When dealing with international draft prospects entering the NBA sometimes you just don’t know what you might get. In Steven Adams’ case what you don’t get may have nothing to do with his on the court skills. Even though he played one year in the states after arriving from New Zealand, there are some cultural things he may still have to adjust to in the NBA.

Adams’ has a glaring deficiency that any team that drafts him may have to address quite quickly, and his representatives may have to turn into an endorsement deal. The 19-year-old center who played one year at Pitt made a pretty big confession following his pre-draft workout for the Suns over the weekend.

“What’s a peanut butter cup?,” Adams said to a reporter. “I haven’t even tried those yet.”

Never tried a peanut butter cup? Isn’t that required on American college entrance exams these days? If not, it should at least be expected of a person wanting to enter the NBA.

In a league that includes guys like Lamar Odom who has battled with a well documented candy addiction, even being nicknamed “the Candyman”, Derek Rose who has had stomach issues in the past due to gummy bears that almost made him miss a title game and even Phoenix’s own Michael Beasley who has a love for Skittles, Adams will have to learn to adapt on the fly.

That, and he’s missing out on one of the great joys in life, chocolate combined with peanut butter. Easily the best two-man game outside of Stockton and Malone.

The best part of it all though was the sense of humor Adams showed about the situation. He laughed about the entire situation saying he wouldn’t share his bad habit secrets with the media while also getting in a joke of his own telling the gathered group that for Phoenix, he’d expect the reporters to have better tans. Apparently he doesn’t realize how much time we spend inside waiting to talk to guys like him.

In a process that can tend to feel monotonous, it was nice of Adams to show off his personality. And Steven, wherever you wind up, the first time you’re back in Phoenix the first peanut butter cup is on me. (That is, as long as the league doesn’t look at that as an added incentive.)

Suns One On One host Greg Esposito got the chance Monday to spend sometime with former Sun Grant Hill to talk about his retirement. The two discussed his career, his ability to lead on and off the court and what is next for the former star. Hear all that and much more on this episode.

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Don’t forget you can find a new episode of the show here every week, you can also subscribe to the show on official Suns App. Also get in touch with the show by email here.

Suns One On One host Greg Esposito sat down for the first indepth interview with new Suns Head Coach Jeff Hornacek. The two satdown at the new coach’s Phoenix home to discuss his time as a Sun, his formative years in basketball, what kind of coach fans can expect him to be. Find out that and much more in this edition.

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Don’t forget you can find a new episode of the show here every week, you can also subscribe to the show on iTunes and listen in the official Suns App. Also get in touch with the show by tweeting your host @Espo.

While walking the streets of New York — the city, not the pizza joint — many things run through your head. Most of which start with, “I really hope that half-naked guy isn’t walking in my direction.” But I digress.

A lot of those things seem pretty mundane or second nature at the time, as you’re just trying to navigate the hoards of people in an effort to cross the street without getting hit by one of the many overzealous cabbies more willing to curse at you than a Lakers fan visiting US Airways Center. It’s not until you are a few steps — no pun intended — removed from the situation that you really see there are life lessons to be learned from the concrete jungle that is Manhattan.

As was the case with me. After returning from the NBA Draft Lottery in Times Square and reflecting on the experience, I realized it actually taught me a thing or two about the process the Suns and their fans will be going through to rebuild the franchise. Read More

At some point in my life someone once said, “Fate is a fickle mistress, my friend. You never know when she’ll turn on you.” On second thought, I don’t know anyone that wise or eloquent, so I must have read it somewhere.

It’s a quote I didn’t fully comprehend until coming to New York for Tuesday night’s NBA Draft Lottery. As I’ve chronicled on this blog over the last few days, I was in search of my own luck for the Suns in the Big Apple. I wasn’t alone in my crusade either.

As I walked alongside President of Basketball Operations Lon Babby and President of Business Operations Jason Rowley towards the home of the NBA Draft Lottery, ABC’s Times Square studios, the two decided to make an impromptu and unique stop. Read More

New York City. The Big Apple. The concrete jungle. Also, the place I finally got to tell one of the Suns’ greatest nemesis of the last two decades just how much he’s hurt me and the rest of the Phoenix faithful.

Let me take a step back though. This entire trip to New York City has become an exercise in luck (and also an exercise physically with all the walking you have to do). Since my arrival yesterday, I’ve wandered the city in hopes of finding signs that tonight could be a special night for the Suns franchise. Within minutes of walking into Times Square, mere feet from the studio the entire draft lottery will take place at, I found a pair of new purple-and-orange Charles Barkley shoes. And if they weren’t $235, I’d be wearing them with my suit as we speak. Coincidence? Quite possibly. But these were shoes that I hadn’t found in any Valley area store over the last week while actively looking for them.

If that wasn’t sign enough, when I looked up, the window of the ABC studio had lottery ball graphics in it. Staring me straight in the face, above the street entertainers dressed as Iron Man, Spider-man and Teletubbies, was the Suns’ logo. Okay, so that one is kind of a stretch seeing as every team, including ones not in the lottery, were represented in the graphic. But, I’ll take what I can get and it is not bad for my first hour in the city. Read More

Captain’s log, May 20th 7:17 a.m. Phoenix time…

Sorry about that, guess I still have Star Trek: Into Darkness still on my mind. And apparently so does the rest of North America, as the movie brought in more than $84 million over the weekend.

We’re not here to talk about movies, though. We’re here to talk about young men who could make box office millions themselves over the next several years in the NBA. During the next two days this will be your ticket to an inside look at what it’s like to travel to the NBA Draft Lottery in New York City. Call it a “humble brag,” if you must, but I am lucky enough to be one of the few members of the Phoenix Suns’ organization to make the trip. I thought it’d only be fair to share my journey with you. Here is the first installment.

Fate is a funny thing. That is, if you believe in it. It is an ideology that is based on the concept that you have little to no control over the outcome of your own life. For me, I don’t feel that any more than when I’m 30,000 feet above the ground in a metal tube like I am right now, as I head to the Big Apple.

It’s also an idea that is at the core of the NBA Draft Lottery — that is unless you’re like the guy on the street corner screaming about this or that and believe in league-wide conspiracy theories. The destiny of a group of franchises rests in the hands of a bunch of white plastic ping pong balls that provide a seemingly random four-digit number.

Get the right combination and your team’s fortunes can turn around faster than Robert Downey Jr.’s career. Come up short, and you could be left at the drawing board heading into the draft.

On this trip, however, I’ve decided not to leave things to fate. In an effort to stack the deck in the Suns’ favor, I brought along some lucky charms suggested by fans. Yes, I realize these items probably have about as much chance of working as the seat I’m sitting on in this plane does of acting as a flotation device in the case of an emergency water landing (which is just the nice way of saying a crash), but that won’t stop me from being optimistic.

With the percentages just as likely that the team moves down from its No. 4 pre-lottery slot as it does up, it can’t hurt to provide a little help regardless of how improbable it is. With me, I brought an autographed Cotton Fitzsimmons ticket stub I’ve had since I was a kid. If the Irish are lucky, why not have something that connects this draft lottery to the most famous Irishman in franchise history (sorry Shaquille O’Neal, you didn’t make the cut).

One item isn’t enough, though. We’re trying to combat a 44-year-old streak of no luck (I refuse to call it bad, because it’s been such a fun ride). With that in mind, I decided to go back to the source of the issue in many fans’ minds. The last time the Suns had a legitimate chance at the No. 1 pick: the 1969 coin toss. The fans told the team to call heads, and when that silver Kennedy half-dollar was flipped, it came up tails and Lew Alcindor went to Milwaukee. The Suns have never had the first pick since.

Thanks to a commenter on my blog post last week, I purchased a double-sided Kennedy half-dollar to bring with me. Both sides? Heads of course. If only it had been used on that fateful day in 1969, there might be a championship banner hanging from the rafters in Phoenix.

Both items will be tucked securely in my suit pocket as I sit in the ABC Times Square studios to watch the drama unfold Tuesday night. Maybe they won’t change whatever the fate of the Suns’ pick is; much like nothing myself or my fellow passengers do can change anything about our flight. But in either situation, it can’t hurt to have a little faith. Oh, and a little luck never hurt anyone either.

Regardless of wins and losses there is one thing that constantly puts the Suns at the of or near the top of the league. Something that has the passion and heart that very few NBA teams have. It’s the fans of course.

The true lifeblood of the organization, Suns fans continually support the team through thick and thin (and we’re not just talking about the different versions of Charles Barkley since he retired). No, they have found a passion for Arizona’s first professional sports franchise that has spanned 45 years. While the names on the roster have changed, their desire to don the purple and orange and cheer as loud as possible has never wavered. Read More

There are very few moments in sports that are left up to complete and utter random chance. Most things in sports are like the SATs. They can be practiced, prepared for, strategized, learned or obsessed over to the point that you have some sense of control over them, regardless of how miniscule.

Next Tuesday on ESPN, one of those rare moments where teams, coaches, athletes and general managers have no control over the outcome will unfold before our eyes. It’s the NBA’s Draft Lottery and it’s about as unpredictable as an Amanda Bynes tweet. It’s an event that, in the last 14 years, has only seen the team with the best odds get the No. 1 pick the same amount of times, twice, as the team with the fourth best odds.

Winning the draft lottery and getting the No. 1 overall pick is one of two things the storied Suns franchise has yet to conquer in its 45 years of existence. The other, obviously, being an NBA Championship. And if they can accomplish the former this year, maybe they can finally accomplish the latter in the near future. Read More

Suns One On One host Greg Esposito sat down for the first indepth interview with new Suns general manager Ryan McDonough. The two satdown in the war room on the fourth floor of the US Airways Center where in mere months McDonough and his staff will select the newest members of the franchise to get to know him on a person level, to find out how growing up in Massachusetts shaped him as a person, his family, his philosophies on basketball and asked if he is truly the world’s slowest eater. Find out that and much more in this edition.

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Don’t forget you can find a new episode of the show here every week, you can also subscribe to the show on iTunes and listen in the official Suns App. Also get in touch with the show by tweeting your host @Espo.