Brad Cesmat
A week away…
A wedding in Southern California, sons water polo tournament in Cedar City, Utah, hiking Bryce Canyon, and fishing at Lake Powell. It’s been a fast and furious seven days. A few items to go over.
-SUNS LOSE OUT ON GRIFFIN-
It should come as no surprise that Blake Griffin decided to stay with the Clippers rather than coming to Phoenix. When news broke Friday night that Griffin was re-signing with LA, I wasn’t mad at the Suns for not being able to get a deal done for a star(not super-star) player. In sports it’s pretty simple when it comes to recruiting a player and doing business. Agent of said-player(Griffin) floats out that his client will visit a city(Phoenix), agent makes sure that media knows the financial parameters of what the Suns could offer and then sits back and waits for the current team(Clippers) to make the deal work so said client doesn’t get on a plane and start the world tour of shopping his services. In short, use a team(Phoenix) to gain leverage and then get your deal done with the team that you wanted to be with all along. Pretty much textbook stuff when it comes to player movement. No one should be shocked by this. No one should be mad at the Suns, it’s the space that they are in right now. LaMarcus Aldridge, Blake Griffin, who-ever is next(Paul Milasp) will use the Suns for their benefit…
–KEN KENDRICK WEIGHS-IN-
Had a phone conversation with Diamondbacks Owner Ken Kendrick last week. Brandon Drury was the first player he brought up when talking about what has pleased him most with this team. Drury wasn’t a main cog when the trade of Justin Upton to Atlanta came down. It’s taken him four seasons to break-out, but the owner is VERY pleased. Kendrick is enjoying the product on the field, but even more so, off of it. The direction, decisiveness, and leadership being displayed by GM Mike Hazen has been, according to the owner, a big part in the teams overall success. I wrote and talked on our show during Spring Training of 2016 that-then GM Dave Stewart was looking at heading back to San Diego. Not throwing stones here, but you can’t have one toe in the water if your going to be in the front office of a pro sports team…
-SPIDER MAN HOMECOMING-
Made time to get to a screening of the new Marvel movie. Peter Parker has some growing up to do according to Iron Man. Michael Keaton was terrific(won’t be the last we see of him in this series). Plot twists and gasps throughout. A fun ride for about 1:50 of a two hour flick. 
-SPENCER RATTLER COMMITMENT-
IMO Rattler is a once-every-ten year high school QB prospect. Not knocking any other D1 QB that has come out of our state, but Rattler is a two sport star(he could be a high-end D1 hoops kid if he wanted to be) I 
think his verbal to Oklahoma is a smart move, but it’s just that…a verbal…Seen it happen over and over where a quarterback commits early(see Ryan Kelley to Oregon) and then something changes. On the surface going to a storied program like Oklahoma with a new head coach, makes all the sense in the world. HOWEVER, let’s just wait until the ink is dry on LOI day in 18 months. Lot’s can change…
