PORT ST. LUCIE, FL - MARCH 7: Tony Clark, executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association talks to the media prior to the spring training game between the New York Mets and the New York Yankees at First Date Field on March 7, 2018 in Port St. Lucie, Florida. (Photo by Joel Auerbach/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Evan Drellich argues that commissioner Rob Manfred’s biggest problem in the upcoming labor talks may not be with the players but rather with the owners over the control of TV rights. (The Athletic sub. req.) Tom Ricketts is featured as an enemy of Manfred’s plans.
Michael Baumann notest that between the Padres’ signing of Buehler, Griffin Canning and Germán Marquez this past three-day weekend, Preller is casting a wide net in order to find a 4th starter. He also writes about the Padres signing of Nick Castellanos over the weekend.
We are just two weeks away from the kickoff of the 2026 World Baseball Classic in Tokyo. Michael Clair has one key player for all 20 teams.
New Giants manager Tony Vitello said the team will consider calling pitches from the dugout, like NCAA teams do. (The Athletic sub. req.) The Rockies have said they will “experiment” with calling pitches from the dugout this year and the Marlins did for a few games last year.
From left, Detroit Tigers starting pitchers Framber Valdez, Jack Flaherty, Justin Verlander, Tarik Skubal and Casey Mize pose for a photo during Verlander’s introductory press conference at the 34 Club of Joker Marchant Stadium in Lakeland, Florida, on Feb. 12, 2026. | Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
World Series or bust y’all! Ok, this is baseball. It’s a rare team that can actually expect to win a World Series title in a given year. Even the highest projected odds for the mighty Los Angeles Dodgers to win the World Series again this year are only 27.3 percent, and by baseball standards those are incredibly good odds. Only the Mariners, Mets, and for some reason, the Braves, even have odds a little over seven percent to win the World Series.
Of course, fan isn’t short for “reasonable observer” and there’s no reason not to let your hopes fly as high as possible, as long as you can deal with the likelihood of them getting dashed on the rocks as usual. In the past two weeks, the Tigers have added roughly 3 wins to their projections, depending which system you ask, by replacing Reese Olson with Framber Valdez and then bulking up the rotation with Justin Verlander. The effect of that influx of talent and depth should improve the bullpen as well and keeps replacement level pitchers from having to cover innings.
For myself, it’s time the Tigers won the AL Central for one, and it would be a failure of the season if they don’t. Beyond that, they’ve been deep in the ALDS each of the past two seasons. If they could finally win through, I’d ultimately be pretty happy with the season, even assuming that a crushing defeat lies ahead in the ALCS or World Series. If they could even get to the World Series it would be a huge success after a 14 year absence.
How about you? It’s tough knowing this is their likely last shot with Tarik Skubal leading the way. Players have to take a World Series or bust approach publicly, and fans certainly can live or die with their club wanting to win it all. But, what would constitute a successful 2026 season in your mind?
The new face of the franchise, Colson Montgomery, sports the pinstripes on Photo Day as he prepares to lead the youth movement in 2026. | Getty Images
Spring Training in Glendale is officially in full swing, and if you haven’t already muted the “Chris Getz is building a team of 2023 roster castoffs” jokes on X, now might be the time. The biggest buzz at Camelback Ranch isn’t just the desert heat; it’s the arrival of Munetaka Murakami. While most of the roster is easing into their routine, Murakami is ramping up for the World Baseball Classic. The Sox are banking on that high-stakes environment keeping his timing sharp, which is a bold strategy for a guy adjusting to MLB velocity. But hey, seeing him and Colson Montgomery side-by-side in the infield at least gives us something to dream about while we wait for the Cactus League opener against the Cubs this Friday.
On the “project” front, Erick Fedde is back for a second act on a one-year flyer, and the early reports suggest he’s already tinkering with his hand break to fix the mechanical mess that was his 2025. Meanwhile, the front office continues its quest to collect every available depth piece with a recognizable last name, apparently signing DarrenBaker (son of Dusty) to a minor-league deal.
Darren Baker, the son of future Hall of Fame manager Dusty Baker, is working out on the back fields of the Chicago White Sox. He officially signed a minor league contract after being with the Washington Nationals and likely will open the season at Triple-A Charlotte.
Whether any of this translates to more than 60 wins is a conversation for another day. For now, the pinstripes looked crisp at yesterday’s Photo Day, and the optimism is palpable.
Yes, it’s early, and we all know the drill. It’s mid-February, the sun is hitting the back fields at Camelback Ranch, and hope is really the only thing we have in abundance before the actual games start exposing the flaws. But with the LuisRobert Jr. era officially over (still feels weird seeing him in Mets blue), the 2026 iteration of the White Sox is definitely leaning hard into the “Youth” movement, which does bring some excitement. And one thing is for certain, manager Will Venable has a lot of pieces to move around, with the general consensus being that the kids are finally getting the keys to the South Side. Between the high-OBP profile of Chase Meidroth, the sheer “juice” Murakami and Montgomery bring to the middle of the order, and the All-Star caliber catching duo of Kyle Teel and Edgar Quero, the 2026 lineup might actually — dare I say — force a pitcher to break a sweat in the fourth inning.
So, grab your sunscreen and settle in. If Murakami’s power is as real as the desert heat and the kids can maintain that second-half swagger from a year ago, we might actually find ourselves enjoying South Side baseball again before the 162-game marathon is through.
Toppin, the reigning Big 12 Player of the Year and projected first round NBA draft pick, had 20 points and eight rebounds before the injury. The Red Raiders (19-7, 9-4) would go on to lose to the Sun Devils, 70-67, but the defeat was far less concerning than Toppin's status.
Toppin was attempting to drive to the line in transition but lost his balance and had the ball blocked out of bounds. He stayed on the ground for a period, holding his right leg and asked for trainer Mike Neal to come over and help him.
Gut-wrenching.
You hate to see a guy like JT Toppin go down. He has been one of the absolute best players in the country this year.
You simply cannot replace that kind of impact. Praying for him.
Coach Grant McCasland and Neal had to help Toppin off the floor as Toppin was not able to put his full weight on his leg.
"I just know he's really disappointed. He's such a competitor," McCasland said postgame.
Texas Tech, a No. 3 seed in USA TODAY Sports' latest bracketology, can't afford to lose Toppin, who was on his way to an All-American season. Toppin was coming off a 31-point, 13-rebound effort in Texas Tech's win over then-No. 1 Arizona on Feb. 14.
Toppin is averaging 21.8 points and 10.8 rebounds per game this season.
"Hate to see a guy go out of the game like that," ASU coach Bobby Hurley said afterward. "One of the best players in the country."
On a personal level, this absolutely sucks for JT Toppin. Watching him become the player he is now the last 2 years has been a joy. Rare to cover players that dynamic. No idea what the future holds for him but no doubt he'll attack this like he has everything else.
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA - SEPTEMBER 8: Dominic Smith #7 of the San Francisco Giants hits a two run home run a game between the Arizona Diamondbacks and the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park on September 8, 2025 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Suzanna Mitchell/San Francisco Giants/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The Atlanta Braves made a minor move on Tuesday and added infielder Dominic Smith on their list of non-roster invites to spring training. Smith, 30, spent the 2025 season in San Francisco, where he appeared in 63 games. He spent the majority of his time at first base, but also appeared in right field and briefly filled the DH role.
He debuted with the New York Mets in 2017 and in his early career, logged most of his innings in the outfield.
It is an under-the-radar addition for Atlanta, but Smith gives the Braves another experienced option in camp and a potential source of depth, should he make an impression this spring.
More Braves News:
Skipper Walt Weiss caught up with the media, discussing the pitching staff, Ronald Acuña Jr., and more.
JUPITER, FLORIDA - FEBRUARY 17: Nolan Gorman #16 of the St. Louis Cardinals poses for a photo during the St. Louis Cardinals Photo Day at Roger Dean Stadium on February 17, 2026 in Jupiter, Florida. (Photo by Rich Storry/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Originally, I was going to write about the Cubs last, but I feel more threatened by Milwaukee overall. So, I am saving them for last. There is some small chance I might move to Milwaukee, so it’s not the city. It’s the team that annoys me. I’ll probably stick here in St Louis, yeah. But maybe some day I will have to change my name to Cards Fan in Brewtown or whatever it’s called, since long ago on VEB I was known as Cards Fan In Chitown. Miltown just doesn’t sound right. But this is about Chicago! A place I lived in for over 20 years, it was a love/hate thing.
Chicago is too cold, too little parking for residents without private parking, parking tickets are expensive, and they charge you like $100/yr for a sticker to put on your car so you don’t get tickets from the police for simply not having a Chicago sticker. That said, I never understand why people say Chicago is violent and scary unless they’re looking for heroin in the wrong neighborhoods, and even then, it’s survivable. I once was pulled over by a cop in a bad west side neighborhood, and the first thing that came to my mind was that he probably thought I was a kid from the suburbs looking for the h.
Nope, I am and was an artist/musician, and another artist had bought a building in a dangerous area to house artists. If you avoid these bohemian zones or whatever you want to call it, Chicago is filled with cops and security and cameras… it’s just a whole media lie to manipulate people about Chitown and to force a narrative. The rate of crime is average there. There’s just more counting numbers to scare people with. If anything, there are too many cops and order there. At least in the Chicago I experienced from the late 90’s until 2019.
I used to drunkenly ride my bike through Wrigleyville yelling “Cubbies!” in the most mocking tone possible. Everyone else was walking between bars or after the Cubs game, drunk too. No one cared or maybe it didn’t even register that I was mocking them, but regardless, these were more carefree times. I used to enjoy going to the Gingerman, a bar near Wrigley. I saw the Cardinals on the 4th of July there, and my friend and I were able to walk to Wrigley Field because I lived in Uptown, just one neighborhood past Sheridan, which was just north of Wrigleyville. I lived right by Graceland Cemetery, one of the world’s greatest places for the dead, I guess?
I spilled a beer on a Cubs fan on accident that 4th of July, but not his girlfriend. So I didn’t feel too bad about it. I had brought my best friend, friends since grade school, with, and we will always have a chuckle over that one.
OK! So yeah, the Cubs this year… my gut tells me last year was their peak window, and they didn’t do enough. They blew it, whether it was the players on the field or the owners not putting forth the funds to compete with the coasts. Or maybe we could just say, the two Big Cities. LA & NY will almost always outspend anyone. They usually do. Ironically enough, the Dodgers were originally from NY, but empires go coast to coast.
Sometimes I just get into this writing mode and words gonna churn like butter. The Chicago Cubs are the best of the midwest, the cream of the crop? Let’s check that out.
The Cubs best infielder is Dansby Swanson. In December, 2022, the Cubs signed Dansby Swanson to a 7 year, $177 million contract. He should put up around 3.7+ WAR this season. Dansby was maybe a sleeper pick because he’s athletic in not the offensive way: he’s good at defense and a fast runner. Sort of their Masyn Winn. I think the two players will be rather similar this season.
Nico Hoerner and Alex Bregman round out their really good infield. Bregman is projected to be close to the same value as Nico, according to the consensus of projections. ZiPS actually says Hoerner is the superior player. Dansby, Nico, and Alex are quite the left side of the infield! Not a world beater, but pretty damn good. Over at first base, Michael Busch ain’t no slouch either. He’s not supposed to be much better than Alec Burleson, but still, that’s good! Two and a half plus WAR ain’t nothing to scoff at.
Oh but the Cubs have a Pete Crow-Armstrong, their best player! Will he be a legend like he was the first half of 2025, or more like the second half? Maybe him and Victor Scott II will both be better first half players, not to compare the offense but in a most general sense, they both did not have as good of second halfs. For Pete Crow Armstrong, he seems a little bit difficult to predict: 3.3 to 4.9 is the difference in floor vs ceiling projections here. I will do a final article comparing projection systems without any outlier projections involved, later on. Still, he is a key factor in what sets the Cubs ahead of the pack. He is more than likely going to be the Cubs best position player, like it or not. That’s how important it is for a defensive center fielder to be able to hit a little bit. They just become super valuable.
It’s time (for me) to admit the Cubs are going to be good. They have installed a 13.5ish WAR infield with a somewhat fantastic outfield because of PCA, Seiya Suzuki, and Ian Happ. The corner outfielders are no slouches, either. Ian Happ has always been annoying, and Seiya Suzuki should be around a 3 WAR player!
It’s their starting pitching *especially at Wrigley, that doesn’t seem to be very competitive. They will predictably trade for a better starting pitcher around the all star break (maybe?) but Matthew Boyd, Edward Cabrera, Shota Imanaga, Cade Horton, and Jameson Tailon aren’t projected to break 10 WAR. That’s better than the Cardinals rotation, but maybe not by as much as many people think. If OOPSY is right about the Cubs rotation and The Bat is correct about the Cardinals rotation… they’re almost the same. Both teams will certainly not rely on the same top 5 all year, so it’s just spitballing, but I was a little surprised.
A conclusion to derive from the Cubs starting position players is that they absolutely blow away the Reds, Cardinals, and Pirates lineups. I am guessing, the Brewers too. I don’t think much sticks out about the Cubs bullpen, and I don’t know much about it, so I’ll just leave it at that.
Matthew Boyd should be the best Cubs starting pitcher, but Shota Imanaga is the most famous name on the staff. They don’t have bad pitching depth, but it’s not too impressive either. The Cubs will rely upon health among their position players to compete, is what I am reading in the tea leaves.
I’ll just lay the Cards on the table: none of the Cardinals, Pirates, or the Reds have the firepower to compete with the Cubs position players. They may have shot themselves in the foot with lackluster pitching at Wrigley field, plus if any of Swanson, Armstrong, Hoerner, Bregman, Busch, or Suzuki go down, they may be hampered quite a bit. Carson Kelly – Miguel Amaya are a good catching tandem, as well, but they kind of back each other up pretty well. The two will equate to a pretty decent catcher.
*Pirates updated but not finalized, Cardinals still in raw form… I switched from ZiPS to ZiPS DC and updated all
Will the Cubs be the projected favorite to win the division? Only the Brewers might compete.
***
There is something about the Cardinals, though, that you cannot predict: they’re one of the youngest teams in all of MLB! Also, if you dive into the linked ESPN created average age chart, a mystery 38 year old player is listed: Ryan Tapera! So maybe we are the youngest team, idk, you tell me.
The top 5 aging rosters are the Padres, the Mets, the Dodgers, the Yankees, and the Cubs! Only the Marlins, Nationals, and White Sox have a younger average roster age than the Cardinals. The Guardians and the Cardinals have the same average age of 26.5. This puts us on the same page as Pittsburgh and Cincinnati, and of course Cleveland. The top three youngest teams are not much younger, overall.
If you look at these projections through an age lens, it would appear that the Cubs flubbed the most this offseason. They should have done more. Maybe they will, but time runs out soon on their offseason endeavors. But Atlanta did not do much either, comparable to Chicago. Neither did Toronto.
Texas, Kansas City, Houston, and Baltimore are all aging teams when you get to the middle. The Orioles need to do something now. Hopefully they’ll compete in the AL East. Seattle, Detroit, Boston, Arizona, and San Francisco are also probably in the “better do something” boat. Philadelphia seems to be set up pretty well to compete with a slightly younger average age than you might think. But they’re also the same age as the Angels.
Age vs price of aging player contracts is such a huge factor and disparity within baseball. Perhaps what everyone needs to go through is a leveling of the playing field, a jubilee of sorts. Contracts and wages are all out of whack everywhere within out society and economy. Everything is stagnant. And it has been for a while, but things are grinding to a halt, it would feel. Maybe the system needs a whole revision, on every level.
So, the Cardinals are now a very, very young MLB team. Let’s take a look at our team’s players’ ages…
Pitchers
Ryne Stanek is now the older brother in the clubhouse, oldest Cardinal at 34 years old (also, he was born in St Louis!)
Riley O’Brien will surprise some at 31! He doesn’t seem that old, does he
Nick Raquet is 30… we have 3 rostered players who are 30+
JoJo Romero is 29… maybe when he’s 30, he will be traded
Dustin May, Kyle Leahy, Matthew Pushard, Chris Roycroft, & Justin Bruihl are all 28 year olds
Matt Svanson, Andre Pallante, Zak Kent, and Ryan Fernandez are 27
Matthew Liberatore, George Soriano, Richard Fitts, and Hunter Dobbins are 26
Michael McGreevy and Gordon Graceffo are 25
Roby, Mautz, & Hjerpe are all 24 years old
Tink Hence is the youngest rostered pitcher at 23
Catchers
Yohel Pozo is the godfather of the catchers at 28
Pedro Pages is 27
Ivan Herrera is 25
Jimmy Crooks III is 24
Leonardo Bernal is one of the youngest rostered players at 22!
Infielders
Sir Alec Burleson is the eldest infielder at 27 years old
Jose Fermin and Cesar Prieto are 26
Nolan Gorman is 25
Masyn Winn and Thomas Saggese are only 23!
Outfielders
Lars Nootbaar is the same age as Bryan Torres: 28
Victor Scott II and Nathan Church are both 25
Jordan Walker is the same age as his buddy Masyn Winn: only 23
Up and comer Joshua Baez is only 22!
Nelson Velasquez is 27 in case anyone was wondering (I was!)… if he perseveres, it will be his first MLB appearance since 2024. His MLB career had some ups and downs but ended at .719 OPS, not bad, not great. In his last MLB stint, he was with the Royals, and had a .640 OPS in 240 PA. You can’t really hope he’s any kind of answer to the outfield equation, but maybe he will surprise.
1978
Here I am, writing about the last 50 years of my life. Back in 1978, things were just as topsy turvy as they are now, or I’d like to think of it that way, anyway.
Roman Polanski skipped bail in the US and fled to France after pleading guilty to sexual relations with a 13 year old girl. Charlie Chaplin’s remains were stolen in Switzerland. Dallas the tv show debuted on CBS, and gave birth to the genre of modern primetime soap opera. Jimmy Carter decided to delay production of the neutron bomb. May 25, 1978 featured the first Unabomber attack at Northwestern University in Evanston, IL. Al Unser won his 3rd Indianapolis 500 (my favorite racing event other than drag racing). June 25th, 1978 was the debut of the LGTB rainbow flag.
Angels outfielder Lyman Bostock was shot to death in Gary, IN while visiting friends during the season. He was another 27 guy. On October 14, 1978, Jimmy Carter signed a bill into law that allowed the home brewing of beer in the U.S. The first Superman movie was released. In Chicago, John Wayne Gacy was arrested. My friend rented an apartment in that house years later!
1978 was a Yankees Dodgers World Series, the Yanks somehow overcoming multiple issues to win everything. Those types of World Series are really annoying, but hey, I suppose they’re bound to happen sometimes. The Yankees were the only 100 game winner in 1978, and they ended up winning it all. The Dodgers were nearly as good, winning 95 games that season. The Big Red Machine was still running strong at 92 wins, more than the NL East leader, the Phillies, who only won 90 games. The Cardinals and Mets were terrible in 1978, winning under 70 games! The Red Sox finished only 1 game back of the Yankees at 99 wins.
It must be serendipitous that I was speaking of Chicago at the beginning of this article, because my favorite album of 1978 is an album that was part of an overarching soundtrack to my life in Chitown. Sun Ra’s masterpiece album, ‘Lanquidity’. I listened to it often while living there.
#1 Sun Ra – ‘Lanquidity’ One of the most subtle and deep groove albums of all time! Parts acid jazz, classic jazz, funk, world music, and space rock, it is among the best albums of Sun Ra’s entire discography! It works both as an introduction to Sun Ra and as advanced Solar Arkestra listening. They’re both more focused and tight here than usual, but also more detached and machine-like. This is Sun Ra still at his peak. Total pure genius. A stunningly deep work. Sun Ra and His Arkestra invented Afrofuturism, not just music, an art movement. And we will see several other cultural movements arise in 1978, a time of change.
#2 Rush – ‘Hemispheres’ is just as close of a life soundtrack to me as Lanquidity, so one could consider this a tie… but I feel like Sun Ra runs a little more deep. Rush is also super deep, but in a very prog rock way. And this is probably the most exemplary prog rock album of all time. It far outdoes ‘2112’, and King Crimson isn’t quite as well known as Rush. Hemispheres vs Court of the Crimson King would be an interesting debate about best prog rock album ever, but you could also enter Yes – ‘Fragile’ into that conversation as well. However, ‘Hemispheres’ is the best prog rock album released in my lifetime, and there’s not much doubt about that. And despite it being known as a bloated prog rock extravaganza, it’s actually very concise at just over 36 minutes.
#3 Captain Beefheart – ‘Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller)’ could easily be #1, I would basically consider these top 3 albums a tie for first. Shiny Beast is Captain Beefheart’s sleeper beast of an album. Troutmask Replica gets most of the attention, but I’d argue that there are a few better Beefheart albums, nothing against Troutmask it’s just that the good Captain’s discography is absolutely stacked. I also love ‘Lick My Decals Off Baby’ and his very first album ‘Safe As Milk’, and I’m rather fond of his later era trio of albums ‘Shiny Beast’ (which is also known as Bat Chain Puller, which could get confusing because there’s another version of the album recorded in 1976 and released in 2012), ‘Doc At The Radar Station’ (I have both of these albums on remastered vinyl), and ‘Ice Cream For Crow’. Captain Beefheart is THE weirdo musician, and isn’t it supremely weird that him and Frank Zappa went to the same high school, concurrently?
#4 Weidorje – ‘Weidorje’ is funky alien music with basslines that not only conjure disco and funk but also Jaco Pastorius and the sound of early 70s King Crimson bassist John Wetton. This is another spinoff band from another more well known band. That band is fellow Zeuhl movement powerhouse, Magma, who also make this 1978 top 10 list. So now you know two prog rock movements: Zeuhl and RIO (rock in opposition). Canterbury Scene is another. Anyways, you may wonder where I find this stuff, but I have been a fan of this album for at least a decade. Just a big prog rock fan! This is honestly one of my favorite albums of all time. This is a very fun listen, mostly instrumental but some fun made up language vocals occasionally keep things interesting. And that album cover is absolutely amazing.
#5 Various Artists – ‘No New York’ Pretty much right after the punk explosion hit, punk rock started to splinter into new movements and subgenres. One of the earliest and most punk subgenre of all was No Wave punk, an alternative to the smoother sounds of New Wave. ‘No New York’ is exemplary, a blueprint for a whole movement, which was primarily based in New York City, but also branched out to Philadelphia, Chicago, and the Kansai region of Japan, cities with creative musicians who wanted to be on the cutting edge of culture. The term was a reaction to New Wave, and it became not only a music scene but an art movement in NYC. Glen Branca started to deconstruct the sound of guitars, bands started to do the same, and detune guitars or make certain instruments sound absurd. Rather than technical playing, reinventing sounds and displaying raucous energy were the focus. The bands on this super punk album sound really ahead of their time and had names like The Contortions, Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, Mars, and DNA. As this was largely a nihilistic cultural movement, the sounds of the music are usually abrasive, noisy, dissonant, and/or absurd. What is most interesting is how the movement branched out to incorporate so many different, disparate genres into its sound, making the genre more about a spirit, style, and attitude that is not easy to describe unless you’re already familiar it. This album (produced by Brian Eno) is a good intro to no wave music.
#6 Magma – ‘Attahk’ French Zeuhl progenitors update their sound with more funk, more jazz fusion, and even gospel. This album would be ranked a little higher because I love them, but I think they’re stretching a bit here. It makes the list because it features three of their best songs in album opener “The Last Seven Minutes”, “Lyric Necronomicus Kant”, and the lovely “Dondai”. This is one of the best live bands you’ll ever see, so if they tour again, it’s a must. They bring a full band with multiple guitarists, bassist, a choir of singers, and keys plus the incredible talents of drummer and bandleader Christian Vander. I’m don’t think they will be touring again because Vander is going to turn 78 years young in a couple days, but you never know.
#7 Devo – ‘Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!’ Speaking of New Wave, Devo are my favorite new wave punk band! If they were even a little less structured and pop, and a little more noisy, I think they’d be considered no wave (or maybe they just had to live in NYC instead). Devo were certainly a little weird themselves, and were one of my first favorite bands. I had a cool older sister who listened to them, and they always looked fun on MTV in their hats. While Devo were formed back in 1973, they didn’t release their first album until 1978! Devo went on to release an album every year from 1978 to 1982! And yet another album in 1984. This is one of the few bands I never got to see live, that I’d like to see. They’re so fun! Devolution.
#8 Art Bears – ‘Hopes and Fears’ is the sound of one band disintegrating into another band during the recording sessions. At the same time half of ‘Hopes and Fears’ was being recorded, the final Henry Cow album was also laid to tape. The swansong album was not released until 1979, however. The world got to hear the new band Art Bears, first. The second half of the album was recorded in March 1979, just a month or two after the first half was recorded, but now with only a trio of musicians, including singer Dagmar Krause. She absolutely steals the show here, who along with guitarist Fred Frith and drummer Cris Cutler created next level avant art rock. They became (along with Henry Cow) the originators of the Rock In Opposition movement, which aligned European outsider prog rock bands, and the English Art Bears/Henry Cow. They even had a festival based around these bands no record label dared to promote. If you enjoy oddball, weird music, this is a must-listen.
#9 Siouxsie and the Banshees – ‘The Scream’ I did not know this album even existed before I did my research, but I’m glad I found it! I’ve always liked what I have heard from Siouxsie, but I had no idea that they went all the way back to 1978. As it turns out, they’ve been around as long as Devo. While new wave and no wave were also around, Siouxsie was getting post-punk started. While they had been around a couple years before their debut album, they were not signed right away. But eventually a label released their tunes to critical acclaim and even were said to have created a new sound. The late 1970s were a very interesting time in music where old ideas were dying out and new ones emerging constantly. It was a good idea to be in a band back then as it could be your career. And you could create new ways while doing it.
#10 Magazine – ‘Real Life’ and to round out my top 10 albums of 1978 is Real Life by Magazine, and eclectic collection of songs that could also be filed under post-punk. People have also described this album as new wave or art rock, but you get the picture. If you want to know a band that influenced Radiohead, here you go. My standout track is “The Light Pours Out Of Me” which one of my favorite bands Ministry covered really well, I might add!
I could go on forever writing about music and baseball. Let’s cut if off until next week though, thanks for reading!
TAMPA, FLORIDA - FEBRUARY 17: Aaron Judge #99 of the New York Yankees poses for a photo during Spring Training Photo Day at George M. Steinbrenner Field on February 17, 2026 in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images) | Getty Images
We have asked a lot about favorites – time for the other end of the spectrum?
The Chicago Blackhawks have multiple trade candidates to watch ahead of the 2026 NHL trade deadline. One of them is Jason Dickinson, as the veteran forward is a pending unrestricted free agent (UFA) and certainly has the potential to generate interest from contenders looking for a bottom-six center who can kill penalties.
Now, a few potential suitors have been named for Dickinson.
In a recent article for The Athletic, Scott Powers, Mark Lazerus, and Chris Johnston named the Minnesota Wild and Vegas Golden Knights as two potential trade fits for Dickinson.
"The Minnesota Wild are looking for a top-six center, but any help down the middle would be welcome. The Vegas Golden Knights could be an interesting destination, as well," Powers, Lazerus, and Johnston wrote.
The Wild being named a potential landing spot for Dickinson is understandable. When looking at their roster, he could fit perfectly as their fourth-line center. That would not be a bad thing for a Minnesota club that is looking to go on a run this spring.
As for the Golden Knights, it is clear that their bottom six could use a boost as well, and Dickinson would have the potential to give them just that. In addition, he would give them another clear option for their penalty kill if acquired.
Ultimately, the Blackhawks have a decision to make with Dickinson. It is fair to wonder if they could look to extend him, as he has been a good veteran mentor for the club's younger players. However, at the same time, the Blackhawks have several promising youngsters in their system, so they could very well move him if they do not see him as a long-term part of their plans.
Once the NHL Olympic trade freeze lifts, the Pittsburgh Penguins will be a team to keep an eye on. With the Penguins exceeding expectations in a big way and currently being second in the Metropolitan Division standings, it would not be surprising if they looked to add to their roster ahead of the deadline.
One area that the Penguins could look to improve is their forward group. When looking at trade candidates around the NHL, Toronto Maple Leafs forward Bobby McMann stands out as a very interesting trade target to consider.
There is no question that the Penguins could use another middle-six forward who provides a bit of everything, and McMann is just that. This is because he is not only a solid goal-scorer, but also provides plenty of physicality. This could make him a good pickup for a Penguins club that looks ready to get back into the playoffs.
McMann is currently impressing this season with the Maple Leafs, as he has recorded 19 goals, 13 assists, 32 points, and 126 hits in 56 games. This is after he had 20 goals, 34 points, and 134 hits in 73 games this past season with Toronto. With numbers like these, he would be a great addition to a Penguins club that could use a bit more secondary scoring.
McMann is also a player whom Penguins general manager Kyle Dubas knows well, as he signed the 29-year-old forward back when he was GM of the Maple Leafs. Dubas has shown that he is not afraid to reunite with his former players.
Overall, with the Penguins needing another forward, McMann is an option worth considering. This is especially so if acquiring him came with a contract extension
Things got so bad during UCLA's blowout road loss to Michigan State on Tuesday night that Bruins coach Mick Cronin apparently felt the need to eject one of his own players.
The incident occurred late in the second half of an eventual 82-59 loss on Feb. 17 when UCLA center Steven Jamerson II picked up a flagrant foul for hacking a Spartans player from behind on a dunk attempt.
Cronin explained afterward he didn't appreciate Jamerson's actions, especially coming with just 4:26 to go and the Bruins trailing 77-50.
"I was thoroughly disappointed," Cronin told reporters after the game. "The guy was defenseless in the air. I know Steve was trying to block the shot, but the game's a 25-point game. You don't do that."
Mick Cronin ejected his own player, Steven Jamerson II, after he was assessed a technical foul against Michigan State 👀pic.twitter.com/Zyisx8ys0d
Frustrations continue to mount for the Bruins, who lost to top-ranked Michigan by 30 points on Saturday after entering the weekend winning five of their last six.
Cronin also had a testy exchange with a reporter after the game. When asked about the Michigan State student section chanting the name of former Spartans player Xavier Booker − who transferred to UCLA last year after two underwhelming seasons in East Lansing − Cronin fired back angrily.
"I would like to give you kudos for the worst question I've ever been asked," he said. "You really think I care about the other team's student section?"
It's uncommon for swaps of minor-league prospects to amount to anything meaningful in the NHL, but the Philadelphia Flyers and Christian Kyrou have turned out to be perfect fits for one another.
The Flyers traded for Kyrou, 22, in an Oct. 30 deal that sent winger Samu Tuomaala the other way to the Dallas Stars, and since then, it's been clear who the winner of that trade was.
In 37 AHL games with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, Kyrou has erupted for seven goals, 18 assists, and 25 points from the blueline, easily surpassing his previous career-high of 23 points in 57 games with the Texas Stars in 2023-24 with plenty of hockey left to spare.
With an AHL All-Star appearance now under Kyrou's belt in place of Denver Barkey, who made his leap to the NHL official, the rest, as they say, is history.
"Once I got traded, I just stopped worrying so much about what the coach thinks or what anybody thinks. Just trust playing my game," Kyrou told The Hockey News's Frank Zawrazky at the AHL All-Star Classic in Rockford, Illinois. "No stress, just trust my teammates."
The 5-foot-11 rearguard has taken full advantage of the fresh start given to him, leapfrogging the likes of Ethan Samson (later traded for Roman Schmidt) and Helge Grans and assuming the role of No. 1 power play quarterback on the Phantoms.
Schmidt and Maxence Guenette, who were both in-season trade acquisitions themselves, have not been enough to slow Kyrou's offensive production down and reduce his role on the team.
For the Flyers, that's a good problem to have going forward.
"He's been really good and better than expected. We didn't have a power play QB after [Emil Andrae] left and he came in, took charge of it," Flyers GM Danny Briere told The Hockey News of Kyrou.
"Like any young defender, he has to learn when and where to take chances with the puck and learn how to physically defend versus bigger and stronger forwards. Overall, a great addition to our group."
The coming months have a lot riding them, as the undersized Kyrou is a pending RFA for a Flyers organization that already has quite a few established defenders on the smaller side, including Andrae, Cam York, and Jamie Drysdale.
Andrae and Drysdale, of course, are pending RFAs themselves.
On Tuesday, the Montreal Canadiens resumed practice at the CN Sports Complex in Brossard, but not all players were present and accounted for. Of course, the team’s four Olympians, Nick Suzuki, Juraj Slafkovsky, Oliver Kapanen, and Alexandre Texier, were absent, but there was another player missing: Patrik Laine.
Shortly after practice began, the Canadiens reported that the player was dealing with a lower-body injury that would be evaluated daily. That raised more than a few eyebrows for a couple of reasons. Firstly, because the big Finn took part in an impromptu practice with his teammates the day before and looked just fine, and secondly, because the injury which forced him to miss months of action and from which he hadn’t been cleared before the Olympics was not a lower-body injury, but a core muscle one.
When the Canadiens’ communications department was asked whether Laine was injured during yesterday's training, they said they did not know. The sniper has been talked about at length recently as trade rumours swirl around, and finding a place for him in the lineup if and when he is cleared to play will be a challenging endeavour for Martin St-Louis. There’s a trade freeze in the NHL right now, but it expires on February 22 at 11:59 PM ET. Some are wondering whether his absence isn’t just a sign that a trade is in place, which will be officialised when the calendar turns to February 23. It looks like we’re in for a bit of a waiting game.
Meanwhile, Alex Newhook joined his teammates at practice for the first time in three months after fracturing his ankle. Although he wore a non-contact jersey, it indicates he has made significant progress in his recovery. When he is ready to return, it will be interesting to see what kind of impact he will have on the Canadiens’ lineup. Could he go back to the second line with Slafkovsky going back to the first line after his great performance at the Olympics? Where does Kirby Dach land if that’s the case? And Texier? Who comes out of the lineup? Joe Veleno? Brendan Gallagher?
While there are still eight days left until the Canadiens play their next game against the New York Islanders, it doesn’t look like we’ll be short of discussion topics.
UNSPECIFIED - CIRCA 1977: Head coach Doug Moe of the San Antonio Spurs looks on during an NBA basketball game circa 1977. Moe coached the Spurs from 1976-80. (Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The first San Antonio Spurs game I ever attended was in 1985. The Spurs were hosting the Denver Nuggets at HemisFair Arena. My parents took my brother and I to the game and after we stuck around to get autographs. We both came home with pages signed by members of both teams. Among the dozen or so signatures we obtained, only two were legible – Spurs guard Johnny Moore and Nugget’s head coach Doug Moe.
I didn’t know who Doug Moe was, but my father did and dropped all kinds of knowledge into my ten-year-old mind. He’d been with the Spurs as they transitioned from the ABA to the NBA and helped define the culture of the team as they navigated the move into the big league.
Doug Moe passed away yesterday at the age of 87.
Former NBA player and Coach of the Year Doug Moe has died at 87.
Moe was the Nuggets' all-time winningest coach upon leaving the position after 10 seasons in 1990. pic.twitter.com/MDcyhWADgg
Moe was born in 1938 in Brooklyn, New York. He attended University of North Carolina before being drafted 22nd overall in 1961 by the Chicago Packers (these days known as the Washington Wizards). He eventually played for the ABA, picking up a championship trophy in 1969 and making three All-Star teams.
Moe began his coaching as an assistant coach to his former college teammate Larry Brown from 1972 to 1974 with ABA’s Carolina Cougars.
From 1974 to 1976 Moe continued on with Larry Brown as an assistant coach with the Denver Nuggets.
On June 30, 1976, Moe replaced Bob Bass as the head coach of the San Antonio Spurs, the year of the NBA-ABA merger, effectively making him him the Spurs first NBA coach. He served as head coach for four seasons amassing a regular-season coaching record of 177-135 (.567) only second to Gregg Popovich.
In a career that spanned four decades, Moe became one of the most celebrated coaches in NBA history. His overall NBA head coaching record, 628–529 (.543), is the 19th most in NBA history.
Heartbroken to hear of the passing of Doug Moe. Second on the Spurs all time coaching wins list behind Pop. His sense of humor was second to none. One of my all-time favorites. He will be greatly missed. Prayers for comfort and peace to his wife Jane and entire family. pic.twitter.com/SLyyV3h0Cb
Doug Moe was the 2018 recipient of the Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award.
Welcome to the Thread. Join in the conversation, start your own discussion, and share your thoughts. This is the Spurs community, your Spurs community. Thanks for being here.
Our community guidelines apply which should remind everyone to be cool, avoid personal attacks, not to troll and to watch the language.
PHOENIX - MAY 18: Steve Nash #13 of the Phoenix Suns passes the ball back out for an assist against the Dallas Mavericks in Game five of the Western Conference Semifinals during the 2005 NBA Playoffs at America West Arena on May 18, 2005 in Phoenix, Arizona. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Stephen Dunn/Getty Images) | Getty Images
We have reached the final stop on this ride, the point where the road narrows and we finally reveal the last two tiers and the three players who sit above all else on the Phoenix Suns All-Time Pyramid. What started as a random idea, a Salad and Go cold brew in one hand as the calendar flipped, has slowly turned into something much bigger than I ever anticipated.
16,000+ words later, here we are.
This was always about more than rankings or arguments or filling space on the internet. The goal was simple, even if the execution was not. To build something that could live beyond the moment. Something we can reference years from now, something others might stumble upon long after we are gone. Through it, readers can understand who the best players in Suns history were. And why.
This pyramid is a snapshot of memory, effort, impact, and identity. It is imperfect by design, shaped by perspective, emotion, and lived experience. But it is honest. And now, with everything laid out and the foundation set, it is time to finish the thing and place the final names where they belong.
Somewhere along the way, a realization set in and stayed with me. This franchise may not have climbed all the way to the mountaintop and grabbed a championship banner, but that does not mean it lacks history, weight, or meaning. Far from it.
If your entire sports worldview begins and ends with championships, I genuinely feel bad for you. Not in a condescending way, but in a “missed out” way. Because you are skipping the best parts. You are ignoring the process, the moments, the nights that stayed with you long after the final buzzer. You are reducing something expansive into a single checkbox and calling it analysis.
Basketball is memory. It always has been. As you move through these names and the eras they lived in, nostalgia creeps in whether you invite it or not. That is the beauty of sports. In real time, you feel frustration, joy, anger, pride, and exhaustion. Only later do you really understand what you were watching, how it fit together, and why it mattered.
Those Seven Seconds or Less teams still carry disappointment because they never finished the job, and that reality does matter when you start stacking players and weighing legacies. Barkley and Booker have made the Finals, but like every season in the history of the organization, it ended with disappointment. But it does not erase the magic of what those seasons felt like, or how alive they made this fan base.
That is the spiritual side of sports, and that has been the most rewarding part of this whole exercise. Digging through player histories. Replaying moments in my head. Mining stats. Building graphics. Staring at old photos soaked in purple and orange. That shared color palette, those shared memories, that is the connective tissue. That is what binds us.
Reducing all of that to whether a championship happened is easy. Too easy. It lacks imagination. It lacks depth.
These final two tiers have depth. They invite debate. They demand context. And honestly, there is no wrong answer here. You could place any one of these final three players at the top of the pyramid and make a compelling case. I landed where I landed, and I am comfortable with it, but I also respect the arguments that go another direction.
So, before I explain why I made the final call the way I did, let’s talk about the last three players who occupy the top two tiers of the Phoenix Suns All-Time Pyramid.
I know the second that graphic hit your screen, you felt something. Maybe it was agreement. Maybe you nodded along. Maybe you muttered, “Voita, you’re an idiot, how could you possibly do that?” And honestly, that reaction is the whole point. That push and pull is what makes this such a good conversation in the first place.
So I am asking you for one thing before you sprint to the comment section with the keys smoking. Read the article. Give me the space to explain why I landed where I did, and why certain names went where they went. How I weighed what matters to me in a project like this. I am fully aware that I might not be right. But you know what? I might not be wrong either…
Tier 2: Organizational Royalty
Charles Barkley. The Round Mound of Rebound. If you are looking for the cleanest definition of a supernova in Phoenix Suns history, this is it. No player arrived in the Valley already in his prime with this level of gravity, personality, and immediate takeover energy the way Sir Charles did. This was not a slow burn. This was ignition.
He arrived after the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, riding global stardom into a brand new arena, a new uniform, and a new coach. The timing felt almost cinematic. Loud, eccentric, confrontational, brilliant, Barkley did not blend into Phoenix. He bent it around himself. That 1992–93 run remains one of the most electric seasons not only in Suns history, but in the storytelling fabric of the NBA itself, a moment where basketball felt bigger, louder, and impossibly alive.
I think it is fair to say that the 1992-93 season by Charles Barkley stands as the single greatest season by any player in Phoenix Suns history. Sure, Steve Nash came to Phoenix in his prime and won MVPs. Yes, that team went 62-20. Charles Barkley did that too, and then he carried the Suns all the way to the NBA Finals, doing it with a force of personality that rattled arenas and pulled the entire league into Phoenix’s orbit. Nash floated. Barkley detonated.
That first year, Barkley averaged 25.6 points per game and 12.2 rebounds, won the MVP, made the All-Star team, and earned First Team All-NBA honors. He checked every possible box a superstar season can check. In a moment when Michael Jordan was operating at the absolute peak of his powers, there was a real and serious conversation happening about whether Charles Barkley was the best player in the world.
That debate ultimately met reality in the NBA Finals, where Jordan averaged 41.0 points and 6.3 assists over six games and slammed the door shut, but for that stretch of time, it was not outrageous to ask the question. That alone tells you how high Barkley’s level was.
What followed was a meteoric rise for the Suns as a franchise. Phoenix was no longer a quiet basketball outpost or a historical footnote. After 24 years of existence and a lone Finals appearance in 1976, the city and the team finally commanded national attention. Charles Barkley did not only elevate the Suns on the court, he altered how the league viewed Phoenix altogether, and that impact is impossible to separate from the history of the organization.
Statistically, the Barkley run in Phoenix is as loud as it gets. Over 280 games across four seasons, he was an All-Star every year and made four All-NBA teams. While only one of those landed on the First Team in 1992-93, the consistency still matters.
When you scan the Suns’ record book, his name jumps off the page. He is number one all-time in player efficiency rating, number one in defensive rebounds per game at 8.4, and he owns the single-season mark as well, pulling down 9.1 defensive boards per night in that 1992-93 season. He sits second in rebounds per game at 11.5, trailing only Paul Silas, and despite spending only four seasons in Phoenix, he still ranks fourth in triple-doubles and seventh in total rebounds. That is how concentrated his impact was.
Meteoric is the right word.
When you talk about the greatest players to ever wear purple and orange, Charles Barkley is always part of the conversation. Personally, I think Shaquille O’Neal and Kevin Durant belong on that broader list too, which might be another pyramid project I just talked myself into. Still, if you place Barkley at the very top of your Suns pyramid, I am not here to tell you that you are wrong. The case is real, and it is powerful.
Where the discussion gets more layered is in the length and the ending of his time in Phoenix. The first two seasons live warmly in memory, full of energy, relevance, and belief. The final stretch was rockier, emotionally and structurally, and that tension is part of the story whether we like it or not. As Zach Bryan says in his song All Good Things Must Pass, “Nostalgia has a way of lookin’ better in your head.” (Did you honestly think I would write and this entire series without one Zach Bryan philosophical reference?! C’mon…you know me better than that…)
Even so, the weight of what he did here is undeniable. Four seasons. One MVP. One Finals run. A franchise lifted into the national spotlight. That is Tier 2 territory without question, a peak so high and so impactful that it still casts a shadow decades later
I’ve done a lot of soul searching over this thought exercise, and at some point, I had to be honest with myself and allow the list to breathe. Devin Booker was at the top when I started. That felt right in the moment. But the deeper I went, the more I realized his story is still being written, and as much as I believe in where it is headed, there are still rungs left on the ladder for him to climb.
That is not a knock. It is an acknowledgment of motion.
Booker is still adding chapters in real time. Every night reshapes the graphic. Every season stretches the ceiling. He has been here for 11 years now, drafted 13th overall out of Kentucky in 2015, and none of us truly saw this coming. We hoped for a Klay Thompson-type outcome. What we got was a franchise cornerstone, a player whose arc is still bending upward, and because of that, the top spot has to wait.
The numbers will keep shifting because he is still active, still stacking nights, still moving the goalposts. Even so, the shape of the résumé is already clear.
Devin Booker is the leading scorer in the history of the franchise. He sits third all-time in scoring average at 24.5 points per game. Five of the top ten scoring seasons in Suns history belong to him, and his 2023–24 season finished second all-time, ten points shy of Tom Chambers’ long-standing mark. In the postseason, he is second all-time in franchise history at 28.0 points per game across 47 games, which says plenty about how his game scales when the lights get brighter.
He is first all-time in three-point attempts and makes, second in free throw attempts and free throws made, third in minutes played, and third in overall free throw percentage. He owns a spot inside the top five single-season free-throw percentages at 91.9% in 2019–20, ranks fifth in defensive rebounds, and ninth in total rebounds in Suns history.
Taken together, it tells a very clean story. Devin Booker is the greatest scorer this franchise has ever had, not for a moment or a season, but across the full arc of a career. Efficient, repeatable, and relentless, with one of the purest jump shots the league has seen, and a nightly consistency that has defined an era of Suns basketball.
One of the real challenges Booker faces is the era he plays in. We have never had more access, more data, more angles, and more opportunities to dissect every possession a player has. You can go back and pick apart anyone on this pyramid if you want, but with Booker, it feels louder, sharper, more immediate.
We are all plugged in now, walking around with a tiny computer in our pocket, capable of amplifying every frustration, every missed rotation, every off-shooting night, and firing it straight into the void. I do it too. We all do. And through all of that noise, Devin Booker keeps showing up, night after night, carrying this organization with a level of consistency that is easy to overlook precisely because it has become normal.
There is also one detail that cannot be ignored when placing him in Suns history. He is 29 years old. There is still a massive portion of his story left to write in Phoenix. Steve Nash was 30 when he arrived in 2004 and reshaped the franchise. Booker is already deep into his Suns tenure, and while his game is not built the same way, not designed first to supercharge everyone around him, he has grown into a dangerous scorer and a capable playmaker who can bend games in multiple ways.
The fan in me wants him at the top of this pyramid right now. I feel that pull. But the honest version of this exercise says the moment has not arrived yet. He is building one of the greatest careers the franchise has ever seen, and that part is undeniable.
Where he ultimately lands will be decided by the chapters that are still coming, the ones that determine whether his story finishes as great, or transcendent, or something even heavier than that.
Tier 1: Face of the Franchise
Where do you even start with Steve Nash? I suppose the only honest place is the beginning.
Draft night, 1996, the 15th pick out of Santa Clara, a skinny kid from Canada who did not exactly scream future Hall of Fame point guard. At the time, he looked like someone who would survive in the league, maybe carve out a nice career, maybe bounce around a bit. What he eventually became was something far bigger than that.
Steve Nash did not grow into a star quietly. He grew into a force that reshaped the organization, the fan base, and eventually the way basketball itself was played. Trying to define him strictly through numbers almost misses the point, even though the numbers are good. His Suns averages line up closely with Jason Kidd in purple and orange. Both at 14.4 points per game. Kidd actually edges him in assists per game, 9.7 to Nash’s 9.4. On paper, that feels like a wash.
And that is exactly why statistics can lie to you.
Because what Steve Nash did was not about box scores. It was about movement, tempo, spacing, and belief. He turned Phoenix into a basketball laboratory, a place where the game moved faster, smarter, freer. He made shooters better. He made bigs richer. He made role players feel indispensable. Night after night, the ball popped, the floor stretched, and the Suns felt inevitable in a way that no spreadsheet can fully capture.
Steve Nash did not simply play basketball in the Valley. He changed how it was understood. He changed what fans expected. He changed what opponents feared. And in doing so, he left behind something that numbers alone will never be able to explain.
He could have been one of the great scorers of his generation if that had ever been the priority. The skill was there. The efficiency was there. His 43.5% shooting from three is the highest mark from beyond the arc in franchise history. He ranks second all-time in made threes at 1,051 and second in attempts at 2,417, which makes that percentage even louder. And yet, across ten seasons in Phoenix, he averaged only 3.2 attempts per night. The shots were available. He simply chose something else.
That choice tells you everything you need to know about Steve Nash.
He hit his share of unforgettable threes, the kind that live forever in highlight reels and late-night arguments, but scoring was never the point. His obsession was amplification. Make everyone else better. Pull defenders out of position. Turn good players into great ones and role players into weapons. That was the engine. That was the gift. That is why he won two MVPs.
Not because he poured in points, but because he unlocked entire rosters.
In his first MVP season, 2004-05, he averaged 15.5 points per game. That number still surprises people who did not live through it. What matters more is the 11.5 assists per night, the league-leading mark, and what happened around him. A team that had won 29 games the season before he arrived finished 62-20. That does not happen by accident. That happens when one player rewires how basketball is played.
It is difficult to fully articulate what Steve Nash meant to the Suns and to the league at large. People often point to 1992-93 as a turning point for the franchise, and it absolutely was. But what Nash did beginning in 2004 reshaped the entire sport. Pace changed. Spacing changed. Decision-making changed. The league we watch now traces a straight line back to what was happening nightly in Phoenix.
And then there are the numbers, which somehow still feel understated. He sits first all-time in franchise assists, finishing just shy of 7,000. He owns the second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and ninth best single-season assist totals in Suns history. He is first all-time in Suns free throw percentage at 90.7%, and he set the single-season franchise record in 2009-10 by hitting 93.8% from the line. He ranks third in win shares and third in total games played.
Steve Nash did not dominate the game by force. He bent it. He guided it. He made everyone around him sharper, faster, and more dangerous. And long after the numbers blur together, that feeling remains.
Nash gave the Suns legitimacy. He gave them relevance. He gave them gravity. He led the league in assists five times during his ten seasons in Phoenix, and the winning followed right along with him. From 2004 through 2012, the Suns went 405-235. That is not a hot stretch. That is sustained excellence. And he was the best guy on the court every night.
In the postseason, he was still Steve Nash, averaging 18.2 points and 9.7 assists on absurd 50/38/90 shooting splits. And yet, the one thing missing still hangs in the air. He never reached the NBA Finals in a Suns uniform. The Spurs and the Mavericks made sure of that.
But yes, he absolutely should sit at the top of the pyramid. Because what he did? It was Nashty.
There was one part of this project that ended up being trickier than I expected, even though by the time I reached the end it all settled into place, and that was naming the tiers themselves. The labels are mostly arbitrary, an attempt to give each level a little more personality than Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 3, and so on, but the final tier carries real weight. “The Face of the Franchise”. That is the one where people tend to pause, reread, and start forming opinions immediately.
When you really think about it, the player at the top of any pyramid, for any team, is exactly that. The face. The name that comes to mind first when the organization is mentioned. The mental shortcut your brain takes before you even realize it is happening. That is why the final two tiers matter so much, because all three of those players qualify depending on who you ask.
If you are a newer fan, or someone who came of age watching this current era, Devin Booker is the answer without hesitation. If you are ten or fifteen years older, your brain probably goes straight to Steve Nash. And if you go back another generation, you are likely landing on Charles Barkley, because of what Suns basketball meant nationally at that moment, the visibility, the swagger, the feeling that Phoenix was suddenly on the map.
That is what makes the question so personal. The answer changes based on memory, age, and lived experience. There is no universal response, and that is part of what makes this exercise worth doing in the first place.
For me, when I step back and look at the totality of the franchise history, Steve Nash is the answer that holds up the longest. Fifty years from now, even if no one is playing basketball anymore and all that remains are stories, clips, and context, what Nash did and how he did it will still resonate.
The journey has ended. The pyramid is built. The conclusions, though, remain open, because there are still chapters waiting to be written, still performances left to deliver, still awards that have not found their owner.
I want to thank everyone who leaned into these conversations with me over the past few weeks. This was ambitious, something I had kicked around in my head more than once, and then finally decided to sit down and do. A free weekend turned into digging through data, combing through box scores, rewatching highlights, designing graphics, and slowly letting the history of this franchise breathe again. It became more than a project. It became an experience, one that sparked a handful of other thought exercises I might circle back to someday.
By the end of it all, I feel like I landed where I was supposed to land, even if it took longer than expected to get there. I still believe Devin Booker should be the face of the franchise because when his career reaches its conclusion, I believe that is exactly what he will be. That conviction never left me.
What changed came late in the process, during the final pass through the pyramid, while writing the closing pieces and assembling the Steve Nash graphic.
Seeing it all laid out again, the weight of what Nash accomplished in Phoenix hit differently. The longevity. The sustained success. The way he carried the organization year after year and reshaped how basketball was played, not only in the Valley but across the league. He matched the tenure Booker already has, and paired it with a level of consistent winning that is incredibly difficult to maintain.
Nash never reached the NBA Finals in Phoenix, but there are real reasons for that, reasons rooted in usage, roster depth, and the physical toll placed on guards asked to carry everything every night. Mike D’Antoni rode him hard. The margins were thin. The league was unforgiving.
It is a reminder of how difficult it is to win a championship as the best player on a team when you are a guard. You absorb contact. You take the hits. We saw it with Kevin Johnson. Paul Westphal never broke through either. Chris Paul and Devin Booker both reached the Finals, only to run into teams powered by dominant size and strength.
That context matters. It always has.
This pyramid is not a verdict carved in stone. It is a snapshot in time, shaped by history, memory, and perspective. And if there is one thing this exercise reinforced, it is how rich this franchise’s story really is, championship or not.
There are lessons tucked into this whole exercise. There are flowers that deserve to be handed out. There is appreciation to be felt and shared.
The Phoenix Suns have never climbed all the way to the top of the mountain, but that does not mean they have failed to give us something meaningful to hold onto. There is beauty in the process. There is beauty in the game itself. There is beauty in the history, in the conversations that history sparks, in the nights spent inside an arena or on a couch, living and dying with every possession.
Looking back through this pyramid forced me to sit with memories, some joyful, some frustrating, all of them personal. Players I grew up watching. Players I learned about later through numbers, stories, and grainy highlights. Friends and family who were part of my Suns’ experience. Some of them are still with us. Some of them are not.
That is part of the responsibility that comes with being a fan, and part of the responsibility I feel as a writer. To carry those stories forward. To keep them alive. To share them openly. To welcome new fans into the fold without acting like gatekeepers or arbiters of truth.
This was always a subjective process. Disagreement is baked into it. You might not see the pyramid the way I do, and that does not make either of us wrong. Sports history lives in memory as much as it lives in data, and memory is personal by nature. The arguments are part of the fun. The debate is the point.
Alright, maybe there is one exception. If you have Deandre Ayton on this pyramid, we might need to talk. That one probably came from a spreadsheet and not from watching the games. A joke. Mostly.
More than anything, I had fun doing this. I hope you had fun reading it. I hope you learned something you did not know before. I hope it led to a conversation, a text thread, a late-night argument, or a shared laugh. Because that is what makes sports matter. It is never only about the action on the floor. It is about the people watching, reacting, remembering, and connecting through it all.
That is what rooting for the purple and orange has always been about.
CHARLOTTE, NC - FEBRUARY 11: The Atlanta Hawks listens to the national anthem against the Charlotte Hornets on February 11, 2026 at Spectrum Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2026 NBAE (Photo by Brock Williams-Smith/NBAE via Getty Images) | NBAE via Getty Images
At various points across January and February, the Atlanta Hawks looked like a team that needed the All-Star break. Heading into the break on the back of a three-game losing streak would be one such indicator that the break was a welcome one, and could use the team to rest, while also looking fondly at Jalen Johnson’s first All-Star game appearance, and subsequent triumph as part of the winning effort of Team Stars.
Now, the focus returns to the Atlanta Hawks, the team, as the second, unofficial ’half’ of the season looms large. So, with that said, let’s look ahead to the schedule that lies ahead for the Hawks, break it down month-by-month, and unpack the remaining schedule as the Hawks look to improve their place in the Eastern Conference standings; currently sat in 10th with a 26-30 record.
Starting with the remaining month of February:
Total games: 5
Home games: 4
Road games: 1
Back-to-backs: 1
Longest road trip: 1 game
Longest homestand: 4 games
Opponent winning percentage: 37.5%
The Hawks couldn’t have asked for much better in terms of an ease of schedule after the break. Yes, a difficult game against the Sixers on the road to return — and a much better than expected Sixers team since we last did this exercise in the preseason — is not entirely helped by the game being on the first night of a back-to-back with the Miami Heat in town the following night.
However, a game against the languishing, and openly tanking, Brooklyn Nets and, more notably, two fixtures against the Washington Wizards provide an ample opportunity for the Hawks to get a winning streak going. It’s never a guarantee; the Hawks have an unfortunate history of failing to beat the Wizards in seemingly favorable situations and expectations…
Of course, two Washington fixtures mean two meetings against former Hawk Trae Young for the first time since his in-season trade to Washington. However, Young’s injury status is currently unknown ahead of these two fixtures; the last update issued by the Wizards was that Young would be re-evaluated after the All-Star break.
That said, I’d be very surprised if he played in either of these games, with Washington objectives for the season pretty well-set. Still, there will be, undoubtedly, a tribute to the former franchise player and, hopefully, a kind reception for a player who, yes, was flawed, but provided a lot of memorable moments in his time as an Atlanta Hawk.
To March:
Total games: 15
Home games: 10
Road games: 5
Back-to-backs: 1
Longest road trip: 2 games (twice)
Longest homestand: 5 games
Opponent win percentage: 48%
The last ‘full-on’ month of the NBA season is on that is, again, pretty kind to the Hawks. They have a predominantly home-heavy schedule, with 10 of their 15 total games taking place at State Farm Arena. A mixed bag of opponents range from heavy-hitters such as the Eastern Conference-leading Detroit Pistons on the road, two games against the Boston Celtics, and a difficult road-tilt in Houston. You have a range of play-in teams such as Portland, Orlando, and Golden State, in addition to the play-in chasing Milwaukee Bucks.
Finally, you have a number of teams who have either actively given up — or very close to it — and these include the Nets, two games against the Dallas Mavericks, the Grizzlies, and the Sacramento Kings. Those two games against the Bucks could be critical to determining seeding, especially if Giannis returns for the Bucks. Similarly, the Orlando game may carry significant weight in the final standings among those play-in teams.
Recent acquistions/departees will be reacquainted in the month of March, with both Jonathan Kuminga, Buddy Hield, and Kristaps Porzingis all facing former teams in March 21st’s meeting against the Golden State Warriors. The Atlanta meeting between these two teams is usually a boisterous affair, especially if Steph Curry is in action, and with everything surrounding the Kuminga trade, I’m sure this game will be one to circle. A homecoming at the beginning of the month for Vit Krejci, now with the Portland Trail Blazers, is sure to be a popular one as Krejci was very well liked by his teammates.
Finally, to April:
Total games: 6
Home games: 2
Road games: 4
Back-to-backs: 0
Longest road trip: 2 games (twice)
Longest homestand: 1 game (twice)
Opponent win percentage: 53.3%
A difficult stretch to finish, and an extremely important couple of games, most notably on the road in Orlando and in Miami. At least one of those games is very likely to be a rehearsal of a play-in fixture to decide a potential postseason berth, in addition to potentially determine seeding and, potentially, who plays at home in the play-in tournament, versus being on the road. All three teams would consider their scenarios this season as disappointing, and none will provide an inch of advantage over fellow Southeast Division rivals. Time will tell whether the decisions from Orlando and Miami to stand-pat at the trade deadline — compared to the very active Hawks — will pay off in comparison to each other.
Elsewhere, a ‘gimme’ against the Brooklyn Nets is about the only respite compared to two games against two Eastern Conference juggernauts in the New York Knicks, and the rolling Cleveland Cavaliers (twice). Whether the Cavaliers will still be rolling by this stage of the season remains to be seen, but they are absolutely improved following the James Harden trade, and likely to be fighting for seeding by this stage of the season, with any seed from two-to-fifth still reasonably plausible for the Cavaliers. In other words, the Hawks should not expect an easy pass in these spots, and that will include the Knicks game, too.
Per Tankathon, the Hawks have one of the easier strengths of schedule remaining in the NBA; while this is a guarantee of absolutely nothing, it does suggest — and as we’ve looked at now — that the Hawks have a favorable situation to end their season on a more positive note. With the additions of Kuminga and Hield, in addition to Corey Kispert and CJ McCollum a month prior, the Hawks will hope that time in practice and integrate further into the team will provide them with a higher ceiling than when Young was with the team, and when Porzingis absent more often than not.
Irrespective of to what degree of success the Hawks achieve doing this, if any, their end-of-season scenario is unlikely to change: they’ll, very likely, be playing the play-in tournament for the opportunity to enter the NBA postseason as a seventh or eighth seed…just as they for a number of years now. However, a look not-too-far-East to New Orleans may provide a greater sense of optimism heading out of this season than previous seasons…
