Shannon Brown only able to sit, watch as Suns struggle
Feb 26, 2013, 12:03 AM | Updated: 12:08 am
A shower after the game Sunday was unnecessary for Shannon Brown. “I did it earlier,” he said with a grin.
Brown, like the 14,923 fans in attendance at US Airways Center, watched the Suns lose to the Spurs, 97-87. He never checked into the game. It was his fourth straight DNP-Coach’s Decision, the only four games he has missed this season.
“It bothers me every night,” he said. “It bothers me from when the first time I didn’t play. But I kind of felt it because my minutes was going down a little bit. You get that feeling, especially when you’ve invested as much as I am into basketball and basketball being my life and me loving it like I do. I got that feeling kind of and slowly but surely it started to happen.
“It hurts. It is what it is though. I understand it’s a business and I can’t take it too personal.”
Brown is the team’s fifth-leading scorer, averaging a career-high 11.2 points per game. This is the fourth-straight season he’s bettered his scoring output from the year before.
Yet, these days Brown finds himself on the bench.
With the fourth-worst record in the NBA, the Suns want to get a good look at some of the other players on the roster, those that haven’t seen much playing time.
Brown said he was talked to “but nobody gave me no real answer. They just sent me around the world and come back to nothing. I talked to them but they say all the stuff that in the end doesn’t justify why or give me a good reason of what’s going on.”
Said interim head coach Lindsey Hunter, “Nobody wants to sit and not play. I don’t want guys that are content with not playing.”
Last year, Brown found himself out of the rotation only to start the season’s final 17 games when Grant Hill was injured.
“I got to be professional about it,” Brown said. “When I get my number called again, get out there and try to be productive.
“It ain’t easy. I definitely think it’s undeserved. There’s a lot of things I could say but I’m going to just stay professional about the whole situation and let the season play out.”
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