Barkley urges All-Star game at Chase Field

Barkley said February’s 58th All-Star Game in Phoenix should be played across the street from US Airways Center at Chase Field - where up to 50,000 fans could watch the spectacle game and the roof could be open if the weather permitted.

“I suggested it last year when they were trying to come up with ways to spice up the All-Star Game,” Barkley said. “I had just watched the (Buffalo-Pittsburgh) NHL outdoor game, and to me it’s a perfect fit and Phoenix is the perfect place.

“It would be outside, and with the added seats, real fans could actually go to the game. Imagine that! It’s supposed to be a celebration for the fans, but fans don’t get to go,” Barkley said.

An ardent critic of the Suns’ lack of defensive attention under Mike D’Antoni, Barkley applauded the hiring of Terry Porter but said the move may have come too late for the core of the team.

“They kind of squandered the last few years by not playing any defense,” he said. “Steve (Nash) and Shaquille (O’Neal) are clearly older, and it’s a young man’s game. You just hope it’s not too late for their veteran guys. They had a legit chance to win, but defense and rebounding win out. Terry brings the right message … but his players might not be able to hold up.”

GLASS MENAGERIE

As the hosts for the weekend, the Suns had more than 100 staffers in Indian Wells and filled up 400 hotel rooms in the area. The rented video boards, scorers tables, a sound system and brought 250 courtside seats from US Airways Center for the game.

“It’s been quite an undertaking, but it’s also been very energizing for the organization to do something so out of the norm,” Suns president Rick Welts said. “It’s been a labor of love.”

The Suns also brought three basketball goals - the third being the spare required by the league for every game. And it was needed when one of the backboards curiously shattered Friday afternoon.

The spare was hustled into place in time for the Suns shootaround Friday, and the Suns brought in two more spares as a precaution.

“It wasn’t the (outdoor) heat, because it’s made from tempered glass and can withstand 500-degree temperatures,” Welts said. “What happened? We can’t figure it out.”

WEATHER OR NOT

When Suns assistant coach Alvin Gentry came out for warmups, the sun had dipped behind the grandstands and, in a mock shiver, he shouted, “It’s gonna be a nippy one out here tonight!”

But that’s better than the alternative.

It was still over 100 degrees in the Indian Wells/Palm Springs area until earlier this week, when a cold front finally sent summer packing. It was a 68 degrees at tip-off with the wind out of the northwest at nine miles an hour.

Several player complained of dry hands during warmups and just before the tip-off, Raja Bell was already blowing into his cupped hands for warmth.

“I’ll take a little bit of cold instead of the heat,” Suns guard Goran Dragic said. “When it’s cold, you can keep warm. But 100 degrees … you’re in trouble.”

BONUS SHOTS

On Friday night, the Suns players and staff were the guest of ownership partner and business mogul Dick Heckmann at his sprawling Rancho Mirage estate. His wife, Wendy, sang the national anthem.

The outdoor game was quite a draw, and it somewhat shrouded the fact that several star players were missing. The Suns are still without Amaré Stoudemire (conditioning) and Leandro Barbosa (family illness), while Allen Iverson (knee contusion) didn’t make the trip and Carmelo Anthony (finger contusion) sat out for the second straight game.

by Jerry Brown

http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/127936

ESPN Power Rankings 2008/2009: 1st Edition

So the boys at ESPN have put out the first Power Rankings of the new season.  It’s a pre-season ranking but let’s have a look:

Lakers at #2 look to be right.  I always think you can’t be the best without beating the Champs.  I do think the Lakers have more firepower than the Celtics but again, this is pre-season.

Spurs are way too high up there.  #5 with an ailing Manu Ginobili and a team as old as dirt?  C’mon, let’s get real here.  They’ll be competitive but they should be at the lower end of Top 10.

Laker Arch-Nemsis Suns are ranked too low.  They picked up a very good backup to Shaq in the legit 7′ Brook Lopez.  I see the Suns in the top 8.

Pistons are ranked too high.  Things are not well in Motor City.  Joe Dumars tried to unload some of his stars but couldn’t get back decent value so he kept them.  This has got to lead to some bad blood between players and management.  I think this year’s team Dysfunction will be the Pistons.

By Marc Stein
ESPN.com
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/powerranking?season=2009&week=-1

You did it. You made it through the longest 23 weeks on the calendar, all of which began without a fresh batch of NBA Power Rankings.

The drought ends with our first helping of the new season. Understandably, my rankings find the teams we last saw in the Finals in June — the new champs from Boston and their old, humbled pals from L.A. — occupying the top two spots. Our annual training camp edition of the rankings also has been kind to the playoff teams (most notably Houston, Cleveland, Philadelphia and Toronto) that made the biggest offseason upgrades.

For the purposes of review, allow me to pass along my standard reminder that the season’s first round of rankings measures each team’s standing and outlook heading into camp. It is not — repeat, not — a predicted order of finish. How last season ended and how good a team is projected to be in 2008-09 are only part of the equation at this early stage. How each team fared with its summertime dealings factors in as well, along with the usual dash of totally subjective whim from the committee (of one).

The next batch will appear Oct. 27, on the eve of opening night, after all 30 teams have had a month to show us something. You then can click here every Monday throughout the regular season for our human, thoroughly nonautomated pulse take of the league. You can rank the teams yourself or click here to comment on the first set.

Editor’s note: Last Week and Record categories are from the final Power Rankings of the 2007-08 regular season.

2008-09 Power Rankings: Training Camp
RANK (LAST WK)		TEAM	REC.	COMMENT
	1 (1)	Celtics	66-16	Slotting the defending champs here has never been more automatic, even though Posey left. Every time we hear someone ask whether they’ll be hungry enough to repeat, we want to respond: Boston still has KG, right?
	2 (2)	Lakers	57-25	For all the concerns — Bynum’s recovery from knee woes, Kobe insisting he doesn’t need pinky surgery and doubts about Bynum, Gasol and Odom co-existing — who in the West wouldn’t trade for the Lakers’ issues?
	3 (5)	Hornets	56-26	You certainly can make the argument — and I think we’re leaning that way — that the best team in the killer division that delivered four 50-win teams last season will wind up being Chris Paul’s team. Concur?
	4 (6)	Rockets	55-27	No team in the West made a bigger summer splash than the health-challenged Rockets did when they traded for Artest. Of course, as Yao noted last year: ”We say that every year.” Cautious optimism is wisest.
	5 (8)	Spurs	56-26	You know all about the Spurs in odd-numbered years. So dismiss them at your own peril, even if what Duncan declared last season — ”Our biggest problem is health” — is a problem with Ginobili already out early.
	6 (15)	Cavaliers	45-37	Although trading for Michael Redd was a nice fantasy, getting Mo Williams off the Bucks is hardly a consolation prize. He’s a younger version of the Mike — Bibby — Cleveland tried for years to add and should give Bron help.
	7 (3)	Pistons	59-23	The summer certainly would have been more fun had Joe D delivered that shake-up, but you can see why he resisted. For all that closing-window talk, the Pistons are a 59-win team whose kids are only getting better.
	8 (13)	76ers	40-42	The Sixers were the undisputed winners of the offseason, but Brand might lift last season’s No. 7s only one spot. Philly can finish anywhere from No. 2 to No. 6, as can Cleveland, Detroit, Orlando and Toronto.
	9 (4)	Jazz	54-28	Is this the last season for Utah’s Olympic tag team to be together? With Boozer headed for free agency in the summer, that’s the question D-Will and the rest of this Jazz will hear all year, no matter how good they are.
	10 (19)	Raptors	41-41	I loved the Raps’ gamble here. If O’Neal’s knees don’t hold up, the Raptors still can be a .500 team without Ford and Nesterovic. And if he does come back strong? Toronto becomes a threat to the East’s beasts in Boston.
	11 (10)	Mavericks	51-31	Which longtime power is straining harder to keep the window ajar? Dirk, J-Kidd and the under-fire Josh Howard in Dallas? Or their old Phoenix friends who must be equally stunned to start the new season out of the top 10?
	12 (7)	Suns	55-27	If there’s a more compelling mystery in the whole league than seeing what we’ll get from the Suns’ throwing new coach Terry Porter together with Nash, Shaq, Amare and Grant Hill, please point it out to us.
	13 (17)	Trail Blazers	41-41	Has any non-playoff team for five straight seasons generated expectations like these kids? But the Blazers won’t complain if managing expectations (as opposed to the health of Roy and Oden) is their biggest worry.
	14 (11)	Magic	52-30	Stan Van has made folks in the Magic Kingdom forget that they were ever spurned by Billy Donovan. But Orlando didn’t do much to get better in the offseason, so SVG will have to hope getting older is enough.
	15 (12)	Wizards	43-39	Wiz vets like to say that, when healthy, they’re right there with the East’s best. Two obvious problems there: Washington is rarely healthy, and that statement is increasingly debatable in the (no misprint) improving East.
	16 (24)	Bucks	26-56	Almost every one of last season’s non-playoff teams in the East thinks it can break through this season. Hiring Skiles and acquiring Richard Jefferson arguably gives Milwaukee more hope than anyone in that group.
	17 (23)	Bulls	33-49	Returning to the top eight when PG and coach have no experience won’t be easy. A guards glut and the usual low-post void won’t help. Can’t be harder than winning the Rose lottery with the ninth-best chances, though.
	18 (9)	Nuggets	50-32	For just the second time in club history, Denver sports a streak of five straight winning seasons. Anyone think the Camby-less Nuggets, with A.I. trade rumors constantly swirling, can play enough D to make it six?
	19 (29)	Clippers	23-59	Not nearly as down on the Clips’ chances as the departing Maggette, who claims homecoming king Baron Davis is “in for a rude awakening.” Not ready to say this new team of newsmakers can make the playoffs, either.
	20 (14)	Warriors	48-34	Q: What’s worse than winning 48 games and not making the playoffs? A: Everything that has happened to the Warriors since that April heartbreak, lowlighted by Baron Davis’ departure and the Ellis injury saga.
	21 (21)	Bobcats	32-50	We’d normally see the Bobs as the sort of the team in line for a 10-win spike after hiring a proven winner like Larry Brown. Problem is, Charlotte’s roster still is badly flawed. Nor are we sure they’re getting vintage Larry.
	22 (17)	Hawks	37-45	Seeing Childress defect to Greece won’t hurt the Hawks nearly as much as the knowledge that 37 wins ain’t going to get you a playoff spot this season … and that competition for the No. 8 seed will be far more fierce.
	23 (16)	Kings	38-44	Bobby Brown’s arrival means that we’ll be more into them than we’ve been since Henry Turner and Leon Wood were Kings. For the rest of you, it’s a full-on youth movement starring Kevin Martin and little else you’ll recognize.
	24 (30)	Heat	15-67	It doesn’t seem outlandish, even after a nosedive to the shameful depths of 15-67, to expect D-Wade, Marion and Beasley to mount a playoff push. Until you realize Coach Spoelstra has almost nothing else to work with.
	25 (20)	Pacers	36-46	Maybe we should be higher on a team that finished one game shy of the playoffs. Just can’t shake the feeling that Indy (a) came up way short on the O’Neal deal and (b) still lacks the right mix to play Obie’s way.
	26 (25)	Knicks	23-59	Donnie W. and D’Antoni have quickly restored some hope to MSG’s gloomy halls, but that’s a lot easier in the summer when all the focus is on them. Now the players are back to remind everyone how hard their jobs will be.
	27 (22)	Nets	34-48	Ouch, ouch, ouch. After every other Atlantic team chasing Boston made a big-name snag — Elton Brand, Jermaine O’Neal, Mike D’Antoni — rebuilding Jersey was pegged to finish last in the East in ESPN’s staff poll.
	28 (28)	Timberwolves	22-60	The Wolves quietly posted a borderline respectable record of 17-26 after last season’s 5-34 start to Life After KG. Yet it’s tough to picture Minnesota sustaining that form over 82 games, fond as we are of Mike Miller’s game.
	29 (26)	Grizzlies	22-60	No one is bound to even notice in the West, but the much-maligned Grizz have assembled an intriguing group of kids: O.J. Mayo, Rudy Gay, even Marc Gasol. Which is why trading for Z-Bo to be the vet made no sense.
	30 (27)	Thunder	20-62	The Hornets went 38-44 in OKC’s only other season as an NBA city. The Thunder? Dare we say 28 wins would represent success for a group that still offers precious little to thrill those loud crowds beyond Kevin Durant?

Agent Zero opens up to the media

Gilbert Arenas didn’t want to take attention from Washington’s healthy players when he declined to talk Friday at the Wizards’ media day and drew a fine from the NBA.

On Saturday, the $111 million man tried to mask his frustration over the third surgery on his left knee in 1 1/2 years by working with the team’s young players as they opened their training camp at Virginia Commonwealth University.

He also talked. Read more

CBS-Sportsline: Top 50 Shooting Guards

Sep. 26, 2008
By Matt Steinmetz

It’s asked innumerable times when you’re talking basketball. Who would you rather have, this guy or that guy?

Who would you rather have: Kobe, CP3 or LeBron? The U.S. Olympic team had all three. (Getty Images)

When you’re making a list of the top 50 players in the NBA, you ask that question of yourself, oh, about 50 times.

Who would you rather have, Kobe Bryant or LeBron James?

What about between LeBron and Chris Paul? And so it goes.

Here, then, is who we’d rather have — our top 50 NBA players: Read more