Shining Suns

A playoff run is unlikely, but Phoenix is on the rise

By Mark Bechtel, Sports Illustrated

PHOENIX -- For a second, I was in heaven.

After a recent Suns practice, a bunch of the players lined up at the top of the key with two basketballs, ready to start some sort of game. I could only assume they were going to play Gotcha!, which is the finest playground contest ever invented. The rules are simple: You shoot a jumper from the top of the key. If you miss, you get the rebound and keep shooting until you score. Then you pass the ball back to the next guy in line and he does the same. Now, there are two balls going at all times, so if someone who started after you puts the ball in the hole before you, then they Gotcha! and you're out.

The beauty of the game lies in its simplicity, but also in the fact that anything goes. If you miss your shot, you can grab the rebound and fire the ball at the initial shot of the guy who went after you and send him scurrying across the gym after his rock. In particularly rough games of Gotcha! players have been known to heave their ball at the shooter himself.

Alas, my dream of watching NBA players compete in Gotcha! was foiled. They engaged instead in a simple shooting game in which every time someone missed, he was stuck with one point for each consecutive basket that was made before he missed. (So, if the three guys in front of you make their shots and then you miss, you get three points.) Once you get to seven, you're out. Still, it was good seeing how fired up these guys were to be competing. You would have thought a million bucks was on the line (I believe a smaller sum did find its way to the winner, Anthony Goldwire).

For the Suns to make the playoffs, they will have to exhibit that kind of spirit and charisma all year. They played hard down the stretch for new coach Frank Johnson, but, as he points out, "some nights we just got outmanned." Johnson doesn't like the word "rebuilding." He prefers "retooling." But Phoenix will have to invest a lot of minutes in some unproven players if the team is to get significantly better.

To that end, Johnson has essentially given the starting shooting guard spot -- which used to belong to Penny Hardaway -- to Joe Johnson, a second-year player from Arkansas. It's a bold move (one coach Johnson made at the end of last year) because Hardaway is a big name who makes some serious cake. But it's also the right move. Joe Johnson, along with rookie Amare Stoudemire and vets Shawn Marion and Stephon Marbury, gives the Suns hope for the future. If Johnson can improve this year -- last season he was dogged by inconsistency -- then when the club gets out from under the contracts of Hardaway and Tom Gugliotta, and can bring in some help, it stands a chance at being pretty good.

One thing I do like about the Suns' chances this year is that Johnson (Frank, not Joe) has brought in a handful of vets, most notably Scott Williams, to mentor the kids. Williams, by the way, will make a great coach or broadcaster (or, the way things seem to be going these days, both) when he's done playing. With the West as deep as it is, Phoenix probably won't make the playoffs. But should any of those Western powers take the Suns lightly, they might just find that they've been Got!

Sports Illustrated staff writer Mark Bechtel is a frequent contributor to CNNSI.com

 

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