players you want to see do well

[simply_amare]

Suns

I would like to see every suns player improve, first & foremost. This would benefit our team and maybe even get better players via trade.

Next- Grant Hill, Marbury, and players below six-feet.

 

[Joe Mama]

Come on, man.

First of all, if there's a harder worker in the NBA than Alonzo Mourning, I don't know him. The way he's playing, it's nothing short of remarkable.

But that's not really the important thing. The truth is, the New Jersey Nets did not want him to come back, because they didn't want to pay his contract. Of course I can understand that, but what do you want from Zo? For him to say, "I know they don't want me on my team, but I'm going to support everything they do!"? If a basketball team told me, "We don't want you to play for us," I would feel no loyalty to them.

This has absolutely nothing to do with loyalty. It's about common sense. The New Jersey Nets would love to buyout the rest of his contract. They just I'm going to pay 90% of it, so he can go play for another team. I know everybody likes to support the sick guy, but that team made a huge sacrifice (or major blunder depending upon how you look at it) when they signed him to a fully guaranteed deal.

Can you blame New Jersey for not wanting him to come back? Obviously they thought they would get some relief in the pocketbook or under the salary cap if he did not return. And there's a very good chance, in fact an excellent chance, and he will only play a handful of games then go back to the IL.

Listen, I used to really dislike Mourning. As a Suns fan who lives in Southeast Florida, it used to be very easy to hate Zo, but now it's more than that. Saturday night, the Nets play the Wizards. For Alonzo, that might very well be his last game as a pro; he could play for another 4 years, but it's not certain by any stretch. I know it's a tough thing to fathom, being a Suns fan, where it goes, in order of importance: Money, money, luxury tax, money, basketball, and then last, but not least, money.. but there are more important things in life than money. Obviously, Zo wants to make money, but he also wants to win, and he doesn't have the luxury of being able to be part of a rebuilding team to win games. If you know somebody who has worked harder than Zo in the past 2 years, tell me about it, and I'll admit I was wrong about him.. otherwise, I can't help but cheer for the guy.

I actually liked Alonzo Mourning before he started bitching about how the New Jersey Nets should buy him out, so he can go play for a contender. He has talked about how it isn't fair that he should make this sacrifice to come back and only play for a rebuilding team. Guess what? Part of the reason they are rebuilding is that they were burdened by players like himself that were making big money and not contributing nothing. Nobody, nobody expected him to come back and play again, and I think most people believe that he will be out of basketball again before this season is over.

Frankly, I don't necessarily agree with those that call Alonzo Mourning's comeback courageous. This guy was lucky enough to get another kidney. There are people all over the United States and world that are waiting for a kidney transplant, yet he has decided to take a big risk with his returning to basketball. He doesn't need the money.

And don't say "but he wants lots of money, that's why the Nets won't buy him out," because nobody knows how much money he'd be demanding in a buy-out. It's all speculation at this point, and Rod Thorn is too classy to give the specific numbers to the New York media.

This is where you are completely wrong. Alonzo Mourning has roughly $17.5 million over the next three seasons remaining on his contract. It was widely reported last week that Alonzo Mourning and his agent want to New Jersey Nets to pay $15 million to buy him out. That is utterly ridiculous for a player who is playing well right now. Reportedly New Jersey was willing to give him around $6 million. There were even several direct quotes from Rod Thorn, who did talk to the media about this, where he said that they weren't going to pay him what was basically his entire contract, so he could go play for another team now that he is finally playing.

I figure Alonzo Mourning would accept a reasonable buyout if he was confident that he could continue to play basketball. He just doesn't want to walk away from the guaranteed money end right back on the IL.

Joe Mama