In most neighborhoods across America, the garbage man comes once a week. You know, that time every seven days that you are forced by your significant other, or your desire not to live in your own filth, to drag the can to the edge of the street for it to be picked up? In most suburban neighborhoods, it’s basically a ritual.

For the Phoenix Suns, the “Garbage Man” comes more than once a week. He comes in anytime Alvin Gentry feels his team needs a defensive pick up or an injection of energy off the bench. His name is P.J. Tucker and he’s just the kind of guy that the fans of Phoenix fall in love with. [Read more...]

“Some of the guys you get excited about and some of the guys you want to see a little bit more from.”

Those words from Head Coach Alvin Gentry pretty much sum up the Suns’ first three preseason games. And for that matter, they pretty much sum up every boss’ view of every office in America. That’s because the key to any good basketball preseason. or any good business, is seeing effort and growth from your team.

Gentry is definitely seeing the former so far from his Suns. “For us, the main thing is we’re playing hard and competing like crazy,” the coach said. [Read more...]

Practice doesn’t make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect.

At least that was the lesson I was taught as a child. Which is probably why I now write about sports for a living rather than playing professionally (that or genetics).

It’s also a lesson Head Coach Alvin Gentry is taking to heart this preseason. With more time between the Suns’ second and third preseason games than between Will Smith movies — OK, really it is just five days — it has given the team ample opportunity to run two-hour practices on a regular basis. It’s an occurrence that rarely happened during the abbreviated 2011-12 season. But is that practice time more valuable than game experience? [Read more...]

Here are three offbeat observations from Friday night’s 104-93 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers.

1) Wes Johnson is the Suns’ version of Tom Hanks. A genuinely nice guy whose work you can’t help but enjoy.

Through training camp and the first two preseason games, it’s tough to deny that Wesley Johnson has been a standout amongst the new additions to the roster that fans could really get bhind. In camp, he was the mild-mannered guy who could barely miss a shot and had a smile bigger than a kid who just got a free candy bar. The smile, and the solid shooting, has carried over to the preseason. [Read more...]