It was either just like old times for the Suns or a preview of things to come.
An informal scrimmage Tuesday had the likes of Amaré Stoudemire dunking, Joe Johnson hitting jumpers, Jake Voskuhl working the boards, Casey Jacobsen hitting threes and Steve Nash running the point on the America West Arena practice court.
Players have been working out or shooting around at AWA all summer long, but the unofficial practice just 60 days before the Nov. 3 season opener was the first time a majority of the Suns have had a chance to get together to hit the hardwood as a group. Joined by a few local players to round out the teams, the two-hour scrimmage featured plenty of five-on-five, full-court work.
“We’ve been doing our own little thing as far as working out,” JJ said about the offseason. “This was my first time scrimmaging. We need our pickup games and it felt good. You get into a rhythm and try to get acclimated with the guys a lot earlier. We get to know each other on the basketball court as well as off the court. We’re having a great time.”
Jacobsen added, “We had the scrimmage, but some of us have been here for a few weeks. It’s always nice to get out there and play. There are only so many drills you can run to get ready. Playing in game situations is the only way we can quickly gel as a team. So the more we can run up and down, the better off we’ll be in Training Camp and the early season.”
Stoudemire, who’s been busy fulfilling his Olympic obligations for the past month, was back on the AWA practice court for the first time since representing the U.S. at the Athens Games. Admitting that the scrimmage with his Suns teammates was “a lot of fun,” he said one of the highlights was playing alongside the team’s biggest free agent acquisition this summer: starting point guard Steve Nash.
“This was the first time we got together to play out there with Steve,” the 2003 NBA Rookie of the Year said about the Suns’ 1996 first-round draft pick. “So it was pretty good. I had a good feeling he was going to be the guy for us at the point. He’s a great creator, and I think he’s one of the best creators in the game.”
Jacobsen is another member of the Suns happy to have Nash in the mix. The Stanford standout has seen a lot of the Sun-turned-Maverick-turned-Sun-again both this summer and in all those Phoenix-Dallas match-ups over the last few seasons. And from what he’s witnessed, the playmaker could also be the difference-maker in 2004-05.
“I’ve been playing one-on-one and two-on-two with Steve the last two weeks,” Jacobsen added. “He’s been here everyday. I’m really looking forward to playing him. With him, everybody on our team is going to get easier shots because he’s on the floor. He’s going to be a leader for us. One thing we lacked last year was an on-court leader. So we’re only going to go up.”
