--Along with the rest of the basketball world, the Suns mourned the passing of Wayman Tisdale, who died tragically from cancer at age 44. The 6-9 forward who went on to become a Grammy-winning jazz musician ended his 12-year career with the Suns and was always greeted warmly by fans upon his returns to US Airways Center.
"On the court, he was an offensive machine that could score with the best of them," former Suns assistant coach and now Mavericks president Donny Nelson said. "Off the court, he was grounded in faith and family. He affected lives through the vehicles of sports and music that few others ever will. It's a huge loss." --It was a tough week for former Suns forwards. A few days after Tisdale's passing, former Sun Brian Grant went public with his battle against early Parkinson's disease. His former Suns teammate Pat Burke was one of the first people Grant confided in before talking about his struggles with ESPN.
The 37-year-old Grant played the final season of his 12-year career in Phoenix, appearing in only 21 games. He endeared himself to his teammates quickly and had several of them out deep sea fishing on his boat several times after leaving the team.
--The Suns had only a 1.8 percent chance of moving up in the draft lottery and, unlike the Kentucky Derby, the longshot never had a chance. And so Phoenix, who was the only team in Secaucus, N.J., with a winning record, remain saddled with the 14th pick -- only one spot better than last season when the Suns took Robin Lopez at No. 15 with Atlanta's pick.
That leaves plenty of names in the hopper, from Pittsburgh rebounding machine DeJuan Blair to shooting sensation Stephen Curry of Davidson to Arizona's Chase Budinger and about a dozen other players with similar credentials.
--As expected, the Suns made Alvin Gentry's hiring official and signed him to a two-year, 3.7 million deal with an option for the 2011-12 season. That's not great money in today's market, but with Phoenix on the hook for Terry Porter (two more years on his deal), Gentry didn't figure to get a market-value deal.
QUOTE TO NOTE: "Wayman lived a blessed life. He did more in 44 years than most people can do in 88 years." -- Former University of Oklahoma coach Billy Tubbs, Wayman Tisdale's college coach, at the funeral service for the former Sun who died of cancer on May 15 at the age of 44.
