My Favorite Player, Boris Diaw

When Boris Diaw joined the Phoenix Suns, he became the original “trip-dub” big man.

In 2004–05, the Phoenix Suns were my favorite team.

I had never seen a playstyle like theirs before. It was fast-paced as they tried to score within 7 seconds.

And when they couldn’t get out on the fastbreak, they had their dynamic duo, Steve Nash and Amare Stoudemire, run this beautiful, yet explosive, pick-and-roll.

Because of their new playstyle, the Suns stifled a lot of teams. This led them to 62 wins (good for first in the league) and to the Western Conference Finals (where they lost to the San Antonio Spurs).

The following season, I didn’t expect the Suns to do as well as their first run together.

Stoudemire was injured for the season and Joe Johnson, one of their key starters, was traded to the Atlanta Hawks for a French guy named Boris Diaw and some future first-round picks.

I didn’t know much about Diaw. He didn’t play well in Atlanta as he only averaged 4.6 points, 3.6 rebounds, and 2.3 assists a game in the two seasons with them.

I also didn’t watch the Hawks because they were bad.