Tag: Tyson Chandler

Off balance: Len’s future with the Suns is up in the air

by Adnan Alam
  • Slug: Sports-Suns Len, 1,680 words
  • Photos available (thumbnails, captions below)

By Gavin Schall
Cronkite News

PHOENIX — Growing up in the coal mining town of Antratsyt, Ukraine, Alex Len’s first love was gymnastics, a sport typically dominated by pint-sized people.

That’s not Len, who eventually would sprout to 7 feet, 1 inch in height. He really never had a chance, at least in gymnastics.

“I was the tallest in the group, so they told me right away, ‘You’re not going to be good,’” Len said.

The tale of Len’s transition to basketball reads like the classic story of every giant who was too awkward, too shy, or simply too blissfully unaware to take up the game without prompting.

Continue reading “Off balance: Len’s future with the Suns is up in the air”

Phoenix Suns forward Dragan Bender plays his own way

by Adnan Alam
  • Slug: Sports-Suns Bender, 685 words
  • Photos available (thumbnails, captions below)

By Logan Newman
Cronkite News

PHOENIX — Center Tyson Chandler spent the early summers of his NBA career getting a close up look at former Bulls forward Toni Kukoč as his teammate in Chicago.

Some 5,000 miles away in Croatia, young Dragan Bender was just learning the game along with his older brother Ivan, and the brothers carefully studied Kukoč’s NBA highlights from afar.

Now, Bender is a 19-year-old rookie forward with the Phoenix Suns playing alongside Chandler, who is in his 16th NBA season. And Chandler sees similarities in the two players.

Continue reading “Phoenix Suns forward Dragan Bender plays his own way”

Phoenix Suns coach Earl Watson, center Tyson Chandler have long history together

by Adnan Alam
  • Slug: Sports-Suns Watson-Chandler, 670
  • NO PHOTOS

By SAMANTHA PELL

Cronkite News

PHOENIX — When Tyson Chandler was just a teenager, Earl Watson was there for him, picking him up in his car to take him to lunch at an In-N-Out Burger from time to time.  

Back then, Watson was an incoming freshman at UCLA. Chandler was a Hanford, California native about to be a ninth grader at Manuel Dominguez High School in Compton, California.

Now it is Chandler’s turn to play the part of mentor for a young Phoenix Suns team.

Continue reading “Phoenix Suns coach Earl Watson, center Tyson Chandler have long history together”