Players we hated most PRE and POST Suns…

[se7en]

With all of this talk of about Malone, I thought it would be fun to discuss which:
Players we hated most BEFORE they played for the Suns.
Players we hated most AFTER they left the Suns.
Players we still loved most AFTER playing for a different team.

Top 5 players we hated most BEFORE they played for the Suns:
1. Mario Elie
2. Danny Ainge
3. McDyess
4. ?
5. ?

(I struggled with this one. I think I want to put Barkley on this list because he was hated so much for spitting on a little girl right before the Suns traded for him.)

Top 5 players we hated most AFTER they left the Suns:
1. McDyess
2. Kidd
3. Horry
4. Barkley (for the first couple of years it was a bitter pill to swallow)
5. Richard Dumas

Top 10 players we still loved AFTER playing for a different team (I didn’t know where to stop with this list):
1. Majerle
2. Horney
3. Ced
4. Dennis Johnson
5. Westphal
6. Nash
7. Walter Davis
8. Michael Finley
9. Connie Hawkins
10. Larry Nance
11. Outlaw
12. Elliot “sox” Perry
13. Joe Klein
14. Mark West
15. Tom Chambers
16. Danny Manning

 

[Bada0Bing]

I would add Sam Cassell to your first two lists. I was so glad that he was traded so soon.

 

[scudney]

I pretty much agree with your lists.

For list #2, I would definately put Kidd at the top.

For list #3, I would put Marbury near the top.

 

[hsandhu]

For list #2 no one is even close to Kidd. The things he said about the suns and phx, and specifically the stuff he said after the nets beat phx the first time they played, I can never stop hating him. Watching him lose in back to back finals was beautiful.

 

[Joe Mama]

For list #2 no one is even close to Kidd. The things he said about the suns and phx, and specifically the stuff he said after the nets beat phx the first time they played, I can never stop hating him. Watching him lose in back to back finals was beautiful.

Ditto on that one hsandhu. I've had my problems with McDyess, Sam Cassell, and Charles Barkley after they left, but I absolutely loathed Jason Kidd.

Joe Mama

 

[JS22]

My top 5 hated: (After they left)

1: Jason Kidd
2: Jason Kidd
3: Jason Kidd
4: Jason Kidd
5: Jason Kidd
5a: Joumana Kidd
5b: TJ. Kidd

 

[jbeecham]

What about top 5 players hated while they played for the Suns?

1. Penny Hardaway
2. Luc Longley
3. Tom Gugliotta (just because he was never able to produce)
4. Howard Eisley
5. ????

 

[George O'Brien]

What about top 5 players hated while they played for the Suns?

1. Penny Hardaway
2. Luc Longley
3. Tom Gugliotta (just because he was never able to produce)
4. Howard Eisley
5. ????

I'm inclined to add Hot Rod Williams, although I think the team was so boring then no one much cared.

BTW, did AC Green generate much emotion either either way?

 

[SweetD]

What about for #3:

Steve Nash
Eddie Johnson
Van Arsedales
Joe Proskey
Marco Milic (sp)


for #2
Sam Cassell
Robert Horry
Jason Kidd
Kevin Johnson
Rodney Rodgers
and newly added Stephen Jackson

For #1
Danny Sheas (sp)
Charles Barkley
Rex Chapman
Tom Chambers
Tim Kempton

 

[se7en]

I thought about AC. He was a good guy. I just don't know if anyone cared.

As for Marbury, I chose not to put him on the list because I felt that he really wasn't with the team long enough create an attachment with the fans. And part of that is because the team just wasn't that good.

As for the "jbeecham's" new list involving players we hated while they were with the Suns? I don't know. "Hate" seems kind of harsh. All of those guys were put in a tough situation with injuries and depth charts and extremely high expectations. I think they're more tragic characters than anything. Yeah, how about a tragic list.

Most tragic Suns players of all time:

1. Danny Manning (knee problems)
2. Googs (knee problems)
3. Penny (knee problems)
(so sad that three allstars in a row went down with essentially career ending knee injuries. No team in the history of the NBA has ever had to endure that much bad luck)

4. Dumas (drug problems)
5. Rex Chapman (wrist injury)
6. Randy Livingston (caused injuries to other players)
7. KJ (my favorite player who struggled with pulled hamstrings and groin pulls for the last few years of his career)
8. Hot Rod Williams (back problems)
9. (wasn't there a player who died in a plane crash)
10. Jarod Mustaff (wasn't he involved in a murder with a cousin or something?)

Who can add some more to the ALL TRAGIC SUNS TEAM?


BTW I didn't do any list in any particular order. But yeah, I would put Kidd at the top.

 

[se7en]

What about for #3:

Steve Nash
Eddie Johnson
Van Arsedales
Joe Proskey
Marco Milic (sp)


for #2
Sam Cassell
Robert Horry
Jason Kidd
Kevin Johnson
Rodney Rodgers
and newly added Stephen Jackson

For #1
Danny Sheas (sp)
Charles Barkley
Rex Chapman
Tom Chambers
Tim Kempton

You hated KJ, Rodney Rogers and Stephen Jackson? I don't understand? That's crazy. Who on earth and why would hate KJ of all people.

As for your list #1, why did you hate those players before they came to the Suns? I'm just curious since I have very little recollection of those players before they became Suns with the exception of Barkley. I didn't know anything about Chapman, Shayes or Kempton before the Suns at all.

 

[Islington]

Most tragic Suns players of all time:

1. Danny Manning (knee problems)
2. Googs (knee problems)
3. Penny (knee problems)
(so sad that three allstars in a row went down with essentially career ending knee injuries. No team in the history of the NBA has ever had to endure that much bad luck)

4. Dumas (drug problems)
5. Rex Chapman (wrist injury)
6. Randy Livingston (caused injuries to other players)
7. KJ (my favorite player who struggled with pulled hamstrings and groin pulls for the last few years of his career)
8. Hot Rod Williams (back problems)
9. (wasn't there a player who died in a plane crash)
10. Jarod Mustaff (wasn't he involved in a murder with a cousin or something?)

9. Nick Vanos - the guy killed in a plane crash (I think)

How about Oliver Milller (weight problems)?

Do you think Zarko can be thrown in this list?

 

[Skratchy_Seal]

I hated Greg Anthony because of the fight. I also hated Magic Johnson because him and KJ got into it during one of the playoff series.

Okay so they were never Suns players, but I hated them...and Jason Kidd

I'm trying to remember the deal with Sam Cassell. What did he do?

 

[Joe Mama]

I'm trying to remember the deal with Sam Cassell. What did he do?

I think people were just afraid he was here as a part of some alien reconnaissance mission before the actual invasion.

Remember the miniseries, "V"? He didn't even try to look like a human.

Joe Mama

 

[asudevil83]

Hated kid in Dallas AND in New Jersey
Hated Cassell in Houston AND everywhere else
Hated Horry in Houston
Hated McDice after he left TWICE

 

[SweetD]

You hated KJ, Rodney Rogers and Stephen Jackson? I don't understand? That's crazy. Who on earth and why would hate KJ of all people.

As for your list #1, why did you hate those players before they came to the Suns? I'm just curious since I have very little recollection of those players before they became Suns with the exception of Barkley. I didn't know anything about Chapman, Shayes or Kempton before the Suns at all.

Oops on KJ (Don't normaly post at night for good reasons)
KJ is by far my favorite SUN of all time.!

Rodney - I didn't like becouse he was a Clipper
Jackson - I don't like after becouse of the fight
Chapman was an ars he thought he was a big star in Charolett
Shayes and Kempton were just skrubs that never played
Chambers/Barkley were good players on a non-Suns team.

 

[Gaddabout]

I can't believe Truck Robinson's name hasn't been mentioned. My stomach's churning already. There's a reason he never got that pizza sponsorship.

Maurice Lucas is another forgotten Sun. He didn't spend a lot of time here, but when he was here he was a fabulous Laker killer. Very, very popular, just not the most engaging personality.

I hated James Worthy. I think he averaged about 50 points a game for his career against the Suns. That was 50 points with the left hand.

Eddie Johnson will always be one of my favorite Suns.

Somehow, Kyle Macy was the most popular Sun in his heyday. I think it was the David Delucci factor (little guy popular with the girls). I don't get it, but whatever.

It's always been funny to me to watch the appreciation pendulum swing back and forth on Westphal. Nobody has been so loved, loathed, loved, loathed, loved, loathed in Phoenix history. Seriously, he has been at the top AND bottom of favorites/hated lists for many fans. He calls one timeout in 1976 that costs the team a technical, and he's thought of as a genius. Some thought he should've become a player coach -- fire McLeod! Then he spends his coaching career trading on that. Never has a moment close to that as a coach, and he ends up reviled by some because of his disputes with the Colangelos.

 

[JCSunsfan]

With all of this talk of about Malone, I thought it would be fun to discuss which:
Players we hated most BEFORE they played for the Suns.
Players we hated most AFTER they left the Suns.
Players we still loved most AFTER playing for a different team.

Top 5 players we hated most BEFORE they played for the Suns:
1. Mario Elie
2. Danny Ainge
3. McDyess
4. ?

I wouldn't put McDyess on this list. Here's mine for "Hated before they came"

1. Mario Elie
2. Danny Ainge
3. Charles Barkley
4. Xavier McDaniel
5. Maurice Lucas


For "Hated After they Left"

1. Jason Kidd
2. Robert Horry
3. Luc Longley
4. Jay Humphries, James Edwards, Walter Davis, (drug scandal)
5. Jerrod Mustaf

Honorable mention: Charles Barkley, Richard Dumas

 

[elindholm]

Never has a moment close to that as a coach

I'm not so sure. His finest moment as a coach, in my opinion, was after Phoenix lost the first two games at home to the Lakers in their first-round series. At the press conference, he looked very calm and simply said, "We're going to win the series. First we're going to win Game 3, then we're going to win Game 4, and then we're going to win Game 5, and everyone will talk about what a great series it was."

He wasn't making a "guarantee" or trying to discount the task; he was acknowledging that it was going to be difficult and showing his poise and assurance that the team would get it done. He made me believe it was going to happen, and it had the same effect on the players. And, sure enough, they got it done.

Other than that, however, I agree that he sucked.

 

[thegrahamcrackr]

My most hated player while being a Sun is Randy Livingston.

Way to blow out our max PF's knee, making him completely useless and tying the franchises hands financially for 4-5 years.

Thanks again "Ragin Cajun"

 

[frdbtr]

My most hated player while being a Sun is Randy Livingston.

Way to blow out our max PF's knee, making him completely useless and tying the franchises hands financially for 4-5 years.

Thanks again "Ragin Cajun"

That was only a climax in a series of bad things that Randy Livingston did. I remember getting so frustrated every time that he was on the floor and begging to have them put Kidd back in because he screwed things up so bad. talk about a +/- ratio, his was terrible. When Kidd went down with his injury, it would have been lights out on the Suns season if they hadn't brought KJ back to save the day.

 

[slinslin]

I hope the fans boo McDyess and Larry Brown at AWA this season.

McDyess first left us to play for less money for another team. Now he left us because other teams offered more money after we gave him a chance to come back.

Hated before they came

1. Mario Elie
2. Robert Horry

For "Hated After they Left"

1. Antonio McDyess
2. Jason Kidd
3. Robert Horry
4. Luc Longley
5. Rodney Rogers

Hated while they were here

1. Randy Livingston
2. Scott Skiles, Frank Johnson
3. Penny Hardaway
4. Tom Gugliotta
5. Howard Eisley
6. Tony Delk
7. Jake Tsakalidis
8. Zarko Cabarkapa

Still liked them

1. Michael Finley
2. Cliff Robinson , at the time we traded him I wanted him to be traded although that deal looked pretty bad at first. Maybe we can get him back as a minimum FA next season
3. Steve Nash
4. Dan Majerle
5. Jeff Hornacek
6. Bo Outlaw
7 Wesley Person
8. Paul McPherson he looked like something but screwed up big time I guess