Bad lawyering aside, let's get back to basketball. Our beloved Nuggets face off against the once-powerful Phoenix Suns at Pepsi Center tonight. It's hard to believe, but both the Nuggets and Suns are just 3-4 since the All-Star break, and sinking fast in the Western Conference (to be fair, the Nuggets had already sunk, they've just sunk further).Prior to launching this blog, I went on record stating that the Shaquille O'Neal trade was good for Phoenix in an email to my five friends who actually care about the NBA as much as I do. While the evidence thus far points to me being a complete fraud as an NBA expert, I still refer to Shawn Marion's pre-season trade demands, and his non-angry reaction to the trade when it happened that it was a necessary one. After all, when was the last time a player went from a top-three team to the worst team in the league, and was actually ok with it? Although I suppose when that "worst team" is based in South Beach - and as an NBA player you don't have to fuss with those night club lines - you could have worse problems.
As a side note: In trying to find an obscure yet interesting connection between the current incarnation of the Nuggets and Suns, the best I could come up with was to remind our fans that the Suns "offensive genius" of a coach, Mike D'Antoni, once commandeered the Nuggets to a whopping 14-36 record during the lockout shortened 1998-99 season (which would be the equivalent of 23 wins in an 82-game season for those scrambling to grab a calculator right now). D'Antoni was rewarded for his efforts by being canned at season's end by General Manager and eventual Lou Dobbs' supporter Dan Issel in favor of, well...Dan Issel. Anyway, if you think Karl is under a lot of pressure, consider D'Antoni's situation. While the Nuggets were just expected to win a playoff series or two (yes, I know it's pathetic that we've been reduced to wishing for a playoff series win), the Suns were expected to get to the NBA Finals, or their season would be considered a total failure. Where are the Van Arsdale twins when you need them?
Maybe when D'Antoni goes back to coaching Benetton Treviso next season, he'll bring Karl along as an assistant.