Oct 29th

This is the day I am waiting for. It is the first game of the Suns NBA season. Against San Antonio. How appropriate. The Suns are currently 1-1 in their pre-season endeavors & to be honest who even cares what happens in the pre-season? There are a few times in a few games where players (sometimes your starters, sometimes not) get into great rhythms & have some great games. But it doesn't count, so who cares.

What I will be anxious to see come 10.29 is this...

Will the Suns still be a "running" team? Without D'Antoni you've got to wonder. It might be a long season if they have become a half court team in the off-season. However, I will say that I am not counting on Shaq running the court for the 30 minutes max he will play each game -- let's just be honest, if the Suns want to utilize him, they've got to re-vamp their offense to cater to his strengths.

Has Amare learned to play an ounce of defense? I love the guy & will cut him some slack for his lack of defense -- before Shaq, Amare was always guarding the number 5 & we all know he is not a true center & expecting him to be a powerhouse on the offensive side & then to shut down the likes of Tim Duncan on the defensive side was just not reasonable. But now with Shaq, I expect some D.

Diaw. Has he decided to play? We all know that Diaw can dominate in the paint...when he wants to. Unfortunately, he completely wussed out last season. I want to see those turn around lay-ups we all came to love with Amare was nursing his knee back to health. C'mon Diaw...we all know you've got it.

Okay...my main man Z is awake now...I will end my rant there.

But one other thing -- I haven't even decided yet if I like Shaq with the Suns yet or not. Is it just me or can he be completely obnoxious??? Barkley had some of that (okay a lot of that too) but for some reason his obnoxiousness was way more endearing & funny for that matter. Oh yeah...and he took us to the finals his first year as a Sun...that can make a difference too.