It sounds crazy but I trust the Cardinals more than the Suns

Did you see the crazy story of the Oregon woman who went into dental surgery with a regular old Oregonian accent and woke up with one that is part South African and part Irish? She has some kind of a rare condition that trigged her changed speech. One day you’re an accountant from Oregon. The next day….well….you’re still an accountant in Oregon but you sound like Angelina Jolie in some inane international spy flick.

Strangely, I can relate.

I was having a conversation with co-workers on Wednesday and in listening to the words coming out of my mouth I almost didn’t recognize them. They sounded foreign.

I trust the Arizona Cardinals more than the Phoenix Suns.

Yeah, I know. They look as strange as they sounded. These are words ten years ago I never would have thought, let alone typed. Yet there they are and I stand by them.

A couple of months before the NFL Draft, Auburn quarterback Cam Newton held a private workout. At this workout, the coach of the Cardinals stirred the imagination when he started to coach Newton up. Afterwards he shook Newton’s hand. That got us talking.

Keep in mind; this was before Newton moved to the top of everybody’s draft board. He was still thought to be obtainable by the Cardinals at number five and the party line among the draft gurus was that the Cardinals might just do it. Mercifully, his draft stock rose to the point where the Cardinals never had a shot at him and the fan base (at least the ones I spoke to) breathed easy.

I was never worried. I trusted the Cardinals to know that Newton was far too large of an undertaking; had too much to learn, too many things that needed to be coached out of him and would need too much time to convert that talent into something useable. It was never a concern for me.

I wish I could say the same thing about the Suns. They’ll pick 13th in the NBA Draft and I find myself hoping beyond hope that they pass on Jimmer Fredette out of BYU. Or that he’s not even there to tempt them.

If he is available, plain and simple, I don’t trust the Suns to not take him.

I don’t see his game translating to the NBA. He’s so one-dimensional it’s insulting to a second dimension to imply that Jimmer has one. I’m not buying the comparisons to Steve Nash at this stage in his life and even if I did, it would be a stretch to presume he follows a similar arc.

But that’s not why I don’t trust the Suns. I fear they’ll look at Jimmer and see buzz. Ticket sales. Jerseys in the team shop and butts in the seats. They’ll see a guy who can sell it even if he can’t be it. He’s not the best player in this draft, but he is the most recognizable and that is beyond dispute. I don’t trust the Suns to take a pass on that.

He’s the NBA’s version of Tim Tebow and I fear the Suns will jump at the chance to get their Tebow if he’s available at number 13.

And that’s why I hope somebody else picking ahead of the Suns sees him the same way and takes the decision out of the their hands.

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