The Phoenix Suns roster came as no real surprise. Taking the virtual court for the Suns will be Steve Nash, Grant Hill and Jason Richardson. Also suiting up in the purple and orange as legends will be Dan Majerle and Kevin Johnson.

It’s nice to see Thunder Dan (En Fuego!) back, but as Stein points out, his original NBA Jam partner is oddly absent. The man most synonymous with “Suns legend” didn’t make the game: Charles Barkley. It’s a tragedy! This Suns squad could use “The Round Mound of Rebound,” as it’s pretty undersized.

Sadly, the Suns Gorilla is absent as well. This comes as a bit of a surprise given that the Gorilla is one of the league’s oldest, most premiere mascots (he’s a charter member of the Mascot Hall of Fame! EA dropped the ball here.)

Stein notes that there is still hope for both the Chuckster and the NBA’s most vertically talented mascot, as they could be hidden characters (I just don’t understand how the Gorilla’s insane dunking potential was overlooked — but maybe it wasn’t entirely).

An argument could be made for Robin Lopez to be on the Suns’ Jam roster, given his breakout season, size and unique haircut, but I guess the fans wanted J-Rich more. And as for Hedo Turkoglu and Josh Childress — their trades likely came too late to be considered for inclusion.

Erie Times News: Treloar gets called up

The Suns’ front office evolution continues, as the team added NBA Developmental League coach John Treloar to the front office as director of player personnel, according to an Erie Times News report.

The now former head coach of the Erie BayHawks comes to the Suns after two seasons in Erie in which he went 48-52 as the franchises only coach in its short history. It looks like Treloar replaces Todd Quinter in the position.

The BayHawks are a Cleveland Cavaliers affiliate, which makes sense as former Cavs executive Lance Blanks is the new Suns general manager. Treloar’s front office experience includes stints as a GM in the Continental Basketball Association.

Treloar also spent time in the NCAA ranks as an assistant with Indiana and LSU.

Amare did what superstars do in the final seconds. (AP/Rich Pedroncelli)

If I had known entering the game Amare Stoudemire would score six points in regulation although the Suns were missing three rotation guys, I’m not sure if I would have wanted to even watch the contest.

But with a few gallons of Diesel power and a Detroit Pistons-esque night from Grant Hill, the Suns did just enough in regulation for Amare to lead the way in overtime of a 97-95 win.

Amare did everything the Suns needed not to happen from him in regulation, getting into foul trouble, scoring only one basket on a breakaway dunk, missing crucial late free throws, turning the ball over and grabbing about as many rebounds as Sean Singletary.

But when overtime came around, Amare was there for a pair of swished jumpers in Spencer Hawes’ face to get the Suns out to a good start. Then with the score tied and the seconds ticking down he isolated Hawes a la Barkley on the Admiral in ’93 and splashed the game-winner in his face from 17 feet out with 4.5 seconds left.

But Amare wasn’t done, as he blocked John Salmons’ potential-tying drive and then recovered to emphatically stuff Hawes to end the game.

After a nothing regulation, Amare became Superman to win it in overtime.

“I saw Salmons driving to the basket with a wide open layup,” Amare told the Associated Press, “and I moved toward him and he went reverse and I got a piece of it and deflected it to Spencer. I was able to block his shot as well.”

But for most of the game, Superman was, well, Superman.

I know I used the whole “Shaq looked like the Shaq of old, not the old Shaq” phrase after his dominant Milwaukee performance, and AP used a similar sentiment in its game story from this contest.

But after Shaq exploded for 29 points on 10-for-15 shooting, 13 boards and six assists, I’m starting to think that while the 36-year-old version of Shaq may not be as utterly dominant as he was in his younger days, we can’t keep referring to these stellar outings as Shaq being the Shaq of old. He’s just being Shaq.

The Daddy had not put up a 25-10-5 line since March 2007, but he did so with ease in this one. The Kings simply could not stop him, and they aren’t the only team in that boat.

Believe it or not, Shaq is averaging 17.4 points and 8.9 boards per contest, and I see no reason why he can’t put up a line like that for the entire season if he stays healthy. By the way, the last time Shaq put up those kinds of numbers, the Heat won the 2006 NBA Championship. I’m just saying.

It will be really interesting to see if Shaq sits out either Sunday’s game against Detroit or Monday’s in Utah. With Barnes still out I doubt he rests against the Pistons, and you hate to see him miss a showdown against the Jazz, but it may just be a game where the Suns have to swallow hard to keep Shaq conditioned for performances like Friday’s.

Hill also “turned back the clock,” you could say, with a vintage 22-point, nine-board, four-assist and four-steal game, although he also contributed seven turnovers.

To put it bluntly, the Suns absolutely needed that with playmakers in Nash, Barnes and Barbosa all gone, and it was far from expected considering Hill had not scored in his past two games despite logging a combined 36 minutes.

Odd to see Robin Lopez not get off the bench at first glance, but with the way the Suns needed their offense to run through Shaq much of the game and since their short-handedness only related to guards and wings, it makes a little more sense.

Being an overtime game where you’re basically going with seven guys you know the minutes will be ridiculous, so Bell played 49, Hill 45, Shaq 43 and Amare just 38 because of early foul trouble.

You hate to see those guys log so many minutes, but it’s just one game and what else are you going to do?

Who was KJ rooting for?

Sacramento mayor-elect and former Suns star Kevin Johnson spent half the second quarter on the Suns’ broadcast, where he was asked about his goals as mayor, campaigning with the help of players like Shaq and tutoring a young Steve Nash, but Tom Leander and Scott Williams never broached the question on my mind: Who’s KJ rooting for?

I can only assume because the question wasn’t asked, it would not have been the answer Suns fans wanted to hear.

Come on KJ, you won the election, you don’t have to be political anymore.

I bet KJ's mayoral opposition couldn't do this.

KJ, Kevin Johnson will always have a special place in my heart for his killer crossover, dunking on Hakeem and for that 25-9-7 while playing 62 minutes in Game 3 of the 1993 NBA Finals.

But who would have ever thought he would become Mayor KJ?

“Today the country elected the first African-American president, Barack Obama. Sacramento also made history today by electing the first African-American mayor,” Johnson told the Sacramento Bee after being elected mayor of Sacramento. “Obama and myself, we ran on the promise and the theme of change. No more business as usual.”

If Johnson brings the city of Sacramento the kind of change he brought the Suns franchise, he will live up to his campaign promise.

The Suns finished 1987-88 – the season in which KJ was acquired in a midseason deal – with a 28-54 record to cap off four straight seasons in which the Suns averaged a 33-49.

Phoenix immediately became a perennial contender starting with a 55-27 season in 1988-89 and won at least 53 games each of the next seven years. KJ’s Suns failed to clear the 50-win benchmark just three times, one being the strike-shortened 1998-99 season.

The driving thrust of all those clubs was a point guard who could blow by defenders at will, nail midrange jumpers and dish out assists with the best of them.

If I had to pick a politician out of the bunch of those mid-90s Suns I would have said Charles Barkley without hesitation.

The Chuckster has spoken for years about running for governor of Alabama, and with his popularity and outspoken nature, well, let’s just say I’d vote for him.

And you never know with Barkley, maybe he still will become a future governor of Alabama and help those ’93 Suns continue to make as big an impact in the political world as they did for the Suns franchise.

If I had to pick a current Phoenix Sun as most likely to follow in KJ’s footsteps, I’d tab his heir apparent of the Phoenix point guard throne, Steve Nash.

Nash has never been afraid to take a stand on issues he believes in, wearing a T-shirt to the 2003 All-Star Game that read “Shoot baskets not people,” and anyone who’s ever seen him direct an offense knows his leadership abilities are off the charts.

Grant Hill, an ardent supporter of Obama, wouldn’t be a bad choice, either.

Speaking of Obama, a noted basketball player, I’d think twice before inviting the new mayor of Sacramento over to the White House for a friendly game of one-on-one.