|  | | Marbury and Hardaway form the heart of the new Suns. |
They've been scorched for so long, and the desert heat had nothing to do with it. But this season, Stephon Marbury and Penny Hardaway have risen out of the ashes of their naysayers' criticism to raise the Suns' hopes, writes Marc Stein in his weekly NBA report.Chat wrap: Senior NBA writer Marc SteinDiscord in Dallas? | Love lottery live, too?
| STAT OF THE WEEK |
7 That's where Cleveland's Ricky Davis ranks among NBA scoring leaders at 23.2 points per game, prompting Miami's Pat Riley to admit that maybe -- just maybe -- dealing Davis for Chris Gatling wasn't his best trade. "If that (continues)," Riles concedes now, "then we've made a huge mistake."
|
| STAT OF THE WEAK | 3.7 That's Raef LaFrentz's rebound average this season … season No. 1 since signing a seven-year, $70 million contract in the summer. The Mavericks, while obviously relieved that Shawn Bradley has offset Raef's struggles with two good months, have to hope that LaFrentz gradually regains the mobility and confidence still missing since his return a month ago from a severe ankle sprain. LaFrentz suffered the injury on the second night of the season and has mostly found foul trouble in his 14 games back: 4.1 fouls per game in an average of 22.3 minutes.
|
| SPEAK OF THE WEEK |
 "That team is the best team in the league. There's no question about it."
—New York's Latrell Sprewell on the Dallas Mavericks ... and Spree swears he isn't just saying so because he wishes the Mavs would trade for him.
|
Marc Stein, the senior NBA writer for ESPN.com, writes "The Stein Line" every Monday during the season. To e-mail him, click here.
| |
| STEIN SIDELINES |
SLAMS AND DUNKS
 Recent speculation about Vince Carter being traded to Cleveland for Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Darius Miles, if you can even deem it speculation, was understandably scoffed at by Raptors general manager Glen Grunwald. For even if the Raptors were game for a swap of the injury-plagued Carter for the injury-tortured Big Z straight up, salary-cap strictures would prevent it. Carter is a base-year player, in the first year of his new max contract, meaning he can be traded only for someone earning half as much ($5 million) as he does until July 1. The news is that this will apparently come as a disappointment to the struggling Miles, who is said to have unleashed quite the frustration tirade in the locker room last week at Cavs coach John Lucas. Limited to just 17 games this season because of knee trouble, Miles is shooting 38 percent from the floor and hasn't looked at all like the player who had Stein Line staffers (all one of us) drooling in the preseason. Seems Luke, then, has a new fire to squelch on this combustible squad of talented prospects. Let's see how this one turns out after he got Ricky Davis to stop squawking and to focus on scoring.
More Slams and Dunks
MAILBAG
 Interesting anecdote recently about LeBron James and Michael Jordan playing pickup ball together. But you seem to think the most important question raised by that story is whether or not LeBron can play with the big boys. I think a much more significant question is: Why were Jordan and the Wizards not punished? Earlier this year, the Cavaliers were hit with a stiff fine -- and their coach suspended -- for daring to have James present at an offseason workout.
The circumstances are different. Even though we all know that MJ unofficially still rules the front office in D.C., he isn't a member of the Wizards' management team officially. He surrendered that status when he came back as a player (again), and players aren't forbidden from fraternizing with players during the offseason. So, technically, there is no violation.
More Mailbag responses
|
|
|
|
|
