Retraction Who among us would ever profess to be perfect? It is a question with Biblical implications. Let he (or she) who is without sin cast the first stone, and pride cometh before the fall. That's why there's never been a problem for me, personally, when I have to retract something I've written. Lord knows it's happened a few times already. I mistakenly called Seema Munir a jerk once, for instance, and had to apologize for that. In this millennium, being wrong is okay; just ask George W. Bush. It's also okay to take someone to task for being wrong, even though there's nothing wrong with it. So I can be as harsh on myself as I would be on any other writer who has screwed up (like Mitch Albom). I owe myself, and deserve, nothing less - even though the idea of cutting on my own work is about as appealing as raw beets. On April 8th, 2004, I wrote a severely critical opinion piece about a local business, family owned, which has been in good civic standing for decades, always helpful to the community. In retrospect, I may have gone over the line in depicting them as less than functional. It was, one could surmise, unfair. And I couldn't be happier about that. Ladies and gentlemen, behold your Phoenix Suns, risen from the ashes to become the best team in pro basketball. About them, I wrote these words last year: Last night's game against the Denver Nuggets – not exactly among pro basketball's elite – typifies everything that is wrong with the Suns. Only eight players suited up for the game. Granted, their won-loss record is so terrible that post-season play has long been out of the question, so one can understand ownership's penchant for pinching pennies, but to only suit up eight men... Imagine what "Jerry's Rent-a-Car" might be like... But that was last year. I made it a point then to disparage the team, saying they had traded Stephon Marbury to New York "for peanuts, and then gave the peanuts away to get Utah to take on Tom Gugliotta's bloated salary (gee... who was stupid enough to pay him that much in the first place?)." I lamented that they were a lottery team - and that was before they traded out of their prime spot in the draft, where the Bulls took Luol Deng from Duke. I said I missed Bo Outlaw for his veteran presence. I called Mike D'Antoni, the 2005 NBA Coach of the Year, "an idiot". I carped about the rookies from foreign countries taking up professional space on the floor. In short, I was an unhappy basketball fan. A lot of people in Phoenix felt the same way, and are just as pleased as I am with their amazing turnaround. First they signed Steve Nash, then Quentin Richardson. They cut bait on their rookie big-man projects (landing veteran Jim Jackson in the process), and turned Amare Stoudemire loose in the pivot, with two small forwards on the floor next to him. They shot an unbelievable amount of three-pointers this year, and made enough of them to destroy team after team. Those shooters are left wide open because opponents are helpless to stop Stoudemire. The only foreign player left on the team is Leandro Barbosa, and he'll be just fine because he's quick as lightning, and can learn much from Nash, the NBA's Most Valuable Player. They even got Bo Outlaw back, although he's been relegated to the status of cheerleader in the playoff rotation, sitting next to someone named Paul Shirley on the bench. One thing I mentioned last year, though, truly hit the nail on the head. "If Jerry Colangelo sells the Suns, it would be the first positive thing he has done for the team (and for the fans) in ten years." That's exactly what happened. Jerry's kid, Brian Colangelo, did a great job assembling the starting five, which included a near bank heist in acquiring Joe Johnson from Boston a while back. Now all he (well, owner Robert Sarver) has to do is re-sign him after this season is over. That's something he probably should have done last year, actually. Delaying only upped the price. After all, it's a lot easier for a player to negotiate when he's got a championship ring on his finger. It may not be easy, but it's going to happen. Be it Detroit or Miami that emerges from the Eastern Conference, this is the Suns' year. Paul Heller 05/11/05 << back to the archives
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