The young suns are in town and practicing (with the exception of lamps, who's in poland playing for the national team). This is an article about them. Even hunter is in town practicing.
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While there may be no box scores to go along with this week’s Suns pick-up games at America West Arena, the young players are certainly going at it like there are.
“I don’t know why you’d hold back,” rookie forward/center Jackson Vroman said. “I don’t think anyone does. Not me. If you hold back in practice, it carries over to the games. It’s habit forming.”
The 31st overall draft pick in this summer’s draft was just one of the Suns youngsters showing no fear during scrimmages on the practice court. Hot off his impressive performance in the Summer League, the Iowa State alum looks to keep his productivity going right through Training Camp, even though he wasn’t 100 percent happy with his initial showing in front of his new teammates.
“I was only a five today,” he added. “I wasn’t great today, but I’ve been working on jump shots and free throws. It’s coming along.”
As for Suns draft picks of the recent past, last year’s selections have been diligent about their summer workout time, too. Zarko Cabarkapa has been put through the paces, trying to negate all evidence of his injury-riddled rookie season from a year ago. He’s been at the arena all week playing full-court five-on-five.
“We’re working on his shooting,” assistant coach Alvin Gentry said about the Serbian forward. “The big thing for him is that he needs to get a little stronger. He’s got to get a stronger base, a stronger upper body. Obviously the skill level is there, so it’s just going to be up to him as far as the banging and him doing the things he needs to do to be able to get through that.
“I like his skills, but there are other things that need to be taken care of and put in place. I think he’ll do that.”
Following a solid rookie season at the point, Leandro Barbosa spent much of his summer training in his native Brazil. Barbosa’s first scrimmage back in the Valley had the point guard quickly realizing that there’s no substitute for the real thing. In other words it was a slightly intense homecoming.
“It was a very, very hard practice for me today,” Barbosa said. “I’ve been working hard this summer before practicing here. It was a little difficult for me today, but that’s good as long as I’m getting better.”
“I think we’re going to be good this year, and we’ll get to the playoffs. Everybody has the dream, and the dream is the championship. This is very important, and hopefully we’re going to make this happen.”
Center Steven Hunter also got a chance to pound the boards with his new teammates this week. Like Barbosa, the DePaul product believes personal stats take a backseat to the big picture.
“A good season for me is making it to the playoffs,” the 7-footer said. “To be a big contributing factor and to just give this team what it needs in the middle... If I can contribute with rebounding or blocking shots, just helping this team win will be satisfying for me.”
The free agent acquisition says these scrimmages also give the coaching staff a chance to get to know him through his personal brand of basketball.
“I just try to establish my foundation now of who I am, how I come to work every day and how I play out on the court,” he said. “My rebounding, my shot blocking… I’ve been working on scoring, so I’ve been showing my offensive game, too.
“Whenever I go out on the court, I give 110 percent. It’s all about getting in the best shape possible. We’re all working on our conditioning. Everybody here is trying to get into top NBA season game shape.”
The only youngster missing from this week’s scrimmages has been center/forward Maciej Lampe. He’s got a good excuse, though. After putting in more than his share of time on the AWA practice court this summer, the NBA’s first Polish-born draft pick is overseas with the Polish National Team playing in the qualifying round for the 2005 European Championship. He’ll be back in Arizona in plenty of time for Suns Training Camp which begins Oct. 4 in Flagstaff.
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I love these propaganda pieces that get you really excited before the season starts. Suns.com does the best job of that. If you read those articles before the season starts and don't read anything else you start believing that the suns really could win a championship. This piece isnt that bad though.
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While there may be no box scores to go along with this week’s Suns pick-up games at America West Arena, the young players are certainly going at it like there are.
“I don’t know why you’d hold back,” rookie forward/center Jackson Vroman said. “I don’t think anyone does. Not me. If you hold back in practice, it carries over to the games. It’s habit forming.”
The 31st overall draft pick in this summer’s draft was just one of the Suns youngsters showing no fear during scrimmages on the practice court. Hot off his impressive performance in the Summer League, the Iowa State alum looks to keep his productivity going right through Training Camp, even though he wasn’t 100 percent happy with his initial showing in front of his new teammates.
“I was only a five today,” he added. “I wasn’t great today, but I’ve been working on jump shots and free throws. It’s coming along.”
As for Suns draft picks of the recent past, last year’s selections have been diligent about their summer workout time, too. Zarko Cabarkapa has been put through the paces, trying to negate all evidence of his injury-riddled rookie season from a year ago. He’s been at the arena all week playing full-court five-on-five.
“We’re working on his shooting,” assistant coach Alvin Gentry said about the Serbian forward. “The big thing for him is that he needs to get a little stronger. He’s got to get a stronger base, a stronger upper body. Obviously the skill level is there, so it’s just going to be up to him as far as the banging and him doing the things he needs to do to be able to get through that.
“I like his skills, but there are other things that need to be taken care of and put in place. I think he’ll do that.”
Following a solid rookie season at the point, Leandro Barbosa spent much of his summer training in his native Brazil. Barbosa’s first scrimmage back in the Valley had the point guard quickly realizing that there’s no substitute for the real thing. In other words it was a slightly intense homecoming.
“It was a very, very hard practice for me today,” Barbosa said. “I’ve been working hard this summer before practicing here. It was a little difficult for me today, but that’s good as long as I’m getting better.”
“I think we’re going to be good this year, and we’ll get to the playoffs. Everybody has the dream, and the dream is the championship. This is very important, and hopefully we’re going to make this happen.”
Center Steven Hunter also got a chance to pound the boards with his new teammates this week. Like Barbosa, the DePaul product believes personal stats take a backseat to the big picture.
“A good season for me is making it to the playoffs,” the 7-footer said. “To be a big contributing factor and to just give this team what it needs in the middle... If I can contribute with rebounding or blocking shots, just helping this team win will be satisfying for me.”
The free agent acquisition says these scrimmages also give the coaching staff a chance to get to know him through his personal brand of basketball.
“I just try to establish my foundation now of who I am, how I come to work every day and how I play out on the court,” he said. “My rebounding, my shot blocking… I’ve been working on scoring, so I’ve been showing my offensive game, too.
“Whenever I go out on the court, I give 110 percent. It’s all about getting in the best shape possible. We’re all working on our conditioning. Everybody here is trying to get into top NBA season game shape.”
The only youngster missing from this week’s scrimmages has been center/forward Maciej Lampe. He’s got a good excuse, though. After putting in more than his share of time on the AWA practice court this summer, the NBA’s first Polish-born draft pick is overseas with the Polish National Team playing in the qualifying round for the 2005 European Championship. He’ll be back in Arizona in plenty of time for Suns Training Camp which begins Oct. 4 in Flagstaff.
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I love these propaganda pieces that get you really excited before the season starts. Suns.com does the best job of that. If you read those articles before the season starts and don't read anything else you start believing that the suns really could win a championship. This piece isnt that bad though.
