PHOENIX (3TV/CBS 5) — Be sure to catch the Phoenix Suns season preview show, which will include players looking back on the careers of Shawn Marion, the ninth pick in 1999, and Amar’e Stoudemire, who was also the ninth pick but in 2002. The show will also feature the Suns’ new Big 3: Bradley Beal, Devin Booker and Kevin Durant.
Suns’ owner Mat Ishbia says it was an honor to work on getting Marion and Stoudemire inducted. “I’m an NBA fan,” he said. “Watching these players and seeing these superstars, and know what they meant to not only to Phoenix, to the Suns, to the community but also to the NBA. These are superstar players.”
“They were exciting basketball,” said Suns’ new guard Bradley Beal. “Shawn and Amar’e, what they were able to bring — their athleticism to the game. Shawn’s tenacity on defense, his ability to kind of be able to be the first three and D guy that we’ve ever seen. You were scared of him, you know. You feared Phoenix whenever they came into town or came into Phoenix.”
“You know, this is a very storied franchise,” said Suns’ guard Devin Booker. “Both of those guys are pillars of that era. That’s more of my era that I grew up watching.”
“When I got to Phoenix,” forward Kevin Durant said. “I looked around, and I was thinking the names that — who should be on there (Ring of Honor), and those are two guys that you think about.”
Suns coach Frank Vogel said of the new big three, Bradley Beal, Devin Booker and Kevin Durant, “It’s a nightmare.”
“When you try to slow down one, you have to come and double-team,” he said. “If you don’t double-team them, they will torch you. And if you bring two to the ball with any one of (them), and the other two are on the backside, you’re dealing with a pick-your-poison type of situation as a defensive coordinator.”
Beal recently became a Sun in June after he and his fellow Wizards were traded in a three-team deal also involving the Indiana Pacers. Phoenix gave Washington Chris Paul and Landry Shamet, five future second-round picks, four future pick swaps and cash consideration. They also gave Indiana one future second-round pick, as well as Washington giving up a future second-round pick to Indiana.