For a couple of Suns seasons, Shawn Marion was a kid in a playground during recess. He was the first one out of the classroom and the last to return. There was more bounce in his legs than an overinflated basketball. Expectations were somebody else's problem.

It was as if nobody had bothered to tell Marion that the game was a business. Not that it would have mattered.

Marion's pogo stick-like energy always has been filled with undisguised delight at being the first to climb above the elbow-throwing battle for position. If you can't grab a little fun while grabbing a rebound, what's the point?

The kid is still there. So is that bounce. But after a couple of seasons, NBA realities have tempered some of the wide-eyed naivete that two years ago made Marion look like a 21-year-old going on 10.

"Some stuff is given to you, but I'm trying to earn my way right now," he said. "Know what I'm saying?"

Give a team three All-Stars and another who has the potential to be one, and it's going to get considerable respect.

That's the Suns on paper.

But in reality, they're Team Question Mark as they open their season tonight against the Denver Nuggets at America West Arena.

When the Suns made the stunning announcement that they had traded Jason Kidd to the New Jersey Nets for Stephon Marbury, chairman Jerry Colangelo admitted it was risky business.

After all, the Suns gave up a known quantity in Kidd, who was named first-team All-NBA the past three seasons, won a gold medal with the U.S. Olympic team and became a perennial All-Star with the Suns.

In return, they got a player

NBA.com reports that the Phoenix Suns today swapped centers with the Chicago Bulls, receiving Jake Voskuhl and sending Soumaila Samake and a second-round pick in the 2003 NBA Draft to Chicago.

With the season opener against Denver coming Tuesday night at America West Arena, Suns coach Scott Skiles and the club's front office have some decisions to make.

Skiles said he has a starting lineup in mind, but he isn't revealing it.

The team must submit its active 12-man roster by tonight. With 15 players under contract, three must be placed on the injured list or waived.

Forward Dan Majerle will be among the players on the injured list. He underwent surgery to repair a fractured right ring finger.

In this week's NBA Notebook presented by Jeffrey Denberg of the Atlanta Journal-Consistution Washington Coach Doug Collins says High Schooler Kwame Brown is not receptive to coaching and is not in shape to play, to which Brown responded that Collins misreads his body language and that he is doing everything Collins has asked him to do.  Could there be trouble in paradise already?

In other news Celtics coach Jim O'Brien is impressed with the play of point guard Kenny Anderson, yes, Kenny Anderson!  "I think Kenny is in great shape. He really has committed himself defensively, and he has continued to do a wonderful job of getting the ball into the paint."

Down in Phoenix Stephon Marbury just cannot get over New Jersey, choosing to have yet another dig at the franchise stating "We have a better team, that's obvious to me".

LOS ANGELES ? If a troubled final night of the preseason is any indication, the signs aren't good for the Suns.

They closed their preseason at the Staples Center with a lackluster 90-71 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers. And the two-time defending champs didn't even need big nights from Shaquille O'Neal or Kobe Bryant to dispatch the Suns, who shot just 29 percent.

But the Suns had problems even before they took the court.

First, guard Stephon Marbury was suspended for violating an unspecified team rule. The club did not give details.

LOS ANGELES - It's a word that most basketball players disdain, but Tony Delk rolls it off his tongue with a certain amount of pride.

"We've got a lot of 'tweeners," Delk said of the Suns, "and I'm one of those guys."

It's a label put on players whose skills don't match their size - they're "in between."

Delk, 6-2, has been regarded through most of his career as undersized for a shooting guard and lacking the playmaking skills of a point guard.

Regardless of whether rookie Alton Ford makes the 12-man roster to start the season, he already has shown in the preseason that he can give the Suns something they haven't had in recent years.

A banger.

The Suns knew when they took Ford, 20, in the second round of June's draft that he would be a project.

Some were concerned that the 6-foot-9, 270-pound power forward might have a weight problem. He's raw, but not soft.

"Look at the guy. He's ripped," said Suns president Bryan Colangelo.

At least the Suns had their starting five together for one preseason game.

Tonight, they visit the Los Angeles Clippers at the Staples Center, but they're not expecting to have center Jake Tsakalidis, who remained in the Valley to undergo tests after experiencing chest pains Monday. He was not hospitalized.

Suns president Bryan Colangelo confirmed that Tsakalidis would not be with the club tonight but said it has not been determined whether he would be available for games Friday and Saturday as the Suns close out the preseason against Golden State and the Lakers.

"Right now, everything appears normal," Colangelo said after Tsakalidis underwent tests. "He's going to have another test (today) just to be certain there isn't a problem. Whether or not he'll join the team for the rest of the trip, we don't know yet."

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