Despite nothing but success in both of his sunshine state stops, Stan Van Gundy has left a blaze of unforgettable exits from his two NBA head coaching tenures.

In Miami he wanted to spend more time with his family. In Orlando (despite compiling an impressive 259-125 record, going 31-28 in the playoffs), Dwight Howard apparently wanted no part of SVG in his basketball family.

And so, the outspoken, oompa-loompa looking brother of TV Analyst/Former Knicks and Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy is gone. Fired from a job he did exceptionally well in; One could argue, almost too well. A product of a team that exceeded expectations in a run to the 2009 NBA Finals, resulting in expectations that his team was never able to match from there on out. Questionable trades that netted guys like Vince Carter and Gilbert Arenas, ultimately cost the free-wheeling Magic the flexibility to improve a very flawed roster, and despite a beautiful palace of an arena in downtown Orlando, the Magic eventually maxed out, culminating in this season’s grand fiasco: a first round 5 game ouster to the Pacers with Dwight Howard saddled with back surgery.

2008-09: 59-23 / 1^st in Southeast / Defeated by Lakers in NBA Finals 4-1
2009-10: 59-23 / 1^st in Southeast / Defeated by Celtics in East Finals 4-2
2010-11: 52-30 / 2^nd in Southeast / Defeated by Hawks in First Round 4-2
2011-12: 37-29 / 3^rd in Southeast / Defeated by Pacers in First Round 4-1

The downward trend from championship caliber to first round fodder is easy to spot, as Orlando has dropped down at least a notch every season since their surprise 2009 Finals run. In 2011-12, a lockout shortened season, they just about dropped off the grid and if Howard leaves, they might not even contend for the playoffs at all.

So Van Gundy is gone. GM Otis Smith is gone. The last power broker left in Central Florida is ’so called’ Superman, who has put himself in an unenviable position. He can’t win any longer, unless he wins… in Orlando. But once again, despite supposedly getting his wishes for new leadership accommodated, Howard still reportedly wants out.

Good luck with that Dwight.

If he truly cares what people think, and if loyalty really matters, Dwight will stay. If he’s chasing a ring as his Twitter so adamantly suggests, then he’s gone too. The Magic have the league’s second largest payroll and they’re a franchise in total disarray.

But the way this mess has panned out in the public, ending in debris of blue and black scattered about, Howard has officially left himself as the last possible savior on a sinking ship. And an outstanding suspect for ruining a previously well run franchise. You can’t help but get the feeling he’s ready to jump.

But when he does inevitably skip town, he better be ready for the ridicule. If he thought this season was bad, wait till he goes somewhere else and faces LeBron like pressure. Everyone is already drinking the “Dwight can’t win a title as the go-to guy of a franchise” kool-aid. Just wait till he teams up with someone else’s star and the first time he falls short.

***

After those 2009 Finals, I wrote an article posing the question of whether Howard could make that next step: the step towards an unstoppable offensive game. I asked whether he was mature enough, whether he could be a true leader, whether he would take on the blame when things went wrong (and this was well before any sign of future turmoil was in sight).

Yes, he’s only 23, and yes, he didn’t even go to college, so he’s still relatively new to this whole “handling the pressure” thing, but if I had to give Howard a grade as a team leader, it wouldn’t be all that high.  What bothered me most is it was never anything he could have done better.  It was always someone else or the team.  The great ones take it upon themselves, but you never seemed to hear from Howard during this surprising playoff run that he would, “work harder” or “play smarter” or that his foul shooting “cost the team the game.”

For a player who has so much talent, and so much potential, it was somewhat disheartening to see that Howard still has a lot of growing up to do.  Even though he didn’t pick up a technical in the Finals, Howard needs to learn to control himself better.

3 years later those questions are as pertinent as ever.

Howard has yet to take that next step. And his likability and leadership skills have regressed to the point where some Magic fans want to run him out of the city. The same fans who were ready to erect a statue for the guy had he just kept his yap shut and gotten better.  While he’s improved his short shot, he’s still a two-trick offensive pony that is limited in his ability to take over games.

That contagious smile of his evolved into a sarcastic one, and all that good will behind the once great kid (doesn’t smoke, doesn’t drink, has strong faith) developed into diva-like tantrums and repulsive amounts of drama, unbecoming of a true ‘leader.’

The Magic were built around Howard and he is simply not good enough to anchor a championship team. There I said it.

He needs help. He needs a good support system that gives him advice which doesn’t run his once sterling reputation into the ground. Eh, it’s probably too late for that.

***

Back in January 2011 I interviewed Magic Director of Player Personnel, Adonal Foyle (who allegedly has interviewed for the GM position, though he denies it). I asked him at the time about Otis Smith’s decision to pull the trigger on getting rid of Mickael Pietrus, Marcin Gortat, Vince Carter, and Rashard Lewis. This is what Adonal told me:

“Nothing surprises me with Otis, because unlike most GM’s he’s constantly there.  He’s always present, he’s at every shoot-around, every practice, he travels with the team, he watches every single game that these guys play.  I think in many ways, when he does something it’s because he sees something.  He knows that something needs to get done.  He’s seen it.  It’s not theoretical, it’s very basic in practicality.  Obviously when you have guys that you’ve been with awhile, you’re emotionally connected to them and you obviously become a part of their inner circle of who they are.  But when things aren’t working and you make a change it doesn’t make it easy.  It just makes it business that you have to do.  Things that you don’t normally want to do, but it may be in the best interest of the team.  So I think those decisions have been very difficult to kind of lookout and watch, but at the same time I understand them.  I understood them in a way, just by being there, seeing how diligent he is, that he’s earned the right to make those decisions because of how he is as the general manager.”

Well, he’s not there any longer and that trade ultimately did Smith in, who had a few chances to reshape Orlando’s roster to elite status but failed. Bringing back Hedo flopped. Taking on Gilbert Arenas’ massive remaining contract was an epic fail. That trade brought on the demise of the team.

But Howard could’ve signed a contract extension for years, which would have in turn given the team superstar stability. Then maybe another star would have been interested in Orlando. He didn’t. No superstar washed up in the Magic Kingdom, and Howard was left with spare parts that shot themselves out of the playoffs. You already know about the on-again off-again trade rumors that persisted this past season, and that epic Van Gundy media shakedown was as awkward as it gets.

So now, after one of the strangest seasons one franchise has dealt with in some time, the Magic are starting anew, hoping their front-line center sticks this time, because they’ve bowed to his every need. The Magic are on their hands and knees worshiping at the altar of Dwight, fearing another decade of irrelevance if he bolts like Shaq.

Everyone is to blame for this epic disintegration of the team hierarchy, but Dwight is the poster-child.

The Magic have done everything they can to appease their centerpiece. Now the ultimate question becomes, does he really care?

Or is this all just one giant game for Dwight the puppeteer.

With the Magic literally on his strings.

Photo: AP

The Miami Heat were up 26-17 late in the first quarter, leaving a blaze of 10 made baskets in a row behind them. The mustard yellow t-shirt clad Midwest crowd was quiet, anxious, teetering on a brink of nerves that the star-laden Heat (even without their third guy Chris Bosh) were ready to blow game 3 wide open.

Dwyane Wade couldn’t shoot (in the first half he couldn’t even score!), but LeBron was playing well and Mario Chalmers was playing great. A few more stops and some points, and Miami could shut up the doubters, put together an impressive double digit lead, and head to Sunday with home court back on their side.

And then… well, none of that happened.

Miami lost their lead in the second, lost their cool in the third, and watched helplessly as the Pacers blew the lid off the 4^th sending a pissed off Wade and a deflated LeBron to the bench with 2 minutes left, as a wild crowd, revived by their terrific young team, stormed towards a 2-1 series lead.

There was no chest-bumping or screaming this time. Just some hugs, some confident scowls, and that look of a team playing with house money. Pacers versus the World.

Indiana 94 Miami 75.

It was just one game, but it felt like 4.  All the hard-work and energy Miami had put into their lockout-shortened season came undone, and the prohibitive favorite to stomp the East, suddenly looked back behind it where a hungry Indiana team wasn’t prepared to give an inch.

You want this series, come and take it.

Because it’s Indiana’s right now and not just because of Chris Bosh’s injury or Dwyane Wade’s slow decline. It’s because Miami’s inability to master a half-court set that consistently works is allowing bigger teams like the Pacers to swallow the lane, confounding Miami’s drivers to jump shooters. Miami’s 3 point gunners appear to have been gunned down.

The Heat have hit just 6 3’s in this entire series. They were 4-20 on this night. Shane Battier, the savvy veteran signing by Pat Riley this offseason missed all 7 of the shots he took. Mike Miller, the $30 million man, made 2, but took just 3 in total. There was LeBron clanks and Wade clanks and Chalmers clanks and by the time all the clanking was over, Miami needed to be clanked over the head, to remind themselves that they still knew how to shoot.

75 points in back to back games? That’s the Heat without Bosh?

Dexter Pittman? That’s their ace in the hole as a guy to slow down 7 foot 2 Roy Hibbert?

The Heat were supposed to have a plan by now. A blue-print. A backup idea.

What is it? Pray?

***

Miami got out to a quick start to begin this lockout-shortened season, and they did it by out-running the opposition. They decided to play small, and one of their strategies was to cool it on the jump shots and keep it in the paint. LeBron and Wade were part of this strategy and their 3 pointers were down considerably. James himself didn’t even shoot 3s at the start of the season.

It was working. Miami was playing fast and the opponent couldn’t contain them. While the D was slipping, the O was clicking. Miami looked unstoppable.

Early in the season in a game against Boston, rookie Norris Cole nearly imploded twitter with a spectacular 2^nd half performance to propel Miami to an early season statement win. With Battier on board and a healthy Miller and Udonis Haslem, Miami many believed, was the deepest team in the league.

Tonight they played 11 guys, not because they’re deep, but because they’re desperate.

The Heat have been unable to get into transition against the long armed Pacers and even when they’ve got into the open court Indiana has been able to control the madness. What you’re left with is a Heat team unable to penetrate the paint with any type of consistency, and a Miami team getting badly outrebounded 52-36. Miami had 9 assists on the night. Nine? Steve Nash gets that in his sleep.

Without Bosh the Heat have no go to guy in the paint, no suave long jump shooter with size. While Bosh is far from the perfect specimen he helps space the floor so that the Heat can have open lanes. But even with Bosh in the fold, Miami can’t win a championship unless they hit a three.

And forget championships, Miami isn’t going to get out of the second round unless they start playing like a team.  LeBron is a great player, Wade usually is too, but this 2 on 5 crap will not get it done. 3 on 5 is hard enough, but asking 2 guys to carry 1 team is damn near next to impossible.

If you don’t get contributions from everyone, if you don’t move the ball around and get guys easy shots in the paint, you’re going to struggle. No matter who you are.

So for the next few days Miami will get blitzed once more for being over-rated, soft, floppers, whatever.

The odds are already not in their favor to win 4 of 5, but history aside, the Heat need to be on the same page. It’s not rocket science. It’s called team basketball and it involves everyone filling their role.

The Heat have until Sunday to figure it out; To turn this around. To bring back home-court to their house. If they don’t, the consequences could be dire.

And the nation will be laughing.

Photo: AP

So question: What’s your favorite lacrosse movie? You can take all the time you need, but it’ll probably be a waste. Chances are, you’ve never seen a lacrosse movie (and no, American Pie lacrosse scenes don’t count), because the physical, hard hitting, fastest growing sport in the nation has never been depicted on the big screen. But all that changes on May 18th in select theaters (and June 1st nationwide and Canada), when CROOKED ARROWS, a movie devoted to the origins of the sport and its very culture, headed by a cast which includes Superman himself (Brandon Routh), makes its way onto the marquee.

It promises to be a spirited, entertaining, and long overdue arrival for one of the most challenging sports. And with the  2012 NCAA Final Four Lacrosse Tournament kicking off in Boston just a week later on Saturday May 26th, with the title game May 28th, it’s right in time to get you revved up for the sport’s biggest stage. And I doubt that’s a coincidence.

Check out the trailer below, and go to their official website, CrookedArrows.com for more details on the movie.

The NFL is in a sticky wicket. It’s the most popular league in the United States by a wide margin, and with popularity, comes a closer examination than any other sport. Then you throw in former players, young in their early 40’s going the suicidal route – possibly due to head injuries sustained while playing the game – lawsuits everywhere (over 500 former players are involved with numerous class action suits suing the league for various post-career problems), and you’re left with a sport teetering on the edge of potential – and hear me out here – extinction.

Football is fun to watch. It’s exciting, it’s violent, it’s an amazing experience live, and almost as good in HD at your local sports bar or on your couch. People love to gamble on it, build fantasy football teams through it, and use it to bond with friends and loved ones. It’s a passion passed on from generation to generation – a game evolving as the equipment and rules have.

Take Thanksgiving as a prime example; Aside from the floats, turkey (or steak), and family, what is the common denominator that most people take part in – watching football. ESPN spends more time talking about the buildup to the NFL Draft than they do the NHL Playoffs. Granted they own the rights (along with NFL Network) to coverage of the draft, but that’s not the point.

Think about a Sunday in the fall without football – or for that matter, a weekend in the fall where no football is played at any level. Picture a world where the game has been deemed too violent, banned from being played like a controversial book is burned. Picture the end of pigskin.

Picture yourself at high school – no Friday night game. Now you’re in college – no Saturday game. Now it’s Sunday – picture being at a sports bar showing nothing but bowling, baseball, and golf.

***

The NFL has been around since 1920 (3 years after the NHL got it’s waterlegs) and it’s the most attended domestic sports league on Earth when it comes to butts in the seat per game.  It’s one of the few things in life promised every year. With the exception of lockouts you will get a season. It’s almost a guarantee. But at its core, the NFL is a business. And at its core plenty of businesses fail, even after surviving for over 100 years: The NFL is 8 years away from that banner season.

But when you think about dynasties, nothing lasts forever. Before people understood just how dangerous the sport was medically it was played far more ruthlessly than it is today. But those same guys who gave their blood, sweat, and tears to get the game to where it is today are suffering the physical consequences later in their lives.

Some struggle to get out of bed. Some can barely stand. Some are simply broken souls. Does this sound like a system that works? A sport designed for the longhaul?

Is the NFL writing its death-certificate courteous of its style of play – which attracted most of the guys now suing it, who are trying to break it for perceived broken promises and lies about doing whatever it took to make the game as safe as possible?

Has the NFL with-held information over the years about the dangers of concussions? That seems to be the argument these former players suing them are now making. And when one scavenger sees a carcass, a whole lot of ‘em follow, which is why you’re seeing former players pouncing on these class action law-suits.

Do these players just want money? Or do they want to break the sport that broke them?

It’s such a complicated, sad situation: this tussle between what makes the NFL great and what makes the sport so wrong. Because let’s face it – if concussions and horrific head injuries lead to what we’ve been seeing — guys like Junior Seau taking their life at the age of 43 (this hasn’t been confirmed as his brain will be examined), then how do you let this game go on in its present form? How do you let kids play a game that harbors within it the power to ruin one’s life?

***

I’ve never found myself saying this before, but football is too powerful for its own good. It’s gotten too big, that it’s out of control. Its greatest strength (violence) appears to be it’s greatest detriment (horrifying head injuries). The players are stronger than before and the way we’re cutting out rules to keep these hulking 4.3 running monsters from killing each other continues to grow.

Talk has grown louder about eliminating one of the games most exciting and dangerous plays – the kickoff. Afterall, it’s hard to think of a more battle-like play than running 40 yards down the field at full speed to tackle a guy using his speed to go towards you.

But let’s say the NFL eliminates the kickoff, and starts each post-scoring possession at the 20. What’s next? Eliminating down the middle crossing patterns because two guys can violently collide while going after the same football? We see quarterbacks getting blind-sided all the time. How can we fix that? By forcing a QB to stay in a goalie-like crease where he can’t be touched for at least 7 Mississippi?

Roger Goodell is trying to make football safer – or at least advance the perception that it’s safer, but if you rip the guts out of what makes the sport so popular, you’re left with just skin and bones – and a game that quite frankly could wilt away.

You can suspend guys, fine them heavily, you can send warnings, and preach about it all you want, but at the end of the day these are violent-minded guys playing a barbaric sport that demands of them Gladiator like toughness. They’re paid to act, not to think.

Their natural instinct is to kill the other guy (not literally I’d hope).

But if that instinct is leading to these horrible traumatic injuries, which lead to CTE, which in turn lead to an uncomfortable number of players taking their own lives shortly after exiting the game, then how do you fix a wildly successful, albeit broken model?

Sure you can get concussions playing lacrosse or hockey but football is the biggest sport around, and when you’re the biggest, you’re always under the brightest lights.

If I was a parent I wouldn’t let my kid play organized football. Period.

There is way too much risk. But I love watching it on TV. I love going to games. I love cheering my team out the tunnel, and taunting the other team after a big hit. So do a lot of people.

I love writing about it, analyzing it, and talking about it. Articles like this may seem to go against that, but I really do love football.

I just don’t love its future the way things are going. In fact, in a sport where betting is a part of the fabric, I’d put healthy odds that the game we know today, could very much be gone in the near future.

Unless of course, the NFL knows something that we don’t: Which is how to make the game safe, while maintaining its integrity. Right now unfortunately, those things sound way too contradictory.

Photo: Getty

48 minutes.

Not 40. Not 42. Not 46.

In the NBA if you don’t play every minute of playoff basketball with untempered enthusiasm and smarts, you could be prone to the pitfalls of history. And not the good kind.

It was 95-71 with 8 minutes remaining, the Grizzlies had the lead. And then Rudy Gay got into the lane, stopped, and hoisted up one last shot which clanked cruely off the front of the rim, and Eric Bledsoe, got the ball, threw it up in the air, and the Los Angeles Clippers bench came flying onto the court, soaking in the remnants of one of the more remarkable comebacks in sports history.

What. Just. Happened?

Every great comeback needs fuel, and the Clippers triggered their remarkable run from nowhere with 5 big-time threes, turning a deficit that was once as large as 27, into a shocking (and I mean shocking) win. Kenny Smith compared it to panicking when the house is on fire. To further the analogy, this was George Costanza running out twice in the infamous Bozo the clown Seinfeld episode. This was a complete implosion.

The Grizzlies were up by as many as 20 in a furious 1st quarter ignited by 3s. And they continued to hold their lead, belting it out to 27. Caron Butler hurt, the Grizzlies appeared on their way to coasting to an easy win.

And then, the wheels fell off. The car skidded out of control, and the Clippers finished first in a race that they were being lapped.

How did L.A. pull it off? Watch the highlights and you’ll see a flurry of open court points, that quickly monsoon-ed into a mammoth run, and by the time Memphis attempted to recover, they were drowning in their own mistakes. The Clippers outscored the Grizz 28-3 down the stretch, and as the lead dwindled, you could feel the tension and see the lack of movement. Add it all up, and you get a historic collapse/comeback, the likes we haven’t seen since the 2002 Boston Celtics shocked the Nets.

Almost 10 years ago, on May 25th, Boston charged back from a remarkable 21 point deficit to beat New Jersey. Yet, the Nets responded with 3 straight wins to take the series. So who knows, maybe this is just a blip.

Or maybe it’s a giveway that the Grizzlies will long rue, should this series turn on this comeback.

We shall see. For those who watched the end of this one, you really had to see to believe.

The Bulls have overcome adversity before. With their 2011 MVP Derrick Rose shelved for nearly 27 games in this lockout shortened season due to various injuries, Chicago banded together, showing an impressive resilience and team resolve that helped them finish off the best record in the NBA for the second consecutive season.

They beat some of the NBA’s elite without their no-nonsense, shy in the spotlight superstar, including the team many expected to be in their way as they headed towards the East finish line: the Miami Heat.

Still, the Bulls had developed the type of bench and team chemistry that most teams could only dream of, and they were a unit confident in their abilities to make a deep, championship like run with the uber-talented Rose.

And then, in the midst of a comfortable win over an over-matched Sixers squad, in the first game of the 2012 Playoffs, all that hope, all those dreams, were splattered like a bug. Rose weaved into the lane with the outcome pretty much secured, poetically using his pogo like bounce step to sift through the D, when his greatest opponent defeated him, potentially breaking the hope of a Bulls team ready to take the next step. His health got the best of his jump, and the result was excruciatingly painful.

Rose heard his knee buckle as he went to jump off of it, and he crinkled to the ground, writhing in agony, quickly sending a party atmosphere in the Windy City into complete and total horror. This was Chicago’s nightmare. Rose’s health had failed him once more.  This time it was his knee, not his groin, ankle, toe, or mid-foot. And the end result, announced shortly thereafter, was a stunning banner headline: Rose tears ACL, out for Post-season, Olympics.

Down for several minutes,  he held his hands behind his head, gritting his teeth in torturous disgust, finally grasping his knee as he laid on his side. He was assisted off the court, as he hobbled off in front of a stunned crowd, disappearing into the locker-room, maybe taking Chicago’s very realistic title hopes with him.

In one swoop, all the comfort of a relatively easy win over a talkative Philly team had gone out the window. Replaced by pain, frustration, and prayers.

The road paved like never before for the Miami Heat to get right back to the Finals.

Chicago has won without Rose before, but they did it in individual games, bite size portions, one might say. Given a seven game series to adjust, it’s hard to see guys like Taj Gibson, John Lucas, and Luol Deng carrying the Bulls far into the NBA’s marathon post-season without their scoring stud. It’s almost unfathomable.

For the Bulls, it’s no longer about one guy stepping up, it’s about the whole team doing it: night in and night out, because no longer do they have their superstar to rely on. Rose is the versatility, quickness, and speed that transcends the Bulls from good to elite. He is the engine behind their true aspirations.

The Bulls can push and shove all they want, but it’s going to take a Herculean effort without Rose. It’s going to take luck. It’s going to take a master coaching job by Tom Thibodeau. And even then, it’s probably not close to enough.

Can the Bulls catch lightning in a bottle and then use it to electrocute their opponent? They look likely to beat Philly, but even that’s no guarantee.

That’s sports for ya. In less than a game, the Bulls went from contenders to pretenders, and Rose’s health moving forward has to be nerve-racking. He’s a young guy, but his style is conducive to injury. The way he uses his athleticism and body to move around the D makes him an elite player. You just hope that this doesn’t zap him of his mobility or his pizzazz. You just hope he rebounds from this next fall and that this doesn’t become a nagging issue. Like D-Wade’s Converse catch phrase: you hope that he falls down 7 times, and gets up 8.

Right now we don’t know what the future holds for Rose, but we do know this. If Miami wasn’t under enough pressure already to win the East, well this puts a hammer on that.

It also reminds us of this: Anybody is vulnerable to injury. They’re after all, simply human.

Even the best conditioning in the world doesn’t always over-come the crazy quirks of the human body. Rose was untouched en-route to the lane, and then that buckle. It’s the sound Bulls fans feared, in the same way that Heat fans are on constant guard that D-Wade’s knee doesn’t give out in similar fashion. The human body is not a joy-stick, some of these moves are not natural. All it takes is one moment to change the dynamics. All it takes is one moment to flip the script right out the window.

For the Bulls that came at the worst possible time: at the starting line of a marathon.

Photo: Reuters

Join us tonight on the site or on CoverItLive.com for our running commentary, thoughts, insight, and analysis on the 2012 NFL Draft. It’s sure to be a good time, and an interesting collection of characters that we’ll be breaking down. The fun starts at 7.

The NFL Draft is one giant crap shoot, but it’s also quite the circus. So we brought in our NFL Draft ringmaster, Mike Kaye to shed some light on 8 key NFL Draft questions. What did our NFL Draft expert have to say?

Here’s what we discussed:

1. Will Luck live up to the hype? 0:24
2. Luck or RG3? 0:54
3. Most underrated player in the draft? 1:56
4. Most overrated player in the draft? 2:58
5. Tannehill or Weeden? 3:47
6. Small school player poised to make a big time NFL impact? 4:36
7. Low character, high talent guy who can be a star? 5:38
8. Late round steal? 6:50

Sports run in cycles. For most franchises, tasting victory consistently is a hard fought process, that takes years of great drafting, deft trades, and savvy personnel at the top. It takes luck, skill, vision, facilities, and an owner committed to some kind of winning.

You don’t just luck into a championship. Titles don’t fall from the sky. They are not a right. They are not promised. They are exclusive moments earned by the few lucky ones who squeeze through the tightly guarded gates.

That’s sports in a nutshell. For every Los Angeles Lakers, New York Yankees, and Detroit Red Wings, there’s a bunch of other teams constantly trying to get over the hump, or to the hump, or close enough to see the light gleaming off the hump.

On Tuesday, the Phoenix Suns ran into that hump. Coming into the night as the 9 seed in a Western Conference only willing to admit 8, the Suns had to beat Utah in Salt Lake City to keep alive their playoff hopes. They lost.

But this was more than one team beating another. This was the sad, somewhat unremarkable end of an era.

The Suns don’t play their final game of this forgettable 2011-12 season until Wednesday, when they run into the fountain of youth Spurs, who keep trucking along as they reinvent their team slowly through a wheel of familiar faces and new youthful talent. Phoenix knows the Spurs well. If it wasn’t for the Alamo, Phoenix might’ve had a few championship parades in the first decade of the 2000’s.

Back then, the Suns had speed, effortless passing, a big man that could dominate, three point shooters that could stretch the court almost poetically, a once in a generation pass-first point guard who made everyone better, and a team that raced down the court sometimes in seven seconds or less, reviving a new type of basketball that got everyone’s attention.

Phoenix nonchalantly led the league in points way back when (usually hovering around 110), free throw percentage, and three point percentage. They were the most interesting, dynamic, well balanced unit in the sport. They were something else.

And now, they’ve been reduced to rubbish. An owner who has run the team into the bowels of mediocrity, Phoenix is in the worst place a team could be. They’re nowhere.  Phoenix’s favorite Sun is a free agent, despite his uncanny ability to still perform at career high levels, and after a nice, little run at the final playoff spot, its hard to think he comes back next year to do this dog and pony show all over again.

And why should he?

A once proud dominant franchise, which was the hottest ticket in the valley, was unable to sellout a single home game this season, and make all the excuses you want, that’s just a bit sad.

Sad because where they were, how they played, and what could have been.

Like life really. Coulda, shoulda, woulda.

What if they had kept Rajon Rondo and not traded him? What if they signed Joe Johnson to the big deal Atlanta was willing to give him? What if they hadn’t traded Quentin Richardson? Or half of their first round picks for empty cash to fill their banker of an owner’s wallet. What if they hadn’t brought in Terry Porter? Or Shaq?

What if things had ended differently?

In sports you don’t get do-overs on the past, but you can re-load for the future. What Suns fans are ruing is what they had: all those 50+ wins seasons, games where 7 guys would get in double figures, threes falling from the sky, Amar’e rocking the rim, and Planet Orange going ballistic.

The Suns used to be a treat to watch. It was like watching a track meet. Nash would pick and roll with Stoudemire who would either go to the hole for a ferocious dunk or one of the wingmen would get a wide open three, swing it around the perimeter, before burying a jumper from long distance. It looked so seamless at times. So video-game-esque.

There was nothing like it in sports.

Slowly the players changed, the bench was broken, a coach was fired, wing-men shipped out, draft picks dealt for nothing, and the one constant was one, Steve Nash. The beautiful Ferrari that was running like a well oiled machine, resembled something closer to the car that Cameron kicked in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. It was perfect, it was beloved, and then it was beaten to the ground.

And that quote: “You killed the car,” said Ferris to a shell-shocked Cameron.

The Suns had the prettiest, shiniest, most fun car to drive. And now, it’s a mess. It needs all kinds of fixes both inside and out. It’s old and worn down in some areas, new and un-broken in others. It looks weird, runs funny, and no longer stands proud in the driveway. People no longer admire it. It’s no longer a show-piece. It’s just another dingy automobile that used to be great.

The Suns used to be great. They were in many ways, special. But they never scaled Everest (aka: the Spurs), and then father-time caught up to them. They had to make decisions and they put their jewel in the wrong hands. Over the years what once was practically perfect turned nearly unrecognizable.

All that hope, that promise. Gone. A memoir of yester-year and the times where just getting to the Western Conference Finals was one stop short of the goal. Now, it’s been two years of no playoffs, and 3 in 4. The Suns, championship-less, yet far more successful than the majority of sports franchises since their inception 44 years ago, will likely be facing a makeover. One that could take years to perform. Screw up, and a decade could be lost. No one knows for sure.

They have no rising stars, just a host of broken toys revved up once more and a lot of quality bench guys who aren’t good enough to anchor a winner. They’re not bad enough to be broke, but not good enough to have a chance. They’re locked in nothingness.

Assuming Nash leaves for one last chance at a ring, they will have no stars. Mind-blowing given how loaded PHX was not too long ago. Talk about a fleeting memory.

In a town with 4 pro teams, their stock went up, soared into the clouds, and then crashed in a blaze of sadness smack dab in the middle of what could have been and what the hell do we do now.

The Suns are the college student who just graduated and stayed in their college town, clinging to all those great times. Locked into the nostalgia. Wishing they could get another crack at a time now passed. If they go home, they have to start over.How many people truly enjoy starting anew?

Sometimes it’s just safer to stay where you are. Phoenix infact, tried that for a few years, holding onto their iconic do everything point guard, Nash and Grant Hill, but with another season of middling mediocrity, the Suns find themselves smack dab in a horrible identity process. They can try to patch up a flawed car with some nicer parts or they can move on, count the memories, stick them in their back-pocket, and prepare for an unknown and hopefully eventually bright future.

Like the job market, the Suns have been rendered as nothing more than another face. They’re there, but so are a bunch of other suitors. It’s a crowded field, and a competitive market and it’s a scary thought when you don’t know what you want or who you want to be.

But that’s where they are.

Sometimes you have to face the music and admit to the reality. Other times you can try to get by with what you have.

The Suns tried to keep what little left that they had going. The music stopped.

There’s no more chairs.

An era is over.

That’s life. That’s sports.

That’s the vicious churning of the cycle.

Just a day after stating that he felt Olympic basketball players should be paid, creating a fascinating national debate about the essence of the Olympics, Miami Heat star Dwyane Wade retracted his statement on Thursday, saying, “I do not want to be paid to go to the Olympics.”

But what do you think? Should Olympic US basketball stars get paid for the time they put into training camps and the extra wear and tear they put on their bodies? The consensus here is that no, it should be enough of an honor to carry your country’s colors and that money should be the last thing from an athlete’s mind, especially one as rich as an NBA player. Just because Wade took back his statement, doesn’t mean he doesn’t feel like he should be compensated, just like Ray Allen feels. And if pros want to get paid, why not replace them with amateurs, who would kill for the opportunity?

Should Olympians be compensated? Or is the experience and the camaraderie enough to last a lifetime?

Just a day after stating that he felt Olympic basketball players should be paid, creating a fascinating national debate about the essence of the Olympics, Miami Heat star Dwyane Wade retracted his statement on Thursday, saying, “I do not want to be paid to go to the Olympics.”

But what do you think? Should Olympic US basketball stars get paid for the time they put into training camps and the extra wear and tear they put on their bodies? The consensus here is that no, it should be enough of an honor to carry your country’s colors and that money should be the last thing from an athlete’s mind, especially one as rich as an NBA player. Just because Wade took back his statement, doesn’t mean he doesn’t feel like he should be compensated, just like Ray Allen feels. And if pros want to get paid, why not replace them with amateurs, who would kill for the opportunity?

Should Olympians be compensated? Or is the experience and the camaraderie enough to last a lifetime?