Varem Out, White in

[jbeecham]

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/sports/articles/0927sunsnb0927.html

Varem out, White in for Suns

By Jerry Brown
East Valley Tribune
Oct. 13, 2005

Former Washington State forward Jeff Varem lost his chance to take part in training camp with the Phoenix Suns when he was denied a European traveling visa.

Varem, who holds a passport from Nigeria and has a work visa for the United States, could not get his paperwork approved for a European visa.

The Suns depart for Italy on Friday and begin workouts in Treviso the next day.

Varem's loss is a gain for former Phoenix North High and Cal State Northridge point guard Davin White. He will be the 14th man on the Suns' roster.

White, 24, played six games last year with the Niagra Daredevils of the American Basketball Association — before the franchise folded. He wound up in the Mexican League, averaging 26.5 points and 8.7 assists a game for Mineros de Cananea. The 6-foot-2, 195-pound White led the Big West Conference in steals as a junior at Northridge and was a second-team all-conference pick as a senior. If he doesn’t stick with the Suns, White will get a good chance to showcase his skills for European scouts who will attend Phoenix’s workouts and three preseason games.

“This is something I’ve been dreaming about for 24 years,” said White, a life-long resident of Phoenix who knows Suns history inside and out. “I grew up rooting for KJ (Kevin Johnson), Rex Chapman and all those guys. Now I get a chance to play with Steve Nash and soak up as much as I can. Who knows what can happen?”

 

[Ryanwb]

WTH are they going to Italy anyway?

 

[Folster]

Second-team all-conference pick as a senior in the Big West Conference.

 

[jbeecham]

Second-team all-conference pick as a senior in the Big West Conference.

lol whoop-dee-doo!

 

[dreamcastrocks]

“This is something I’ve been dr...less minutes than another else on the roster.

 

[Chaplin]

Rex Chapman? If that is the 2nd person you think of when you think of past Suns, I don't like you already.

Who knows what would happen???? You will be training camp fodder and see less minutes than another else on the roster.

He gets to play with the Phoenix Suns IN ITALY -- that's more than you or I can EVER say. And Kevin Johnson and Rex Chapman, actually.

 

[JS22]

Rex Chapman? If that is the 2nd person you think of when you think of past Suns, I don't like you already.

Who knows what would happen???? You will be training camp fodder and see less minutes than another else on the roster.

Someone sounds jealous.

 

[sly fly]

Someone sounds jealous.

No kidding. We should all be so lucky to have a chance to sniff the NBA floor.

Making a squad (rookie or summer league) is a lot tougher than some of you think.

How can you NOT root for a guy who grew up a Suns fan? Or, grew up in Phoenix?

 

[George O'Brien]

I hope he can write.

BTW, I think the reason for Italy is what D'Antoni referred to as "bonding". Ordinarily this is a fairly overrated aspect of sports, but it could be pretty important this year.

For the last two years, the Suns rotation was pretty easy. The guys who played were so much better than the guys who didn't play, there was no real discussion. This year the Suns have guys at the 9th, 10th, and perhaps even 11th slots who can actually play -- but probably won't.

You can't have serious depth without having good players who aren't playing. They want to play, deserve to play, and will play if there are injuries. But they get frustrated with not playing and it can get disruptive. The only way to deal with it is to get the deep bench players feel part of the team and to care about winning. Contributing in practice and spot work is not very glamerous, but it is important.

Will this trip help? It sounds like D'Antoni believes it will. We don't know since he's never had this kind of problem before.