Fade to Orange

We come to the present day in our brotherly series featuring a pair of 7-footers from Stanford University. The 2008 NBA draft was the beginning of an odd Suns trend of selecting the less-talented brother of other NBA draft picks.

Brook’s Brother?: Brook and Robin Lopez

Photos by Barry Gossage/NBAE via Getty Images and Lucy Nicholson/Reuters

Brook Lopez • Position: C • *Career Stats: 17.4 PPG, 7.6 RBD, 1.7 BLK, .504 FG% • Teams: Nets

Robin Lopez • Position: C • *Career Stats: 5.9 PPG, 3.3 RBD, 0.8 BLK, .536 FG% • Teams: Suns

Nothin’ But Nets: It’s amazing how twin brothers can be so similar, yet so different. Brook and Robin Lopez look identical, but unfortunately for the Suns, Brook seems to have kept most of the good NBA genes for himself.  Taken 10^th by the New Jersey Nets, Brook became the starting center for the Nets in his first year and has consistently improved over his three-year career averaging 13, 18, and 20 PPG respectively. He finished third for the Rookie of the Year award and was named to the All-Rookie first team. With the Nets hoping to keep Deron Williams and with a move to Brooklyn coming soon, Brook’s star is set to rise quite high.

Fro-pez: After Robin made a name for himself as a block-machine at Stanford he was drafted 15^th by the Suns with the hope he could be the defensive anchor the Suns sorely needed. However, he had a less than stellar rookie year, averaging just 3 points per game along with 2 rebounds. He seemed to improve during his second year averaging just over 8 points per game while grabbing 5 rebounds. There was hope Robin could be a solid center and the Suns could worry about filling other positions, but he regressed and eventually lost his starting job to Marcin Gortat. But let’s be honest, it’s got to be hard to keep your starting job with a nickname like “Fro-pez” when your competition is known as “The Polish Hammer.” Let’s hope for the Suns’ sake that Robin’s career hasn’t already set.

Part two of our Suns fraternal love adventure brings back a person Suns fans may remember: Wesley Person. This would be the first brother of another NBA player the Suns would have in almost 20 years.

Person to Person: Chuck and Wesley Person

Photos by Getty Images

Chuck Person • Position: F • Career Stats: 14.7 PPG, 5.1 RBD, 2.8 AST, 3P% .362 • Teams: Pacers, T-Wolves, Spurs, Hornets, Sonics, Lakers

Wesley Person • Position: SF • Career Stats: 11.2 PPG, 3.3 RBD, 1.7 AST, 3P% .418 • Teams: Suns, Cavs, Grizzlies, Blazers, Hawks, Heat, Nuggets

The Rifleman: Chuck Connor Person was the 4^th pick in the 1986 NBA draft and went on to win the Rookie of the Year award. Chuck played for the Pacers, T-Wolves, Spurs, Hornets, Sonics, and Lakers (although he was waived by the Lakers nine days after being traded, so never actually played a game for them.) He was known as “The Rifleman” for his ability to shoot the long-ball and because he was named after Chuck Connors, star of the TV show The Rifleman. Chuck played thirteen seasons in the NBA, with his team going to the playoffs in eight of those seasons. Chuck has gone on to become an assistant coach for the Pacers, Kings, and Lakers. Interesting side note: As an assistant coach, Chuck Person was instrumental in transforming Ron Artest from an immature authority-fighting player to the tranquil Metta World Peace we know today.

Nickname-less: Wesley Person was drafted by the Suns with the 23^rd pick in the 1994 NBA draft. Wesley was also known as a skilled three-point shooter and played well for the Suns helping them reach the playoffs in each of his three seasons there. However, the love didn’t last, and he was dealt during the 1997-98 season to the Cleveland Cavaliers with the Suns ending up with Antonio McDyess from Denver (who Suns fans will fondly remember being stabbed in the back by when McDyess went right back to the Nuggets the following year.) The 97-98 was probably Wesley’s best season when he led the NBA in three-pointers made with 192. Although Wesley played solidly, he saw his minutes slip as time moved on and eventually bounced around several more teams before retiring after 11 seasons in the NBA. He was never as well known as his sharp-shooting brother, but ended up with a higher career three-point percentage. Perhaps he should have gotten a cool nickname like “The Archer” or “The Sniper,” but alas, there were no famous TV characters sharing the name Wesley Lavon Person.

Move over Philadelphia. Not only does Phoenix share the first two letters of your name, but it also seems to have an affinity for brothers. On June 23rd of this year, the Suns drafted Markieff Morris just seven minutes before the Houston Rockets took his twin brother Marcus Morris. This was coincidently the amount of time separating them at birth. It was the feel-good story of the NBA draft, and a nice moment to watch. It got me thinking, however, about all the recent draft picks the Suns have spent on brothers of other NBA players. Let’s take a look back at all of the fraternal combinations the Suns have been a part over the years.

Part one of our series takes us all the way back to the founding of the Suns franchise in 1968.

Mirror Images: Dick and Tom Van Arsdale

Photo by Dick Raphael/NBAE via Getty Images

Dick Van Arsdale • Position: G-F • Career Stats: 16.4 PTS, 4.1 REB, 3.3 AST, .464 FG% • Teams: Knicks, Suns

Tom Van Arsdale • Position: G-F • Career Stats: 15.3 PTS, 4.2 REB, 2.2 AST, .431 FG% • Teams: Pistons, Royals, Kings, 76ers, Hawks, Braves, Suns

Dick and Tom share a close connection with Markieff and Marcus. They were also selected back-to-back in the NBA draft if you can believe that, albeit not as high as the Morris twins. Dick headed to the Knicks while Tom left for Detroit in 1965.

The Sun Rises: Dick Van Arsdale was the Suns first pick during the expansion draft when Phoenix first established its NBA team in 1968. During his nine years with Phoenix, Dick Van Arsdale was a three-time All-Star and was part of the Suns’ amazing run to the NBA finals during the 1975-76 season. He is known as “The Original Sun” and was inducted into the Ring of Honor in Phoenix. He is currently the vice president of basketball operations for the Suns.

Journeyman: Tom Van Arsdale played for several teams over his 12-year career. He and his brother were both named to the All-Rookie team in 1966. He was also a three-time All-Star. Tom still holds the record for most career games played without a playoff appearance at 929 games. A trade to the Phoenix Suns in 1976-77 united the brothers on the same team for the first time since college. Both brothers retired from the Suns after the 76-77 season ended.

While last night’s loss was certainly disappointing, there was one great thing to come out of it, this fantastic picture of Robin Lopez and Tyson Chandler fighting for a rebound courtesy of Rob Schumacher with The Arizona Republic.

The image lends to dozens of humorous captions, but before I share mine, let’s hear yours. Post yours in the comment section below, if it’s funny enough you may just win a prize.

A win tonight against the Utah Jazz would give the Suns something they haven’t had all season…a win on a Tuesday.

The Suns are 0-3 this season in games played on Tuesdays. They have lost to Denver and twice to Portland.

A win tonight would also give the Suns a season sweep over the Utah Jazz.

With the big wins over the New Orleans Hornets and Boston Celtics this weekend, the Phoenix Suns have accomplished something they haven’t all season long, a winning record in a month.

The W last night against the Hornets gave the Suns their 8th victory in January as they were able to finish the month with an 8 and 7 record. The Suns are also now 2 games under 500 on the season with a 22-24 record overall.

The Suns had .500 or below records for each of the 3 months prior to January:
October: 1-2
November: 7-7
December: 6-8

Let’s hope that January was just the first sign of brighter days for the Suns and they can keep this momentum going.

Still on a high from the two big wins for the Suns this weekend? Let’s keep it going…

This video has been getting a lot of buzz this week. Nick Corales of the Phoenix Suns Verve Sol Patrol, gets a little too much air on his dunk at the Suns Bobcats game this week and finds himself dunking himself. Amazing that he wasnt hurt.

Just when all hope of having a successful season was about lost the Suns beat the Knicks and put together a 5 game win streak. Hope was restored! Talk switched from trading Nash and blowing up the team to whether we could beat a team like the Spurs or Lakers in the playoffs. The Suns looked like they could easily extend the streak to 8 with Detroit, Philly and Charlotte up next, but we were all duped.

Suddenly these new hope Suns disappeared in the fourth quarter in Detroit and didn’t show up in Philly, losing both games and causing us to lose faith in them again.

Sure in a normal season going 3-2 on a long East Coast road trip would be considered acceptable, understandable or even good, but not this season when they need every win at this point, especially against sub-500 Eastern Conference teams. Now, tomorrow’s game against the Bobcats seems a little tougher and then we have the Celtics and Hornets this weekend. It’s possible that this time next week the Suns will be on a new 5 game streak, a losing streak!

Of course it’s also possible the Suns come home with a chip on their shoulder and reel of some big wins at home and give the fans that glimmer of hope to hold on to.

It was a busy weekend for the Suns with two big road games and 1 very big trade.

Steve Nash posted this video earlier today to give his thoughts and to talk about tonight’s game against the Spurs.