Suns News: September

[Superbone]

[Superbone]

[Superbone]

[Superbone]

[Superbone]

[SDC]

List of Suns' 50 greatest players needs editing

http://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/n ... /16083119/

So does theirs. Here's my top 20 -

1 - Kevin Johnson
2 - Charles Barkley
3 - Steve Nash
4 - Paul Westphal
5 - Amare Stoudemire
6 - Walter Davis
7 - Shawn Marion
8 - Alvan Adams
9 - Connie Hawkins
10 - Dick Van Arsdale
11 - Larry Nance
12 - Jason Kidd
13 - Tom Chambers
14 - Dennis Johnson
15 - Dan Majerle
16 - Goran Dragic
17 - Jeff Hornacek
18 - Paul Silas
19 - Mark West
20 - Antonio McDyess

This will surprise no one, but your #1 and mine are the same. Just wished KJ had had more of a career into his 30s.

i'd put kurt rambis over mcdyess. in 1989, suns got swept by the lakers. in 1990, suns only significant addition was rambis, suns beat the lakers (best record in 1990) series 4-1

Really? Eww...

i'm not joking. rambis was the only major addition in the 1990 squad. he quickly became a starter along with chambers, KJ, hornacek, and west. he made the suns believe in themselves.

rosters
http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/PHO/1989.html
http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/PHO/1990.html

in 1989, the were swept by the lakers
http://www.basketball-reference.com/pla ... ml#LAL-PHO

in 1990, they almost swept the lakers (the team with the best record in 1990)
http://www.basketball-reference.com/pla ... ml#PHO-LAL

[Mori Chu]

Goodwin looks jacked.

[SwingMan]

So - now that Bledsoe's presumably getting taken care of, what of the Morris twins now?

http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/ ... racts-end/

http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/ ... -together/

[LazarusLong]

List of Suns' 50 greatest players needs editing

http://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/n ... /16083119/

So does theirs. Here's my top 20 -

1 - Kevin Johnson
2 - Charles Barkley
3 - Steve Nash
4 - Paul Westphal
5 - Amare Stoudemire
6 - Walter Davis
7 - Shawn Marion
8 - Alvan Adams
9 - Connie Hawkins
10 - Dick Van Arsdale
11 - Larry Nance
12 - Jason Kidd
13 - Tom Chambers
14 - Dennis Johnson
15 - Dan Majerle
16 - Goran Dragic
17 - Jeff Hornacek
18 - Paul Silas
19 - Mark West
20 - Antonio McDyess

My top score group ...

1. Kevin Johnson
2. Charles Barkley
3. Steve Nash
4. Paul Westphal
5. Connie Hawkins
6. Walter Davis
7. Amare Stoudemire
8. Shawn Marion
9. Dick Van Arsdale
10. Jason Kidd
11. Tom Chambers
12. Dennis Johnson
13. Larry Nance
14. Dan Majerle
15. Alvan Adams
16. Jeff Hornacek
17. Paul Silas
18. Charlie Scott
19. Maurice Lucas
20. Truck Robinson

Connie Hawkins value to the franchise is immeasurable. Before The Hawk, the Suns were the Washington Generals, everybody's patsy. Fan base was the size of a dime. Hawkins made the Suns cool and watchable.

While Alvan Adams was a talented player, but his longevity was the result of him being the favored child of MacLeod.

Charlie Scott was lights out on some lousy Suns teams.

Mo Lucas and Dennis Johnson added physicality to the Suns that has not been seen since they left.

People forget how great a scorer Truck Robinson was. He did, however, come up short in the playoffs...

I like Goran, but he's only been a starter one year. If he has another year approaching last season, then he gets into top 20.

[The Bobster]

LL - Scott, Lucas and Robinson are guys I considered, and would in retrospect could probably bump McDyess and West (and possibly Dragic) off the list. Another guy who doesn't get much mention on these kind of lists is Gail Goodrich, who played pretty well here for a couple of years.

It looks like I'm a bigger fan of Adams than you are - although I think his best season (75-76) was in a watered-down pre-merger league.

And I would have put Hawkins a little higher except we didn't get to see his best for long before the mileage started catching up with him.

[JCSunsfan]

List of Suns' 50 greatest players needs editing

http://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/n ... /16083119/

So does theirs. Here's my top 20 -

1 - Kevin Johnson
2 - Charles Barkley
3 - Steve Nash
4 - Paul Westphal
5 - Amare Stoudemire
6 - Walter Davis
7 - Shawn Marion
8 - Alvan Adams
9 - Connie Hawkins
10 - Dick Van Arsdale
11 - Larry Nance
12 - Jason Kidd
13 - Tom Chambers
14 - Dennis Johnson
15 - Dan Majerle
16 - Goran Dragic
17 - Jeff Hornacek
18 - Paul Silas
19 - Mark West
20 - Antonio McDyess

This will surprise no one, but your #1 and mine are the same. Just wished KJ had had more of a career into his 30s.

i'd put kurt rambis over mcdyess. in 1989, suns got swept by the lakers. in 1990, suns only significant addition was rambis, suns beat the lakers (best record in 1990) series 4-1

Really? Eww...

i'm not joking. rambis was the only major addition in the 1990 squad. he quickly became a starter along with chambers, KJ, hornacek, and west. he made the suns believe in themselves.

rosters
http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/PHO/1989.html
http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/PHO/1990.html

in 1989, the were swept by the lakers
http://www.basketball-reference.com/pla ... ml#LAL-PHO

in 1990, they almost swept the lakers (the team with the best record in 1990)
http://www.basketball-reference.com/pla ... ml#PHO-LAL

Not exactly. They also got rid of Gilliam, who was a turnstyle on defense. Rambis wasn't that great, its just amazing how much a little bit of defense makes. Rambis was also an effective rebounder and knew how to start the break. Gilliam would rebound but then hold the ball till everything cleared. He was a break-stopper.

While I loved Rambis, and he made a big difference as a role player. He was just a role player.

Most people on this board aren't old enough to remember how incredibly great Connie Hawkins actually was. He should at least be considered as the #1.

[LazarusLong]

If one includes Goran on the strength of just one solid year as a starter, then, yeah, Goodrich would have to be in the top 20. Stumpy got his chance to start with the Suns after being a backup with the Lakers. The Lakers got him back for Mel Counts (!?), showing the Jerry hadn't developed his trading chops yet ...

I like Adams. Top 20 is good. But the Suns had a chance to trade him several times later in his career for decent players and MacLeod balked.

Hawkins had one great year, one good year, and then started fading. But he was a Globetrotter talent when the Globetrotters were still a skilled unit. His entertainment value put the Suns on the map.

I thought McDyess was a fabulous talent that was underused by Ainge and then erratic in his return. He'd be in my top 25 or 30, along with Cliff Robinson, West, Goran, Neal Walk, Stumpy, Gar Heard and others ...

[LazarusLong]

"Not exactly. They also got rid of Gilliam, who was a turnstyle on defense. Rambis wasn't that great, its just amazing how much a little bit of defense makes. Rambis was also an effective rebounder and knew how to start the break. Gilliam would rebound but then hold the ball till everything cleared. He was a break-stopper. "

Agree. The Hammer was a solid low-post offensive player in a half court set. The Suns were a running team and he didn't fit. Phoenix had plenty of offense with that team and needed D, which the Hammer didn't have in his toolbox. I also seem to remember a dust up with Chambers shortly before Armen/Armon got traded.

[Shabazz]

How about everyone's bottom 10? Here are mine since I've been a fan.

10. Hot Rod Williams
9. Randy Livingston (Googs was never the same)
8. Sam Cassell
7. Hedo Turkoglu
6. Josh Childress
5. Mario Elie
4. Luc Longley
3. Vince Carter
2. Robert Horry
1. Michael Beasley

[JCSunsfan]

As far as Hawkins goes, I do not know if anyone in the NBA has ever had bigger hands. He handled the ball like it was a tennis ball. When you realize how he palmed the ball, even on dunks, no one sees that today.

Enjoy.

[ShelC]

Elie gets a bad rap because of his stuff with the Rockets and Spurs, but I thought he gave us his all and really stepped up for us, starting a lot of games when he was supposed to merely be a role player.

Beasley, Kendall Marshall, Warrick, Childress, Marcus Banks, Toby Bailey, Dijon Thompson, Alando Tucker, the Langhi...

[LazarusLong]

Nice clip. After Goodrich left, most of the Phoenix offense went through The Hawk because of that passing ability. Phoenix actually played with two off-guards, Clem Haskins and Van Arsdale for several years under Fitzsimmons.

[LazarusLong]

"Beasley, Kendall Marshall, Warrick, Childress, Marcus Banks, Toby Bailey, Dijon Thompson, Alando Tucker, the Langhi..."

The Langhi definitely gets consideration. Shot 70% in practice, about 17% in games. Defense softer than the Stay-Puff man ...

[Shabazz]

Oooh - Marcus Banks. He should have been on my list. I tried to stay away from end-of-bench guys like Dijon Mustard, but Taylor Griffin occupying a roster spot always got on my nerves.

[INFORMER]

Anyone else notice Coro has been late to the game nearly all offseason, particularly when it comes to Eric Bledsoe news? Windhorst and Wojnarowski have beat him to the punch repeatedly, with Coro releasing an article 12 to 24 hours later essentially restating what those national guys already broke.

Coro reported about it at 9:37 pm tonight. Check the other thread.

That's my point. He comes rushing in after Woj already broke the story. And his article simply restates everything Woj reported.