Bobster's Trivia Corner

[ShadowHawke]

Spoiler: show/hide

John Shumate

Spoiler: show/hide

[The Bobster]

Spoiler: show/hide

John Shumate

Spoiler: show/hide

Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!

Shumate did come color work for the Suns in 1974-75 when he was sitting out the season with blood clots on his lungs.

[The Bobster]

BTW - I ran accross this picture of Joe Proski's van from the 1970s.

[Superbone]

BTW - I ran accross this picture of Joe Proski's van from the 1970s.

Far out, man!

[The Bobster]

WEEK 1 TRIVIA - ALL-STAR SNUBS

SUNS QUESTION
This Suns player was named All-NBA while playing for the Suns, but was not selevted to the Western Conference All-Star team that year. He was named to an All-Star Game later in his career however.

NBA QUESTION
These three NBA players were named All-NBA but were never selected for the NBA All-Star Game during their entire careers.

BONUS QUESTION
Nine players have scored over 15,000 career regular season points but have never player in an NBA All-Star Game. Who are they? Hints: The top two played part of their careers for the Suns and none of the nine are active.

[BKinSJC]

WEEK 1 TRIVIA - ALL-STAR SNUBS

SUNS QUESTION
This Suns player was named All-NBA while playing for the Suns, but was not selevted to the Western Conference All-Star team that year. He was named to an All-Star Game later in his career however.

NBA QUESTION
These three NBA players were named All-NBA but were never selected for the NBA All-Star Game during their entire careers.

BONUS QUESTION
Nine players have scored over 15,000 career regular season points but have never player in an NBA All-Star Game. Who are they? Hints: The top two played part of their careers for the Suns and none of the nine are active.

Answer to your Suns question (spoiler tag for those that might still want to work through it):

► Show Spoiler

It's Kevin Johnson. His first full year with the Suns in 1988-89, he was named 2nd team All-NBA but was not on the All-Star roster. This happened again (after he had been named an All-Star a couple of times) in 1991-92 (3rd team All-NBA, no AS nod). Trying to work through how it could have happened the first time is kind of instructive. It looks like the West All-Star guards that year were pretty hard to get through: Magic, Stockton, Chris Mullen, Clyde Drexler were all well-known names and great players for good teams. Also, KJ individually and the Suns as a team sort of came out of nowhere that year; you could see there being some lag before people started accepting that they were actually good. Finally, despite the team's eventual success, they did get of to a little bit of a slow start (only 11-10 a quarter of the way through the season), so it's likely they wouldn't have been a big story for early All-Star returns.

Bonus Question musing (not a complete answer):

► Show Spoiler

I'm almost certain that one of the two that played for the Suns must be Jamal Crawford, who spent most of his very long career as a sixth-man scorer extraordinaire. Not the kind of profile that gets you into the All-Star game outside of some crazy circumstances. Along the same lines, I'm guessing that one of the others must be Lou Williams.

Edit to add: Looks like Derek Harper, who held the unofficial "best player never to make an All-Star appearance" title belt for a number of years, is one of the others.

2nd edit: The other Suns player was so obvious that I overlooked it, and now I feel dumb. It's Eddie Johnson, yet another dedicated 6th man scorer.

Edited to add to Bonus Question musings x2

[Charlie Smithy!]

WEEK 1 TRIVIA - ALL-STAR SNUBS

SUNS QUESTION
This Suns player was named All-NBA while playing for the Suns, but was not selevted to the Western Conference All-Star team that year. He was named to an All-Star Game later in his career however.

NBA QUESTION
These three NBA players were named All-NBA but were never selected for the NBA All-Star Game during their entire careers.

Spoiler: show/hide

Drazen Petrovic is, unfortunately, one of the easy answers for me here, as the Autobahn cut his career and life short

.

BONUS QUESTION
Nine players have scored over 15,000 career regular season points but have never player in an NBA All-Star Game. Who are they? Hints: The top two played part of their careers for the Suns and none of the nine are active.

[The Bobster]

WEEK 1 TRIVIA - ALL-STAR SNUBS

SUNS QUESTION
This Suns player was named All-NBA while playing for the Suns, but was not selevted to the Western Conference All-Star team that year. He was named to an All-Star Game later in his career however.

NBA QUESTION
These three NBA players were named All-NBA but were never selected for the NBA All-Star Game during their entire careers.

Spoiler: show/hide

Drazen Petrovic is, unfortunately, one of the easy answers for me here, as the Autobahn cut his career and life short

.

BONUS QUESTION
Nine players have scored over 15,000 career regular season points but have never player in an NBA All-Star Game. Who are they? Hints: The top two played part of their careers for the Suns and none of the nine are active.

Yes, he's one of the three.

[The Bobster]

WEEK 1 TRIVIA - ALL-STAR SNUBS

SUNS QUESTION
This Suns player was named All-NBA while playing for the Suns, but was not selevted to the Western Conference All-Star team that year. He was named to an All-Star Game later in his career however.

NBA QUESTION
These three NBA players were named All-NBA but were never selected for the NBA All-Star Game during their entire careers.

BONUS QUESTION
Nine players have scored over 15,000 career regular season points but have never player in an NBA All-Star Game. Who are they? Hints: The top two played part of their careers for the Suns and none of the nine are active.

Answer to your Suns question (spoiler tag for those that might still want to work through it):

► Show Spoiler

It's Kevin Johnson. His first full year with the Suns in 1988-89, he was named 2nd team All-NBA but was not on the All-Star roster. This happened again (after he had been named an All-Star a couple of times) in 1991-92 (3rd team All-NBA, no AS nod). Trying to work through how it could have happened the first time is kind of instructive. It looks like the West All-Star guards that year were pretty hard to get through: Magic, Stockton, Chris Mullen, Clyde Drexler were all well-known names and great players for good teams. Also, KJ individually and the Suns as a team sort of came out of nowhere that year; you could see there being some lag before people started accepting that they were actually good. Finally, despite the team's eventual success, they did get of to a little bit of a slow start (only 11-10 a quarter of the way through the season), so it's likely they wouldn't have been a big story for early All-Star returns.

Bonus Question musing (not a complete answer):

► Show Spoiler

I'm almost certain that one of the two that played for the Suns must be Jamal Crawford, who spent most of his very long career as a sixth-man scorer extraordinaire. Not the kind of profile that gets you into the All-Star game outside of some crazy circumstances. Along the same lines, I'm guessing that one of the others must be Lou Williams.

Edit to add: Looks like Derek Harper, who held the unofficial "best player never to make an All-Star appearance" title belt for a number of years, is one of the others.

2nd edit: The other Suns player was so obvious that I overlooked it, and now I feel dumb. It's Eddie Johnson, yet another dedicated 6th man scorer.

Edited to add to Bonus Question musings x2

Actually, I should have word it as "This Suns player was named All-NBA while playing for the Suns, but was never selected to the Western Conference All-Star team as a Sun"

The way it was worded Kevin Johnson is correct, but there's also a second player who was all NBA once with the Suns and an All-Star once with another team. Hint: He played her since Kevin Johnson did.

[O_Gardino]

WEEK 1 TRIVIA - ALL-STAR SNUBS

SUNS QUESTION
This Suns player was named All-NBA while playing for the Suns, but was not selevted to the Western Conference All-Star team that year. He was named to an All-Star Game later in his career however.

NBA QUESTION
These three NBA players were named All-NBA but were never selected for the NBA All-Star Game during their entire careers.

BONUS QUESTION
Nine players have scored over 15,000 career regular season points but have never player in an NBA All-Star Game. Who are they? Hints: The top two played part of their careers for the Suns and none of the nine are active.

Answer to your Suns question (spoiler tag for those that might still want to work through it):

► Show Spoiler

It's Kevin Johnson. His first full year with the Suns in 1988-89, he was named 2nd team All-NBA but was not on the All-Star roster. This happened again (after he had been named an All-Star a couple of times) in 1991-92 (3rd team All-NBA, no AS nod). Trying to work through how it could have happened the first time is kind of instructive. It looks like the West All-Star guards that year were pretty hard to get through: Magic, Stockton, Chris Mullen, Clyde Drexler were all well-known names and great players for good teams. Also, KJ individually and the Suns as a team sort of came out of nowhere that year; you could see there being some lag before people started accepting that they were actually good. Finally, despite the team's eventual success, they did get of to a little bit of a slow start (only 11-10 a quarter of the way through the season), so it's likely they wouldn't have been a big story for early All-Star returns.

Bonus Question musing (not a complete answer):

► Show Spoiler

I'm almost certain that one of the two that played for the Suns must be Jamal Crawford, who spent most of his very long career as a sixth-man scorer extraordinaire. Not the kind of profile that gets you into the All-Star game outside of some crazy circumstances. Along the same lines, I'm guessing that one of the others must be Lou Williams.

Edit to add: Looks like Derek Harper, who held the unofficial "best player never to make an All-Star appearance" title belt for a number of years, is one of the others.

2nd edit: The other Suns player was so obvious that I overlooked it, and now I feel dumb. It's Eddie Johnson, yet another dedicated 6th man scorer.

Edited to add to Bonus Question musings x2

Actually, I should have word it as "This Suns player was named All-NBA while playing for the Suns, but was never selected to the Western Conference All-Star team as a Sun"

The way it was worded Kevin Johnson is correct, but there's also a second player who was all NBA once with the Suns and an All-Star once with another team. Hint: He played her since Kevin Johnson did.

I had to look it up.

► Show Spoiler

Goran Dragic
He was 3rd team all nba in 13-14 for Phoenix, and an allstar for Miami in 17-18.

[Split T]

I shoulda read this earlier…I would’ve got Dragic

[The Bobster]

I thought I'd throw this in here. I just got the new book by SLAM MAGAZINE - "The Top 500 NBA Players of All Time" and here is a list of the Suns players in their top 500.

SUNS IN SLAM TOP 500

12 - Kevin Durant
25 - Charles Barkley
31 - Chris Paul
32 - Jason Kidd
44 - Steve Nash
56 - Vince Carter
87 - Grant Hill
99 - Dennis Johnson
105 - Devin Booker
107 - Connie Hawkins
109 - Gus Johnson
126 - Gail Goodrich
128 - Stephon Marbury
130 - Charlie Scott
132 - Kevin Johnson
133 - Walter Davis
153 - Amar'e Stoudemire
161 - Paul Silas
174 - Joe Johnson
179 - Tom Chambers
180 - Maurice Lucas
195 - Shawn Marion
199 - Bradley Beal
214 - Paul Westphal
231 - Michael Redd
237 - Larry Nance
262 - Tyson Chandler
264 - Sam Cassell
272 - Jamal Crawford
298 - Michael Finley
311 - Jason Richardson
315 - Xavier McDaniel
321 - Alvan Adams
341 - Danny Manning
347 - Truck Robinson
350 - Goran Dragic
351 - Eric Bledsoe
361 - Jeff Hornacek
371 - Dick Van Arsdale
372 - Tom Van Arsdale
375 - Clifford Robinson
393 - Quentin Richardson
403 - Dan Majerle
408 - Tom Gugliotta
410 - Cedric Ceballos
417 - Jim Jackson
421 - Eddie Johnson
429 - Hedo Turkoglu
441 - Wayman Tisdale
444 - Eric Gordon
463 - Antonio McDyess
472 - Danny Ainge
483 - A.C. Green
488 - Tim Thomas
493 - Ricky Rubio
496 - Robert Horry
499 - Michael Beasley

[SunsRIt]

Michael Beasley? Was he ever any good?

[Mori Chu]

That is an interesting list. Some of the rankings confuse me. Stephon Marbury ahead of Kevin Johnson? Joe Johnson ahead of Tom Chambers? RICKY RUBIO only at #493 and not top-10 as he deserves? wtf.

[Superbone]

Michael Beasley? Was he ever any good?

This stood out to be too. I don't think so. He was average at best.

[Superbone]

The Cardinals off-topic thread got me to look something up Suns related. Without researching, where do the Suns rank all-time for regular season win rate among the current 30 teams? This includes their former teams from which they evolved.

[The Bobster]

My guess is they're behind the Lakers, Celtics, Spurs and Sonics/Thunder.

* edited to add * For years Portland and Utah were up there too, but they've slipped some recently.

[The Bobster]

As for the list, Stephon Marbury seems awfully high. I wouldn't put him ahead of Davis, Stoudemire, Marion, Westphal or KJ.

Their list isn't terrible but I have some minor quibbles - Kobe at #5 is too high, Wilt at #8 and Bird at #11 are too low.

I would go 1 - Jordan, 2 - Abdul-Jabbar, 3 - James, 4 - Chamberlain, 5 - Magic, 6 - Bird, 7 - Russell, 8 - O'Neal, 9 - Duncan, 10 - Bryant or Curry [Jokic and Giannis are closing fast on the top 10]

[Split T]

The Cardinals off-topic thread got me to look something up Suns related. Without researching, where do the Suns rank all-time for regular season win rate among the current 30 teams? This includes their former teams from which they evolved.

I’ve looked this up in the past. I know the Spurs/Thunder(Sonics)/Lakers/Celtics are ahead of us. We were behind the Jazz, but we’ve probably passed them over the last couple years. I think Philly and Portland are right there, but I’m gonna say we are 5th.

[Split T]

Marion way too low. KJ might be getting dinged for his off the court stuff. Seems crazy Marbury is ahead of him. I think I’d have Nash over Kidd as well.