TUCSON - The excitement of the first day of training camp was tempered by the absence of guard Leandro Barbosa, who had to leave for Brazil to be with his critically ill mother.

Ivete Barbosa is well-known within the Suns family. She often spends extended parts of the season in the Valley, cooking traditional family meals and rooting on her son. She overcame a bout with a serious illness a few years ago but has suddenly fallen gravely ill.

Barbosa arrived in Tucson with the team Monday night but left after the team gathered for a precamp dinner. He is likely to miss the entire stay in Tucson, which runs through Saturday, and Suns general manager Steve Kerr said there is no immediate timetable for his return.

“We’re going to give him as much time as he needs. Family comes first,” Kerr said. “Our thoughts and prayers are with them at this difficult time.”

Guard Steve Nash called it an awful situation. “I am really sad for Leandro. I love his mom and hopefully she is going to fight through.”

STARTING SLOW

Amaré Stoudemire took part in about the first half-hour of the morning session before bowing out to give his left ankle a rest. He spent the rest of the time on the stationary bike and doing strengthening exercises. In the evening, he took part in the running with his teammates.

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“I feel good. I did more than I thought I would,” he said. “Right now there isn’t a lot of soreness, but I’m trying to take precautionary measures. I don’t want to overdo it. I’m pretty much day to day.”

Porter said it’s too early to tell if Stoudemire will be able to play in Friday night’s scrimmage.

BAD MEMORIES

Shaquille O’Neal stepped into McKale Center for the first time since 1991, when Arizona routed his LSU Tigers by 20 points, holding him to only eight points. O’Neal ran into Arizona coach Lute Olson in the halls Tuesday and the two reminisced about the game.

“We got smoked,” he said. “I remember the fans were energetic and they just demolished us. I was doubled and tripled all day. I had Brian Williams (the late Bison Dele) in front of me, Sean Rooks behind me and Ed Stokes around me. It wasn’t a good day.”

BONUS SHOTS

Forward Alando Tucker jammed his right thumb during the evening session. He had it heavily wrapped but said he didn’t expect to miss any time.

Porter invited his college coach and longtime friend Dick Bennett to camp and joked that he likes the relationship better now that it is coach-and-coach instead of player-coach.

“I don’t get those late night phone calls about what I didn’t do in a game, but we still talk a lot about the game,” he said.

Porter said he felt the team came to camp “in pretty good shape” and came through the first day — that ended with the players running gassers for every missed free throw — very well. “I have to change that around because they didn’t run that many,” he said. “There were too many free throws made.”

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