Some New Guys

Hope springs eternal, as they say. I am thinking today of the Phoenix Suns, who I so loved in childhood. These days, basketball is further from my heart, but the Suns remain my favorite team. I have been swayed by the Dodgers, but I could never favor the Lakers or the Clippers over the Suns, despite the fact that the latter team has had hard times for the last few years. Their current owner Robert Sarver seems to be ill-suited to the task.

In any case, many of the people who have done a poor job for the team recently are gone, and change is always reason to hope, even if the new people are chosen by the same people who picked the old ones. There is a new general manager, who has gotten off to a reasonable start by hiring popular former Sun Jeff Hornacek as coach. I can't say whether his virtues on the court will translate well to his present duties, but one can hope.

There will be new players as well, including those drafted drafted yesterday (and the rounds yet to come). The Suns had two players come out of the first round. The first was Alex Len, an exceedingly tall Ukrainian who could well be an upgrade at the center position. I would have been reluctant to take on a player who is already hurt, and Len has some kind of ankle or foot problem. A man of his stature can hardly afford troubles there.

There's also Archie Griffin, who came at the end of the first round. He came out of Kentucky after his freshman season, which seems to be the way of things there under John Calipari. He seems to have promise, although who can say whether it might be realized? At the very least, he and Len bring that excitement of the new. Together with the one or two guys already on the team that are worth anything, perhaps they might help the team along to better days.