Welcome to the dog days of summer...

We're now officially in that awkward stage of the basketball season. NBA players are participating in summer leagues, highschoolers are playing a little AAU ball and the rest of us are wondering what offseason move, if any, our teams will pull off. Thankfully, there are a few items of note.

Numero Uno:

Amare is mobile and playing again. For Suns fans, every step Amare takes is a step towards our future. While he is not as explosive yet, nor will he be for a while, but there are some great signs. His overall game and understanding are vastly improved and he's showing this off with some dirbbling and passing displays thus far in summer league play. Hopefully we'll start to see a few vicious dunks thrown in here and there. To be honest though, I would take a game similar to Karl Malone's or Chris Webber's circa the Sactown days. Keep an eye on those boxscores kids.

Numero Dos:

The world championships are coming this August. This should help baskeball fans in general breath a sigh of relief since we'll be without legit games for two months. It should be fun to see how we bounce back and to see if another country steps forward or if another young phenom can step and become the next big draft prospect. My dark horse for the tourney, if you could call it that, is France. I really like their team and they now have five NBA players on the squad in Parker, Pietrus, Diaw, Petro and Turiaf. If Pietrus can play up to his abilities, France could be tough.