Suns All-time Team

[slinslin]

Since I am pretty young I can't really judge the players from the 70s and 80s but the starting lineup seems pretty obvious at least until Amare retires.

C- Adams
PF- Barkley
SF- Hawkins
SG- Davis
PG- KJ

Players to consider:

C- Neal Walk/Mark West/James Edwards?
PF- Amare Stoudemire/Larry Nance/Paul Silas/Tom Chambers/Antonio McDyess/Cliff Robinson/Tom Gugliotta/Maurice Lucas/Leonard Robinson
SF- Shawn Marion/Cedric Ceballos/Danny Manning
SG- Paul Westphal/Dick Van Arsdale/Dan Majerle/Jeff Hornacek/Dennis Johnson/Eddie Johnson/Penny Hardaway/Rex Chapman
PG- Gail Goodrich/Jason Kidd/Stephon Marbury/Steve Nash

Is anyone noteable missing? Michael Finley, Sam Cassel, Steve Kerr, Danny Ainge, AC Green... can't really consider them Suns. Some others are probably stretches as well like Penny, Chapman, Manning and some of the older guys. .

Joe Johnson and Quentin Richardson should find their place in the future hopefully.

 

[Phill11]

Tom Gugliotta? Penny Hardaway? On the all time team?

No way...

 

[slinslin]

Going by stats an argument could be made for Dennis Johnson over Walter Davis although he played only 3 years in Phoenix he made the allstar team twice and all-nba first team once.
www.basketballreference.com gives him a HOF-Score of 134 (135+ is likely hall of famer) which is more than Walter Davis and Kevin Johnson. Barkley has 315.
Why did they trade Dennis Johnson again?

Googs and Penny had some good moments in Phoenix. Googs in his first year when he was selected to play for the Dream Team. Penny against the Spurs and his first year.
It's really the injuries that limited them but they were both good players and spent some years on the Suns so I think they deserve to be mentioned if not you would have to say that Chapman, Cliff Robinson, Manning, McDyess, Eddie Johnson and some others shouldn't be on there as well because there stay was too short or too limited.
Actually Rodney Rogers could be mentioned for the one season he won 6th man of the year at least.

A trimmed down version of the bench
Bench:
C- Neal Walk
PF- Amare Stoudemire/Larry Nance/Paul Silas/Tom Chambers/Leonard "Truck" Robinson/Maurice Lucas
SF- Shawn Marion/
SG-Paul Westphal/Dick Van Arsdale/Dan Majerle/Jeff Hornacek/Dennis Johnson
PG- Gail Goodrich/Jason Kidd/Stephon Mabury/Steve Nash/

Leonard Robinson played 3 years for the Suns and 2 allstar selections in that time.
Maurice Lucas played 3 years for the Suns and 1 allstar selection in that time.
Dennis Johnson played 3 years for the Suns and 2 allstar selections and 1 all-nba first team selection.
Gail Goodrich played the first 2 years for the Suns and lead the team in scoring and assists and had 1 allstar selection.

 

[JCSunsfan]

Since I am pretty young I can't really judge the players from the 70s and 80s but the starting lineup seems pretty obvious at least until Amare retires.

C- Adams
PF- Barkley
SF- Hawkins
SG- Davis
PG- KJ

Players to consider:

C- Neal Walk/Mark West/James Edwards?
PF- Amare Stoudemire/Larry Nance/Paul Silas/Tom Chambers/Antonio McDyess/Cliff Robinson/Tom Gugliotta/Maurice Lucas/Leonard Robinson
SF- Shawn Marion/Cedric Ceballos/Danny Manning
SG- Paul Westphal/Dick Van Arsdale/Dan Majerle/Jeff Hornacek/Dennis Johnson/Eddie Johnson/Penny Hardaway/Rex Chapman
PG- Gail Goodrich/Jason Kidd/Stephon Marbury/Steve Nash

Is anyone noteable missing? Michael Finley, Sam Cassel, Steve Kerr, Danny Ainge, AC Green... can't really consider them Suns. Some others are probably stretches as well like Penny, Chapman, Manning and some of the older guys. .

Joe Johnson and Quentin Richardson should find their place in the future hopefully.

Since I watched every one of these players, I think I have an opinion.

Some players should be left off simply because they did not play big enough roles for a long enough time. They would be: James Edwards, McDyess, Gugliotta, Lucas, Manning, Hardaway, Chapman, Goodrich, Marbury, Nash.

The center position is telling. There is no doubt that Adams is the choice here. Walk was a good player but faltered quickly, West was rock solid but was simply a role player, Edwards actually played quite well for the Suns but got caught up in the drug scandal and did not stay long.

Shooting guard is the toughest choice. I go with Westy over Davis. Westy was our team leader during the Championship run of 1976 and led the team in scoring for many years. Davis was a great player and a great scorer, but in much darker days of the team's history. DJ was great, but was not here long. When I was a kid, Westy was the player that everyone tried to emulate.

KJ's a no brainer at the point.

Same with the Hawk at the 3.

We've had some good ones at pf. I really would want to make Chambers the starter there. But how could you leave out Barkley?

Interesting conversation.

 

[scotsman13]

dang i hate to say this but oliver miller should be looked at as one of the better center we have had.

dang if this guy had just been able to tell himself to stop eating about the 5 big mac. he would have been easily the best center this team has ever had. the way he blocked shots and passed the ball were great.

 

[Cheesebeef]

Googs?! GOOGS!? Come on now - they guy was finished when he came here. His scoring and rebounding number all immediately went down once he got here, never putting up 20 points a game ever again. He was named to the "Dream Team" before he even played with us and anyone who remembers his play there - truly horrific - wouldn't call that much of an accomplishment.

I remember being so totally psyched to get Googs - especially in the face of losing Dice - but it quickly apparent that the knee injury he suffered the year previous - remember he wasn't even on that T-Wolves playoff squad that took Seattle to 5 in the first round as a 7 seed - took a lot out of him. Hell - wasn't he even one of the best mid-range shooters in the game before he came over to us? I never remember him consistently hitting that jumper with the Suns (although - I just looked it up and I guess he did shoot 48 percent from the floor his first two years - I just never remember him being effective - or I guess more well put - impactful on any game.)

No Googs was a disater on the court, a bigger disaster on the books and deserves to be nowhere near ANY All-time Suns team IMO.

 

[George O'Brien]

I remember being so totally psyched to get Googs - especially in the face of losing Dice - but it quickly apparent that the knee injury he suffered the year previous - remember he wasn't even on that T-Wolves playoff squad that took Seattle to 5 in the first round as a 7 seed - took a lot out of him. Hell - wasn't he even one of the best mid-range shooters in the game before he came over to us? I never remember him consistently hitting that jumper with the Suns (although - I just looked it up and I guess he did shoot 48 percent from the floor his first two years - I just never remember him being effective - or I guess more well put - impactful on any game.)

I was living in San Francisco when Googs was acquired following the Webber fiasco. Googs had put up solid numbers with the Wizzards but was ineffective with the Warriors and was later moved for Donyell Marshall.

Googs put up some nice numbers with the Timberwolves as long as everyone was focused on stopping Garnett. But he lacked the strength and athleticism to be more than a complimentary player on offense and was never very good on defense. He could get position rebounds, but rarely contested ones.

Without Garnett, Googs was revealed as an overhyped.

 

[Gaddabout]

Larry Nance was a PF, but he would be my all-time SF behind Connie Hawkins. Virtually the same player. Plus, you'd always have a killer muscle car parked in the player's lot.

I think "King" James Edwards was an All-Star reserve one year in a Suns uniform. All the great centers were in the East and Edwards made it (or should have made it) by default in the West ... was in 1985?

For 20 games, Nick Vanos was the second-best center in Suns history.

Dennis Johnson was by far the best shooting guard ever to wear a Suns uniform. As great as Walter Davis was, Jeff Hornacek was a more complete SG. Westphal played the hardest for 40 minutes, but none of those minutes were spent on defense.

Maurice Lucas deserves more consideration at power forward, if only for being a major thorn in the Lakers side come playoffs in the early 80s. They HATED Moe. Chambers = Westphal at PF.

I'm surprised no one mentioned Jeff Cook, if only to hear McCoy say one more time, "And that's the way the cookie crumbles." Cook was always grabbing the rebound to seal a game. You wouldn't hear from him the first 39.5 minutes, but there he'd be at the end saving face on the defensive boards.

Anyone remember Ronnie Lee? He should make three All-Time teams: best flopper, best whiner, and most gold chains.

 

[zett]

Larry Nance was a PF, but he would be my all-time SF behind Connie Hawkins. Virtually the same player. Plus, you'd always have a killer muscle car parked in the player's lot.


For 20 games, Nick Vanos was the second-best center in Suns history.
? I thought he died on a plane crash after we drafted him, But before the season even started? Maybe I'm wrong

Dennis Johnson was by far the best shooting guard ever to wear a Suns uniform. As great as Walter Davis was, Jeff Hornacek was a more complete SG. Westphal played the hardest for 40 minutes, but none of those minutes were spent on defense.
Agreed

Maurice Lucas deserves more consideration at power forward, if only for being a major thorn in the Lakers side come playoffs in the early 80s. They HATED Moe. Chambers = Westphal at PF.
Barkley and it's not even close!

Anyone remember Ronnie Lee? He should make three All-Time teams: best flopper, best whiner, and most gold chains.

Why are you bagging on Ronnie Lee, He only gave you 110% every time he stepped on the court! I remember entering the ronnie Lee floor burn contest

 

[Gaddabout]

Why are you bagging on Ronnie Lee, He only gave you 110% every time he stepped on the court! I remember entering the ronnie Lee floor burn contest

Hey, I'm not questioning his effort. I'm questioning his acting skills and his style.

Redding, eh? Take the trek down 5 to Sac and we'll watch a Suns game together. We can talk about vanilla teams and bad haircuts.

 

[zett]

LOL. I use to come up there at least once a year to catch a suns game, I had a co worker who's son was the food and bev manager at arco. so he always gave me his seats, He has sinced moved away and I'm not sure if roger is still with Arco Arena? But I would definitly like to catch a game up there some time, I'm not sure where any good sports Bars are around Sac, to catch a Suns game, when there not playing sac.If I'm heading that way I'll drop u a line maybe we can meet up. I think Bob's aroung sac also If I'm not mistaken.

 

[BC867]

Larry Nance was a PF, but he would be my all-time SF behind Connie Hawkins. Virtually the same player. Plus, you'd always have a killer muscle car parked in the player's lot.

Actually, Larry Nance played SF, with Mo Lucas at PF, then Truck Robinson.

On second thought, you're right. During the 4th quarter, our PF covers Center and our SF covers Power Forward. 'Hasn't changed to this day.

Dennis Johnson was by far the best shooting guard ever to wear a Suns uniform. As great as Walter Davis was, Jeff Hornacek was a more complete SG. Westphal played the hardest for 40 minutes, but none of those minutes were spent on defense.

During DJ's three seasons here, he played the Point (by default), with Davis having moved from the "3" where he spent, if I remember right, most of his time with the Suns.

Maurice Lucas deserves more consideration at power forward

It's too bad Luke's stay was short lived and that he had to spend so much time covering Center. An intimidator, who had the sweetest bank shot this side of Dr. J.