Brad Cesmat
If Mat Ishbia had just backed away from the “send” button on green-lighting the Kevin Durant trade from Brooklyn, where would we be today?
I was watching the Suns get boat raced the other night by Oklahoma City. The Thunder are young, fun, and lead the Association in defense. Meantime, the Suns looked a step slow, not much fun, and got destroyed by 31. Even if Durant had played they would’ve still been outclassed on the court.
ESPN on Thursday was going with the Suns locker room is “toxic” angle.
Anyone defending this team now is simply on the payroll or has an “in” for free tickets and parking. Not the way we are supposed to do this business. The “all is well” crowd is slim to none.
Durant is arguably the best player in the NBA, but I’d take the Western Conference rosters of(in no particular order) OKC, San Antonio, Denver, Golden State, Minnesota, Memphis and Houston over the Suns.
My stance has been let’s see how things look in mid-March when players start to wake up and stretch for the playoffs, but this roster and style of basketball isn’t close to being good enough to make a run even into May.
Ishbia is on his third head coach. He’s brought in new blood to the front office. He has leftovers from the previous regime still on the payroll. Who does he blame when the jerseys are turned in to the equipment guys and the players are walking out with trash bags in mid to late April? Who is next to go? Durant can’t be happy sitting here with a roster that has glaring holes. Bradley Beal has a contract that any athlete in any sport would love to have in their back pocket. Saying “I hold all the cards” will go down alongside of “Organizational advocacy” on my list of bad lines in Arizona sports history…
Like the way the schedule fell for Arizona State football, but it’s been just over a month since they went to the Peach Bowl. Is it possible to savor a fun season rather than sit here for eight months wondering if they can do it all over again? 
Visiting with many ASU fans it feels like forgetting the loss to Texas is easier by looking ahead to the season opener against Northern Arizona. No, losing should hurt. Losing should sting. Losing is not something that should be pushed aside. Losing creates grit. We have people in youth/high school/club sports trying to take the grit and growing that comes out of losing. Same goes for the college game…
Didn’t like how the Arizona State – Arizona basketball game went down. Didn’t like how the coaches handshake afterwards didn’t happen. Didn’t like Bobby’s postgame. Didn’t like having CBS Hall of Famer Bill Rafftery saying on the air, “what a shame the way this game is ending”. Didn’t like hearing that the student section was on Hurley. Didn’t like that Jayden Quaintance was getting crushed on social media for missing free throws with 4.1 seconds left on Tuesday night. The kid is Amar’s Stoudemire part two, you really want to chase him off to another school? Don’t like that Desert Financial Arena renovation is nowhere near a drawing board. We are back to yet another discussion about if Bobby leaves and who the next coach would be. This was supposed to be a super talented team that played a tough schedule in the preseason and would be a factor in the Big 12. Believe it or not, there’s still time to turn things around before the conference tournament (I’m not getting free tickets or parking from ASU). Losing can help a team get stronger. UCLA was putrid earlier this season. Arizona fans were not happy with their coach when the team was 4-5 after losing to UCLA here in the Valley. Remember? Arkansas goes to Kentucky and has no business in winning, but they do…
If you haven’t seen the job that Molly Miller is doing over at Grand Canyon University with her women’s basketball team, you’re missing out. 21-2. Beat both Arizona and Arizona State and haven’t lost a game since mid-November when they fell at #23 Oregon. THAT is getting it done…
Well, we know who want in our group if we are playing in the Diamondbacks golf events.
Tim Hovik of @santanford is blown away by having Corbin Burnes on his Pro-Am team… he drove the green on Hole 1. pic.twitter.com/MUJB1KlAML
— Jordan Spurgeon (@spurge_) February 5, 2025
Good for Katie Raml!
A bittersweet announcement… ❤️ After more than 24 years at ABC15, main anchor Katie Raml has announced that she is going to be stepping away from the desk in the coming months to spend more time with her family. MORE: https://t.co/svWah7Wtpl pic.twitter.com/dukgvbI5df
— ABC15 Arizona (@abc15) February 7, 2025
