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KTAR: Talk to the Suns (JC)
Posted: April 12, 2004
Jerry Colangelo and KTAR’s Dave Burns wrapped up another season of the 620 Sportsline’s weekly “Talk to the Suns” program. The Suns chairman talked about the summer plans for the team and the direction for the future.
Dave Burns: Tonight, our final edition of the 2003-04 NBA season of Talk to the Suns with Jerry Colangelo and he joins us here on KTAR. Where are you tonight?
Jerry Colangelo: You’re gonna love this one.
Burns: The final one of the season. You’re somewhere good, aren’t you?
Colangelo: I’m home and I’m comfortable.
Burns: Oh, you’ve got the slippers on?
Colangelo: No, no. I don’t own a pair of slippers.
Burns: You’ve got the smoking robe on, that sort of thing?
Colangelo: You’ve got the wrong guy.
Burns: You’re home. What is this, the fourth time in the history of the show you’ve been home?
Colangelo: Probably.
Burns: Suns win (Sunday) night against the Memphis Grizzlies by the score of 89-83 and don’t look now, but since March 15, you’ve got a .500 basketball team, don’t you, Jerry?
Colangelo: They’re actually playing pretty well. It’s something to take a hard look at because what we’re seeing here is a glimpse of the future. There’s been some real development on the part of some players on this team. When you look at the development of Amaré (Stoudemire), when he came back from that injury he’s been a man on a mission. He still makes a lot of mistakes but he’s young and he has to learn to play within himself. I really find it interesting to hear and read the comments of opposing players and coaches when they describe Amaré.
Burns: The Grizzlies were talking about him like he was Frankenstein.
Colangelo: Yeah. “He’s a beast.” “He’s unstoppable,” and “the combination of size and strength, and speed and quickness.”
Anyway, to see his development… He’s pretty close to a 20 (points), 10 (rbs) guy in just his second year.
And Joe Johnson. Joe Johnson might not get any awards this year the way awards are given out, but (he) is certainly one of the most improved players in basketball this year and that really speaks well of his future.
Shawn Marion is another... You’ve got three guys who are extraordinary players. You need to add, and we have players that have served in a role capacity. (Antonio) McDyess’ progress in the last month has been terrific. He’s making us take a good look at what kind of contribution he could make as we go forward. It’s encouraging, to say the least, to see how these young guys are playing.
Burns: Tell me about the growth you’ve seen out of Leandro Barbosa the last few weeks.
Colangelo: Barbosa’s come a long way. I think about his age and I think about the minutes he’s already played in the NBA. What a great foundation for him to build on. He’s playing with so much more confidence than when he started to get some minutes. It’s interesting. As we look back on him as we saw him work out, he had speed, he had quickness, he had length. Very quick hands. We thought defensively, he could really be pretty good. He’s one of the leaders in the league in steals per minutes played. In fact, I think he is the leader. Secondly, we may not like the way his shot looks, but he can shoot it. If we can get him to raise up a little bit and not shoot the ball from the chest – he’s got to get that ball over his head – and pick up a medium size shot, something between a drive all the way to the hoop and the three, he’ll be that much more effective. He’s done remarkably well for such a young kid.
Burns: What would you like to see, specifically, with Amaré?
Colangelo: I think Amaré needs to spend a lot of time watching a lot of video tape regarding his game. Look at the good things and have them pointed out. Look at all of the mistakes and the things he needs to work on. A lot of his game has to be, in terms of improvement, will be off the court and that’s a growing maturity about being able to play smart, play within himself, understand that when you kick it out and post up, you’re going to get it back. Judgment will cut down on a lot of turnovers. Sometimes, he gets too fancy. He’s got to be more fundamentally sound offensively with the ball. Don’t be careless with the ball. Other than that, his continued to stay in really good shape. He doesn’t need a lot of competition in the off-season. He needs to keep working on his shot, pick up another move or two. Just work on some offensive moves to put it in his repertoire, but he doesn’t need to be playing a lot of basketball in terms of games, in my opinion.
Burns: Is there anything in particular that you would like to see anybody else on the roster do in this off-season?
Colangelo: There’s a plan for each one of them, it’s as simple as that. Those that have aches and pains, to get things fixed up - deficiencies to work on. Barbosa’s going to be here, I believe, all summer. He’s going to take some break, but basically to work on his body. He’s got to strengthen himself up, just get physically stronger that will help him tremendously. There’s going to be a lot of work to be done reconstructing the shot for him. He can put a good summer of work in and be that much better for next season.
Caller (Steve, Scottsdale): I want to commend you for your comments tonight. I think the team has really shown some progress and I’m also very touched by McDyess. He had 33 minutes (Sunday) night. Do we want to keep him on the roster? Also, do you have a timetable? Is there any movement with local investors… that would be able to rally and buy the ball club?
Colangelo: I’m moving along down this path regarding transition as it relates to the team. I’ve been saying all along. I’ve just putting something in place. I’m going to be around and involved for quite a long time. It’s not like the bottom is going to fall out when and if anything like that happens.
As far as McDyess is concerned, (he) has shown that he’s got something left and he’s getting more confidence in his knee. You could build a case for saying when he left here he got some bad advice and things haven’t gone right for him since. Somebody said to me, “Well, maybe he feels like he owes us.” That’s kind of a stretch. Let’s put it this way: I think we have an interest in bringing Antonio back. It has to be in a situation that’s a fair deal for both of us. You can’t overpay in this situation because we want to save our space room on the (salary) cap to go after a free agent or two that we feel would be very important to this team.
Burns: I have to imagine with his play as of late, I would think his stock would be on the rise around the NBA.
Colangelo: I would think so. You’re always looking for big, strong guys and he’s been a real factor on the boards as you can see. And by the way, he’s a pretty good compliment for Amaré. Antonio’s not looking to be a big scorer anymore. He’ll take the jumper. He’s willing to give of himself and give himself up, both ways. I like the combination when they are on the court together.
Burns: That’s the kind of guy that is essential to have on the floor. He may not score 25 a night but you need guys like that on the floor every single night in this league, don’t you?
Colangelo: Every good team has a player who just sacrifices his game, his statistics, to blend in and fill in, and do the things that are done in the trenches. That’s his game right now.
Caller (Jason, Scottsdale): Looks like we’ll probably get a top six (draft) pick. What do you think the Suns need in the draft to make us better? The Charlotte Bobcats automatically get No. 4, can you confirm that? And Jahidi White’s future, please.
Colangelo: That’s a few questions. Number one, Charlotte does have the fourth pick, so that could push us down one slot, obviously, and that’s all before we have the lottery. Let’s see if we get lucky and move up, and that could very well happen too, at least we hope so. As it relates to what we’re looking at, at this point we have to look at everything and look at the options regarding free agency as it relates to what the combination regarding a player or two in free agency and how we could compliment that in the draft. We’re looking everywhere. Europe, we’ve seen the high school all-stars, the college seniors and underclassmen. You have to lean toward size.
As it relates to Jahidi White, before his injury I think he showed he could be a contributor. He, too, has size and strength. We have to be a little patient regarding what those combinations are going to be and what we think is going to be best. Is McDyess here or is he not? Who do we lose in the expansion draft to Charlotte? Can we make a deal with Charlotte before the expansion draft to help them decide, if you will, which player to take? So, with all of these things up on the board it’s just too early to say what we would take in any one of those categories.
Caller (Doug, Phoenix): When it comes to the selling of the Suns, why don’t you keep it in the family, like the Lakers, and let Bryan take care of it?
Colangelo: The Lakers haven’t decided what they’re going to do with the disposition of their team. Jerry Buss bought it from another party. He has two of his offspring working within the organization. My guess is Jerry Buss will sell the team at some point. In my particular case, with the advice I’ve had from pretty good financial people, the best thing for us to do, as a family is to move forward with some kind of a transition relative to ownership that may or may not include Bryan. Going forward, that remains to be seen, but that remains a distinct possibility.
Burns: In terms of the financial ramifications, it is much more beneficial, as opposed to leaving it in the family?
Colangelo: We’ve heard and remember and seen what’s happened in certain cases in the history of professional sports where somebody didn’t take care of their personal business, and someone died who owned a team. The team had to be sold at a discount because there wasn’t money to pay those (estate) taxes. That’s a tragedy to see something like that happen. You work your whole life and you work pretty hard to protect that, so it’s the judicious thing to do.
Burns: Has any progress been made in terms of the sale on the terms that you wanted to be under, with you staying on running things for the next few years?
Colangelo: I feel very confident that that’s the way it’s going to be. That’s really the thing that is satisfying to me. I guess what I would look at is, when you talk about transition, you need to be weaned off. You just don’t step off a cliff. That would be a very abrupt way to do things. It’s always an option. But I feel certain it will be something better than that.
Caller (Ed): I just wanted to say this is the first time that I’ve been happy with the Suns in the direction they’ve been going since the year before you got (Charles) Barkley.
Colangelo: That’s very nice. Thank you.
Burns: And that’s despite their losing (this season). In fact, when I’m at home or in the stands, we’re sitting there rooting against the Suns this year because we want to see the draft. There’s just so much talent that they’re winning in spite of themselves here in the last few games. The athletic ability of the young kids that you’ve got in there, it’s just remarkable.
Colangelo: I don’t think it makes much difference. If you’re not one or two in this draft, being three or six is not going to make a heck of a lot of difference, that’s our opinion.
Burns: Jerry, thank you for your time. We thank you for the season. We look forward to next season.
Colangelo: I’m going to miss you, Burnsie. Take care.
Posted: April 12, 2004
Jerry Colangelo and KTAR’s Dave Burns wrapped up another season of the 620 Sportsline’s weekly “Talk to the Suns” program. The Suns chairman talked about the summer plans for the team and the direction for the future.
Dave Burns: Tonight, our final edition of the 2003-04 NBA season of Talk to the Suns with Jerry Colangelo and he joins us here on KTAR. Where are you tonight?
Jerry Colangelo: You’re gonna love this one.
Burns: The final one of the season. You’re somewhere good, aren’t you?
Colangelo: I’m home and I’m comfortable.
Burns: Oh, you’ve got the slippers on?
Colangelo: No, no. I don’t own a pair of slippers.
Burns: You’ve got the smoking robe on, that sort of thing?
Colangelo: You’ve got the wrong guy.
Burns: You’re home. What is this, the fourth time in the history of the show you’ve been home?
Colangelo: Probably.
Burns: Suns win (Sunday) night against the Memphis Grizzlies by the score of 89-83 and don’t look now, but since March 15, you’ve got a .500 basketball team, don’t you, Jerry?
Colangelo: They’re actually playing pretty well. It’s something to take a hard look at because what we’re seeing here is a glimpse of the future. There’s been some real development on the part of some players on this team. When you look at the development of Amaré (Stoudemire), when he came back from that injury he’s been a man on a mission. He still makes a lot of mistakes but he’s young and he has to learn to play within himself. I really find it interesting to hear and read the comments of opposing players and coaches when they describe Amaré.
Burns: The Grizzlies were talking about him like he was Frankenstein.
Colangelo: Yeah. “He’s a beast.” “He’s unstoppable,” and “the combination of size and strength, and speed and quickness.”
Anyway, to see his development… He’s pretty close to a 20 (points), 10 (rbs) guy in just his second year.
And Joe Johnson. Joe Johnson might not get any awards this year the way awards are given out, but (he) is certainly one of the most improved players in basketball this year and that really speaks well of his future.
Shawn Marion is another... You’ve got three guys who are extraordinary players. You need to add, and we have players that have served in a role capacity. (Antonio) McDyess’ progress in the last month has been terrific. He’s making us take a good look at what kind of contribution he could make as we go forward. It’s encouraging, to say the least, to see how these young guys are playing.
Burns: Tell me about the growth you’ve seen out of Leandro Barbosa the last few weeks.
Colangelo: Barbosa’s come a long way. I think about his age and I think about the minutes he’s already played in the NBA. What a great foundation for him to build on. He’s playing with so much more confidence than when he started to get some minutes. It’s interesting. As we look back on him as we saw him work out, he had speed, he had quickness, he had length. Very quick hands. We thought defensively, he could really be pretty good. He’s one of the leaders in the league in steals per minutes played. In fact, I think he is the leader. Secondly, we may not like the way his shot looks, but he can shoot it. If we can get him to raise up a little bit and not shoot the ball from the chest – he’s got to get that ball over his head – and pick up a medium size shot, something between a drive all the way to the hoop and the three, he’ll be that much more effective. He’s done remarkably well for such a young kid.
Burns: What would you like to see, specifically, with Amaré?
Colangelo: I think Amaré needs to spend a lot of time watching a lot of video tape regarding his game. Look at the good things and have them pointed out. Look at all of the mistakes and the things he needs to work on. A lot of his game has to be, in terms of improvement, will be off the court and that’s a growing maturity about being able to play smart, play within himself, understand that when you kick it out and post up, you’re going to get it back. Judgment will cut down on a lot of turnovers. Sometimes, he gets too fancy. He’s got to be more fundamentally sound offensively with the ball. Don’t be careless with the ball. Other than that, his continued to stay in really good shape. He doesn’t need a lot of competition in the off-season. He needs to keep working on his shot, pick up another move or two. Just work on some offensive moves to put it in his repertoire, but he doesn’t need to be playing a lot of basketball in terms of games, in my opinion.
Burns: Is there anything in particular that you would like to see anybody else on the roster do in this off-season?
Colangelo: There’s a plan for each one of them, it’s as simple as that. Those that have aches and pains, to get things fixed up - deficiencies to work on. Barbosa’s going to be here, I believe, all summer. He’s going to take some break, but basically to work on his body. He’s got to strengthen himself up, just get physically stronger that will help him tremendously. There’s going to be a lot of work to be done reconstructing the shot for him. He can put a good summer of work in and be that much better for next season.
Caller (Steve, Scottsdale): I want to commend you for your comments tonight. I think the team has really shown some progress and I’m also very touched by McDyess. He had 33 minutes (Sunday) night. Do we want to keep him on the roster? Also, do you have a timetable? Is there any movement with local investors… that would be able to rally and buy the ball club?
Colangelo: I’m moving along down this path regarding transition as it relates to the team. I’ve been saying all along. I’ve just putting something in place. I’m going to be around and involved for quite a long time. It’s not like the bottom is going to fall out when and if anything like that happens.
As far as McDyess is concerned, (he) has shown that he’s got something left and he’s getting more confidence in his knee. You could build a case for saying when he left here he got some bad advice and things haven’t gone right for him since. Somebody said to me, “Well, maybe he feels like he owes us.” That’s kind of a stretch. Let’s put it this way: I think we have an interest in bringing Antonio back. It has to be in a situation that’s a fair deal for both of us. You can’t overpay in this situation because we want to save our space room on the (salary) cap to go after a free agent or two that we feel would be very important to this team.
Burns: I have to imagine with his play as of late, I would think his stock would be on the rise around the NBA.
Colangelo: I would think so. You’re always looking for big, strong guys and he’s been a real factor on the boards as you can see. And by the way, he’s a pretty good compliment for Amaré. Antonio’s not looking to be a big scorer anymore. He’ll take the jumper. He’s willing to give of himself and give himself up, both ways. I like the combination when they are on the court together.
Burns: That’s the kind of guy that is essential to have on the floor. He may not score 25 a night but you need guys like that on the floor every single night in this league, don’t you?
Colangelo: Every good team has a player who just sacrifices his game, his statistics, to blend in and fill in, and do the things that are done in the trenches. That’s his game right now.
Caller (Jason, Scottsdale): Looks like we’ll probably get a top six (draft) pick. What do you think the Suns need in the draft to make us better? The Charlotte Bobcats automatically get No. 4, can you confirm that? And Jahidi White’s future, please.
Colangelo: That’s a few questions. Number one, Charlotte does have the fourth pick, so that could push us down one slot, obviously, and that’s all before we have the lottery. Let’s see if we get lucky and move up, and that could very well happen too, at least we hope so. As it relates to what we’re looking at, at this point we have to look at everything and look at the options regarding free agency as it relates to what the combination regarding a player or two in free agency and how we could compliment that in the draft. We’re looking everywhere. Europe, we’ve seen the high school all-stars, the college seniors and underclassmen. You have to lean toward size.
As it relates to Jahidi White, before his injury I think he showed he could be a contributor. He, too, has size and strength. We have to be a little patient regarding what those combinations are going to be and what we think is going to be best. Is McDyess here or is he not? Who do we lose in the expansion draft to Charlotte? Can we make a deal with Charlotte before the expansion draft to help them decide, if you will, which player to take? So, with all of these things up on the board it’s just too early to say what we would take in any one of those categories.
Caller (Doug, Phoenix): When it comes to the selling of the Suns, why don’t you keep it in the family, like the Lakers, and let Bryan take care of it?
Colangelo: The Lakers haven’t decided what they’re going to do with the disposition of their team. Jerry Buss bought it from another party. He has two of his offspring working within the organization. My guess is Jerry Buss will sell the team at some point. In my particular case, with the advice I’ve had from pretty good financial people, the best thing for us to do, as a family is to move forward with some kind of a transition relative to ownership that may or may not include Bryan. Going forward, that remains to be seen, but that remains a distinct possibility.
Burns: In terms of the financial ramifications, it is much more beneficial, as opposed to leaving it in the family?
Colangelo: We’ve heard and remember and seen what’s happened in certain cases in the history of professional sports where somebody didn’t take care of their personal business, and someone died who owned a team. The team had to be sold at a discount because there wasn’t money to pay those (estate) taxes. That’s a tragedy to see something like that happen. You work your whole life and you work pretty hard to protect that, so it’s the judicious thing to do.
Burns: Has any progress been made in terms of the sale on the terms that you wanted to be under, with you staying on running things for the next few years?
Colangelo: I feel very confident that that’s the way it’s going to be. That’s really the thing that is satisfying to me. I guess what I would look at is, when you talk about transition, you need to be weaned off. You just don’t step off a cliff. That would be a very abrupt way to do things. It’s always an option. But I feel certain it will be something better than that.
Caller (Ed): I just wanted to say this is the first time that I’ve been happy with the Suns in the direction they’ve been going since the year before you got (Charles) Barkley.
Colangelo: That’s very nice. Thank you.
Burns: And that’s despite their losing (this season). In fact, when I’m at home or in the stands, we’re sitting there rooting against the Suns this year because we want to see the draft. There’s just so much talent that they’re winning in spite of themselves here in the last few games. The athletic ability of the young kids that you’ve got in there, it’s just remarkable.
Colangelo: I don’t think it makes much difference. If you’re not one or two in this draft, being three or six is not going to make a heck of a lot of difference, that’s our opinion.
Burns: Jerry, thank you for your time. We thank you for the season. We look forward to next season.
Colangelo: I’m going to miss you, Burnsie. Take care.
