highly-touted bigs show up surprisingly low here. Robin Lopez has been talked up as a mid-first-rounder, but doesn't appear to have the goods to back it up. Hickson and McGee also are seen as late first-rounders. Any of the three would be among the lowest-rated players taken in Round 1 in the past few years.

On Dragic:

Several other European second-round prospects project somewhere between bad and awful. Semih Erden, Goran Dragic, Mantas Kalnietis, Novica Velickovic and Uros Tripkovic all project to single-digit PERs, and not necessarily high single digits either. Each appears to be a waste of time even as a second-round pick.

Certainly, Hollinger's statistical analysis is not the alpha and omega of predicted basketball success.  However, now that we've had a few days to let this sink in, in light of this and other less-than-stellar reviews of the Suns' draft, what do you think?  Did Kerr and company brick this draft?  Were Roy Hibbert or Mareese Speights better options?  Or did the Suns and their wiley scouting staff outsmart the numbers?

Paul Coro in the AZ Republic has a great recap and update on the Dragic pick.

Here's the key plot points:

Dragic cannot be bought out of his contract with Spanish club Tau Ceramica until July 2009. The buyout is $1,550,000, with the Suns able to pay $500,000.

In 2010 he would be free, but he likely will be with the Suns by next summer. Hopes of arranging an exit this summer range from promising to guarded.

Unless the dollar rebounds quickly against the Euro, it looks likes its going to take a hefty sum to buy out Goran's contract. I have no idea at this point what he stands to make playing in Europe this season but it's kind of difficult to see how the Suns could pay him enough to cover both the buy out (if Tau agreed to one) and also make it worth his while to play here.

Second round rookies don't get signed to long term NBA contracts and the one's they get are sub $1m. We will have to continue to monitor this situation and hope the Suns can figure something out.

and as for the Suns plans for him...

The goal is for Dragic to play a low-pressure role as the Suns' third point guard this season behind a veteran free-agent pickup such as Tyronn Lue, Anthony Johnson or Chris Duhon.

This is quite the interesting little tidbit as well. Note the lack of Barbosa's name there? Hmmmm. I also wonder if the Sun's don't think he's ready to be the #2 PG if they aren't better off letting him play in Europe this year and develop more.

And finally, here's a great  video from inside the Suns draft war room courtesy of Suns.com. Note that the Suns were prepared to pay $750k plus an '09 pick and ended up paying $500k. Clearly, the Suns want this kid bad.

I remember when I first heard the news that Grant Hill was coming to play for the Suns. One of the first thoughts that crossed my mind was that he was going to help us, that he is a great player and a great guy, great competitor. In a matter of seconds, all of these thoughts went away with the ugly premonition that he was not going to help us at all. He most certainly was going to get injured and spend most of the games sitting in the bench. Well, I guess he proved me wrong, kind of.

The Suns had nothing to lose, or at least that’s what they thought at the time. They would get a versatile player, with the ability to create his own shot, good defender, great hustler and a veteran who would not panic at crunch time, not only that, they would get him for $1.8 million this season and almost $2 million in 2008-09 at the player's option.

His agent said at the time:

”Obviously money wasn't the biggest factor here, He had offers for a lot more money. Grant wants a chance to win a championship and he wanted to go to a place that would give him a chance to contribute. Phoenix was the perfect fit."

Oh and he was, maybe too perfect. Grant would become a starter, and many of us thought that it was a mistake, it’s still debatable. What we know, for sure, is how fast these opinions were silenced and how quickly these thoughts vanished from our heads once we saw him play.

Hill averaged 13.1 points, 5.0 rebounds and 2.9 assists in 2007-08 while shooting at least 50 percent from the field (.503) for the third time in the last four seasons and establishing a career-high in free-throw efficiency (.867). Both his rebound and assist averages were his highest in five seasons.

But it was not only his numbers, every time he stepped on the court we would see him making a great pass or an awesome drive or grab a critical rebound and maybe the eventual Slam Dunk.

Grant Hill was back, and God knows we needed him, with an inconsistent Diaw and a streaky Barbosa, he was bailing us out of a huge mess. Grant Hill was back, there was no doubt about it and we felt lucky, really lucky.

Ironically, having him around was like taking a breath of fresh air. He did not take things for granted, he was healthy, playing at a high level for a championship caliber team. He became the spark that the team needed, a team that was upset, hurt and stuck in time with a playoff hangover.

The horrible thought of Grant getting injured became even more scary, losing him would make Coach D make adjustments ----and we all knew that was not his forte---- we would jump out of our seats every time he fell on the floor, grab our heads and pray for the best…and then sigh in relief  when we saw he was Ok.

The rest is history, Grant had an appendectomy done and was bothered by a pulled groin ever since (along with a bruised wrist). He was never the same. He morphed back into the Grant Hill of the Orlando Magic, the one that you couldn’t count on, the one sitting on the bench in a suit.

A lot have been said about his decision of not coming clean and just saying that he couldn’t play. So I will no get into that. What I know for sure is that this played a big part in the first round loss. It didn’t allow the coach to make adjustments before the series started, the game plan was the same, but we were missing an important piece, the problem was that we didn’t know…until it was too late.

I can understand why he stayed quiet, maybe he felt good before each game, maybe he was so happy to be there that he didn’t want to spoil the moment. Perhaps life couldn’t be so unfair to just lift him really high and then just…drop him. But here, in the valley of the Sun, we know unfair…we have managed to know her really well. And yet here we stand. Looking forward.

I still believe in this team, we have a lot of talent. If Grant stays, he has already proved that he can help us.

Grant said that he felt that playing here was like a reward, to be able to play with the good guys.

Regardless of what happened or happens…it has certainly felt that way from my end.

Not sure which way the Suns are going, but at least Robin Lopez is very a funny guy.

After watching his press conference I already love Robin Lopez!

But…Lopez is at best an NBA bench player, maybe a solid pro for years but will take time to develop since the guy, based on what I know is very limited with the basketball. Next year he could be more or less a Brian Skinner (no blonde beard…but that hairs rock), more athletic but a worse mid range shooter, even if Steve Kerr stated he has a good shooting touch.

He also has the perfect skills (solid defender, good rebounder) to play alongside Stoudemire (great offensive player, possibly the best in the NBA at his position). I would have loved the pick in the second round.

With second round pick Goran Dragic very unlikely to be in Phoenix next season. It means the Suns are still looking for the 2008/09 back up to Steve Nash. He has a nice upside, but he’s at best a 2-3 year project. He’ll be ready once Nash will be gone.

The direction of the Suns is quite unclear at the moment. The Suns roster looks like this:

Guard: Steve Nash, Raja Bell, Leandro Barbosa, D.J. Strawberry and Goran Dragic, maybe.
Forwards: Grant Hill, Boris Diaw, Alando Tucker.
Center: Shaquille O’Neal, Amaré Stoudemire, Robin Lopez.

So far the Suns are the same as last year: very good, old at key positions, not enought depth, without a clear identity and overall not good enough for a Championship run.

Yours truly, Steve Fan

Attention, Suns bandwagoners.  The 7SOL Express is pulling into Grand Central Station.  Please disembark here.  Do not let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.  Thank you for choosing 7SOL.

There's a whole lot of hating on the Suns outside our little purple and orange enclave here at BSOTS.  Porter was a lame hire.  Lopez was an awful pick.  Steve Kerr is the second coming of Isiah Thomas minus the comedy.  The Suns are dead.  Have fun with the rebuilding process.

To these sentiments, I say "Hooey!"  Hey, folks, we get it.  The dream is dead.  The revolution will not be televised.  For a bright and shining moment, Generalissimo Mike D'Antoni and his cadre of elite sharpshooters were on the verge of blitzkrieging the NBA into an era of offensive egalitarianism.  It was going to be glorious.  Defense?  We didn't need no stinking defense, just one hell of an air attack: long range 3-point bombs and thundering dunks facilitated by a visionary floor general and troop movements that left the enemy wondering how they could possible defend their positions.  It was going to be the basketball equivalent of Brazilian soccer's beautiful game.

And it almost came to pass.  The highwater mark came a billionth of a billionth of a second before Robert Horry's hip check sent Steve Nash into the scorer's table.  There's no need to recount what has transpired since that fateful foul.  It is only important to note that that is effectively the day 7SOL died.  Disillusionment set in.  The disenfranchisement began.

First, Kurt Thomas gets the boot for some fish sticks and spare change.  Then, injuries be damned, an aging Grant Hill comes to town.  And finally, the stake in the heart: Goodbye Shawn Marion, hello Shaquille O'Neal.  The Suns panicked.  They choked.  Instead of maintaining their guerilla campaign against the Association, they sold out and tried to go legit.  The policy of appeasement backfired and the revolution ended with a pitiful whimper.  (Bill Simmons has a much more comprehensive and compelling version of events here.)

But here's the rub.  The system didn't work. It was tantalizing.  It was seductive. You can argue that it came this close to succeeding.  Certainly, bad breaks were abundant enough.  But it didn't succeed.    Like Icarus, 7SOL could reach dazzling heights, but it only went so far.  The wax melted, the team plummeted, the fans mourned.  Many people still grieve.  So the anger is understandable.

But things change.  Dylan went electric.  U2 went electronic.  Britney Spears went crazy.  As Suns fans and not system fans, we have no choice but to embrace the change.  We can't stop it.  We can either get on board with the new sauce or let the future pass us by.   The team is in flux right now.  It's awkward and unsexy.  I don't blame you for looking at the shiny new toys in Portland or New Orleans.  I get it. The rest of us - the ones who were here before the revolution - are looking to the future.  Sure, it's not as bright as it once was, but neither is it a looming trainwreck.  We've still got a roster loaded with talent, old or unproven talent perhaps, but enough to provide some cautious optimism. 

So, all you smallball Che Guevaras and acolytes of Almost Greatness, do us a favor and move on.  The Generalissimo is in the Big Apple now.  Take your patronage and bitterness there, and have fun with that roster while you're at it.  We will not miss you.  The dream didn't die because of a lack of belief.  It died because it wasn't good enough to carry on.  As Arnold Schwarzenegger (almost) said in The Running Man: "Here is 7SOL.  Now, plain SOL."

This next incarnation of the Phoenix Suns promises to be a noticeable departure from the last few seasons.

Gone are the undersized speed demons and their spiritual leader preaching the mantra of "the best defense is a great offense". Gone too are the lofty expectations of the media and fans which lead our collective eyes to focus (perhaps too much) on the prize.

The new look Suns are bigger, tougher, slower and of course quite a bit older. Its hard to say how they will fare and equally difficult to say if the window has slammed shut or perhaps is still cracked open just a bit.

One the bright side, Amare playing a full season in his natural power forward position with a full summer off to rest and prepare could easily come back and be a legit MVP contender. He knows that his defense needs to improve and he knows that he can defend any 4 in the league (Duncan plays center and don't try and tell me otherwise).

He will be challenged and motivated and he has shown the discipline and will to improve. With a renewed (really just a new) focus on team defense and an offense that should run more through him, Amare will finally be The Man.

Nash, Hill and that Big Mouth in the middle will hopefully be called on to do much less. With a longer bench those Grey Beards can use the regular season as an extended warm up for the playoffs. None of those guys should average more then 25 mpg until March. 

Backing them up will be a wide assortment of fellas chomping at the bit to prove themselves. Alando Tucker at the 2/3. DJ Strawberry at the 1/2. Barbosa (if he's still around) can be serviceable running the point in a more structured offense. They will all be fighting for minutes behind Bell who should also be playing less then he has under D'Antoni.

Hopefully, our newly drafted left-handed, second only to Rose, defensive slashing Solvenian sensation can get some solid minutes in a back-up role this year as well. In fact, the Suns success at buying him out of his Tau Ceramica contract could be the deciding factor on Barbosa's future in purple and orange. With this second round rookie on the roster being called the point guard of the future, the Suns are going to want to play him and that makes Barbosa and his much larger salary expendable.

In the front court the Suns will obviously look to rookie Big Hair Lopez to get significant minutes behind Shaq's big behind. Beyond that, the Suns are still rather shallow up front. They could re-sign Brian Skinner and/or Sean Marks or go out and find similar type players. I personally, think Marks never got the chance to be an off the bench front court energy player like a Roni Turiaff or Bandon Bass. He's as talented as either of those guys so I would like to see him back. Skinner is a great shot blocker for his size and plays hard but he's not as tough as his goatee makes him out to be and he can't shoot the ball. Between the two, I would take Marks and replace Skinner with Lopez.

That just leaves the wing with Giricek potentially coming back and sharing time with Hill and possibly Diaw. I am a big Gordan fan and hope the Suns can find a way to get him signed. Perhaps with money saved by moving Barbosa.

Diaw remains the enigma. Perhaps more then any player, I am curious to see how his role and performance change under a new coach. We all know about his potential to play the point forward at the 3, 4 or 5 and he's a very solid defensive player both in the post against bigger guys and on the wings as well. Name for me any other player you saw defend both Shaq (before the trade) and also Tony Parker and every Rudy Gay in between.

Used well, Diaw can easily be worth his weight in croissants...Or he could just end up as soft and flaky as one.

Where does that leave next year's Suns? They are an underdog team in flux and can exceed expectations which will likely place them at a 4 to 6 seed. Or they could just as easily drop further behind the plethora of great Western Conference teams.

Right now, I am fairly up beat. I compare the Suns to the Cav's with a lesser version of The Man but a much better supporting cast.

Regardless of potential, I fully expect the team to start slow. They will be incorporating a lot of new, young players into a totally new system. They may very well hover around the 500 mark for the first few months or even worse.

But this Suns team still has a lot of talent. They still have a couple of former MVP's and a potential future one. By February they should be hitting a stride and roll into the playoffs at least good enough to compete in the first few rounds. For me, that will be good enough for the start of a new Suns era.

Sure, Robin Lopez could turn into a great NBA player, but after waiting four years for the Suns to cash in the Atlanta pick, it was quite anticlimactic.

In a draft that touted such talent as OJ Mayo, Derrick Rose, Jerryd Bayless and others the Suns came away with a “defensive minded” player — meaning, he can’t score.

For a defensive minded player he only averaged a little over 5 rebounds a game which make the comparisons to Dennis Rodman nonsensical.

So instead of just complaining, here is a list of people I would have rather seen the Suns get than Robin Lopez.

Brook Lopez: He is the more talented of the Lopez brothers. He may look like Robin, but he can score and rebound at a better clip. He would have filled the Suns backup center needs a little better.

Anderson Varejao: The Suns could have traded number 15 to the Cavs for Anderson. Standing 6′10″ and weighing 240lbs, he is a similar player to Lopez (in look and talent). The benefit to him is the fact that he is proven in the NBA.

Justin Guarini: A powerhouse on American Idol– his hair and entertainment value surpass that of Lopez right now. Not only could he play some garbage minutes for the Suns he could be the halftime act (which means saving money, and we know Sarver is all for that). Plus the guy got to hang out with Kelly Clarkson for God’s sake.

Sideshow Bob: He may not have a lot of basketball experience, but he isn’t afraid to mix things up. Just like Lopez, he would bring humor to the locker room but unlike Lopez he’s a professional when it comes to laughs. The only knock on Bob would be his checkered past and age.

Adam Duritz: He has the experience as a leader for a successful group. Like Lopez, he is from a California university, but he had enough star power that he never had to play second fiddle to his brother.

A mop: Possesses about the same offensive talent as Lopez. Could serve a dual purpose, as it’s head could be used to wipe up the floor every time Steve Nash takes a charge or Manu Ginobili flops when the Spurs are in town. Needs to put on some weight before it is NBA ready though. Skill set and build matches that of Zarko Caparkapa.

Thursday, the Phoenix Suns drafted Stanford big man Robin Lopez with the 15th overall pick in the NBA Draft. It got me to thinking about Stanford’s reputation as a training ground for the NBA.

Certain schools like Wake Forest, Georgetown and North Carolina develop players to succeed at the next level. While schools like Duke and Indiana don’t seem to develop to many All-Stars in the NBA. How does Stanford stack up? Not good.

Since 1998, Stanford has had 8 players drafted in the first round, including the Lopez Twins. That’s certainly a very respectable number. But when you look at what these players contributed at the next level, it doesn’t exactly make you salivate.

Obviously, you hope that all of your draft picks will develop into star players. Is that realistic? Absolutely not. I think Suns’ fans will be happy if Lopez can just make a constant contrbution, as opposed to the erratic efforts allowed by the previous coaching regime.

Plus, he does have the hair.

Despite rumor after rumor, the Phoenix Suns stood pat, and kept the number 15 selection in the first round of the NBA Draft on Thursday. With that selection, they chose Stanford big man Robin Lopez, who was rated by most experts as the 2nd best 7-footer named Lopez in this year’s draft. Brooke Lopez was drafted 10th overall by New Jersey.

Seriously though, the Suns did improve their interior defense by picking Lopez. He’s big, 7-foot, 255 pounds, and enjoys playing defense. The more I’ve thought about it, this is not an awful pick (although I’m afraid of Stanford players making the jump to the pros…more on that later.) I think the Suns needed a point guard, an athletic 3, or a consistent shooter to fill gaps at the shooting guard position, more than a backup to Shaquille O’Neal at this point. But Lopez wants to play in Phoenix. And we’ve seen how rare that sentiment has been lately among NBA Free Agents.

In the 2nd round, the Suns drafted Malik Hairston out of Oregon, but dealt him to San Antonio along with a future second round pick and cash, for Slovenian point guard Goran Dragic. Dragic is a 6′4″, 200 pounds, left-handed point guard who averaged 9.7 points and 3.1 assists in 12 games in the Euro league this past season. ESPN’s draft thumbnail video of Dragic conjured up images of Manu Ginobili, but DraftExpress.com says his best NBA comparison is Jason Hart. Does that excite anybody? Didn’t think so. The Suns may have found their backup point guard, but Dragic is under contract for another year in Europe, but a buyout could be in the works.

I’m one of those people who hates giving out grades on draft day. You can’t tell how good these players are until they’ve been in the league, and have become acclimated to the style of play in the NBA.

All night Sports 620 KTAR radio reported that the Suns were trying to get Slovenian 6'4" PG Goran Dragic and after looking like they missed out, Kerr pulled it off at the last minute with this deal:

Sports 620 KTAR's John Gambadoro reports the Phoenix Suns have traded No. 48 Malik Hairston, their 2009 second round draft choice and cash considerations to the San Antonio Spurs for the Spurs second round pick, Goran Dragic, the 45th selection in the 2008 NBA Draft.

Dragic is a point guard from Slovenia.

"Dragic is considered the second best point guard in the draft but had contractual issues with his team in Europe and wasn't projected to go in the first round because of that," Sports 620 KTAR's Gambadoro said. "He is owned by Tau in Spain and a buyout deal may have been worked out to allow him to come to the United States to play. He is left handed, 22 years old and has great size 6-3 1/2 with a 6-7 1/2 wing span and 37 1/2 max vertical. If he can come now this is a steal for the Suns and they have their point guard for the future."

Check out this write up of his defense:

Dragic played spectacular defense on whoever he was guarding, mainly Rudy Mbemba, who’s terrific speed did not faze him in the least bit. He got right into his man’s grill on every possession of the game, fighting through screens admirably, showing excellent length and lateral quickness, and getting his hands on countless number of balls. It got to the point that players were just afraid to put the ball on the floor when Dragic was in the vicinity, as more often than not he would find a way to poke it away and bust up plays. He got his team into transition time after time, and made very good decisions once there, finishing strong and intelligently around the basket and getting to the line seven times.

I love this move by the Suns. I have no clue who this guy is (yet) but the Suns thought very highly of him and if they managed to arrange for him to play here this year he could turn into a huge steal. And from the Spurs no less!

And even if he's a bust, you have to credit the Suns for being aggressive and going after the guy they wanted even it cost some $ to get done. They easily could have just walked away from him after he was initially picked by the Spurs at 45. But no, they wanted the guy and found a way to get it done. Love it.

Meet Goran - I have a very good feeling about this kid for some reason. I love his size and defense and while his offense is reported to be shaky, we saw in Rondo how valuable an athletic, tough defensive PG can be to a team. I also am thrilled that we are getting a 22 y/o with a few years of game experience instead of a 19 y/o Freshman.

[Note by ZonaFlash, 06/28/08 6:20 PM EDT ]

Steve Kerr wants this guy bad.

[Note by ZonaFlash, 06/29/08 6:30 AM EDT ]

I have to admit.  I'm starting to get excited about Slovenian Magic.  I thought this was a lot of PR bunk - another foreign second-rounder to be parked overseas and never mentioned again.

However, the extreme excitement of Kerr, the tenacity of the management team to get this guy and the willingness to fork over money for this guy to play next season says a lot to me about what the Suns think he is.

It still may not pay off, but at least it's sincere excitement and just PR.

More here.

In the live blog tonight a lot of Suns fans were disappointed with this pick but I don't get that at all. I think I will simply paraphrase what I heard Steve Kerr say about Lopez: 

The Suns have a lot of skilled players but its been a long time since we've had a big tough guy that will get after it and knock people down.

Exactly!

The Suns have a desperate need for an athletic big center that can defend, rebound, hustle and play both inside and out. My only regret is that they couldn't find a guy like this last year and have kept Marion and avoided the Worst. Trade. Ever.

Here's some tidbits from Porter and Lopez on the radio tonight:

• Porter says Lopez will play and be a rotation guy playing along side Amare or Boris
• Not sure about his ability to play with Shaq. That makes sense
• Lopez was the top guy on the Suns draft board ahead of Rush, Randolph, Batum and Courtney Lee in that order
• The Suns like Robin better then Brock and think he will end up being the better of the two and would have picked him ahead of Brock
  
• They love his motor and intensity but also he has good hands and a high basketball IQ
• Lopez understands his role - defensive energy and that's what the Suns need
• His numbers weren't great at Stanford but he was often defending the other teams' best big and played unselfishly with his brother giving up stats to box out or guard guys on the perimeter. Again - exactly what the Suns need next to Amare

I am very happy with this pick. The Suns have a solid record in the draft and didn't have the luxury to draft a project skill guy like Batum or Speights.

For the 15th pick you aren't going to get an all-star so why not get the kind of glue guy that any playoff team needs. I think Suns fans are going to love this kid in no time.

[Note by ZonaFlash, 06/27/08 11:26 AM EDT ]

I was going to post this separately, but since Stan has already covered the Suns saying something similar, I add it here.

A few extra reasons why Robin > Brook might become true.

[1] Twins:  Roughly the same talent and skill level between the two starting today.  Brook probably has the edge for showing himself statistically dominant, but talent-wise, Robin has not been short-changed.

[2] Temperament.  Although I prefer dominant, aggressive players, Robin has shown the will to sacrifice for the team.  Over the long run, this kind of team mentality with his own brand of aggression may be more valuable (it's also cheaper on the salary cap).  Robin's team play is all the more important when one's roster involves some pretty big egos already.  It's not clear to me that Brook and Amare would have got along.

[3] Training.  Robin is going to get trained by two great big men in