Phoenix Suns: 5 Best/Worst Draft Picks in Team History

If you’re from Arizona or a fan of that certain NBA team with one of the league’s most nonsensical awesome mascots, any time you hear the words “Phoenix Suns” and “draft picks” in the same sentence, it likely leads to cringing, glistening tears of sadness or an outright mental breakdown for what might have been.

There were so many bad draft picks over the years I couldn’t even include them all. There was the time Phoenix picked Greg Howard ahead of Calvin Murphy and Nate Archibald in 1970. Two years later, the Suns took Corky Calhoun instead of Paul Westphal, Julius Erving and Jim Price. And don’t even get me started on Alando Tucker, who the Suns took 29th in the 2007 draft ahead of Carl Landry, Glen Davis and Marc Gasol.

But in defense of the Suns and their overwhelmingly underwhelming draft history, getting draft picks right eludes teams every year. All 60 players selected to the NBA each year simply CAN’T make it, or every team would have a 40-man roster by now. The fact of the matter is, guys just aren’t going to pan out sometimes. Whether it’s from injury problems, a lack of talent, the inability to adapt to the big leagues, or cocaine problems in the case of the 70s and 80s, draft busts are a more frequent occurrence than having Michael Jordan fall into your lap like the 1984 NBA Draft. That being said, there are clear winners and losers from the Phoenix Suns’ draft history and we’re going to take a look at both.

Spoiler alert: more often than not, Suns fans are the losers.

Best Honorable Mentions:

Dan Majerle (sharpshooter who helped the Suns reach the NBA Finals, had his number retired)
Cedric Ceballos (led the league in FG% in 1992-93, but was only a Sun for six years)
Michael Finley (good rookie season, traded in the Jason Kidd deal)
Jeff Hornacek (great third option behind Tom Chambers and Kevin Johnson, led the Suns in scoring when he was traded for Charles Barkley)
Dick Van Arsdale (technically not a draft pick, acquired in the 1968 expansion draft from the New York Knicks, considered to be the “original Sun”)
Connie Hawkins (assigned to Suns in 1968-69, but not technically a draft pick)
Gail Goodrich (Hall-of-Fame pickup in expansion draft, but traded back to L.A. for Mel Counts, only played in Phoenix for two seasons)

Best 5 Picks:

5) Shawn Marion: With the ninth pick in the 1999 NBA Draft, the Suns made one of the smartest decisions that year by picking up Shawn Marion out of UNLV. Marion turned out to be one of the best picks that year and averaged 18.2 points, 9.9 rebounds, 1.8 steals and 1.3 blocks per game in his eight full seasons in Phoenix. The Matrix filled in for the injured Amar’e Stoudemire in the 2005-06 season with the best year of his career. As the only player in the NBA ranked in the top 20 in points, rebounds, steals, blocks, field goal percentage and minutes played, he led the Suns in scoring (21.2 ppg), rebounds (11.8 rpg), steals (2.0 spg) and blocks (1.7 bpg). He was a vital part of the first run-and-gun Suns teams that always seemed to fall just short of their full potential, but gave the prime of his career to Phoenix as one of its best draft picks in team history.

4) Alvan Adams: Adams was picked fourth overall in the 1975 NBA Draft and immediately made his impact known, averaging 19 points, 9.1 rebounds and 5.6 assists, 1.5 steals and 1.5 blocks per game to help lead the Phoenix Suns to the NBA Finals in his rookie season. He wrapped up Rookie of the Year honors and played in the All-Star game that year as well and anytime you draft a guy who does that, you’ve made a good pick. Adams spent his entire career in a Suns jersey and retired as Phoenix’s second all-time leading scorer with 13,910 points, per basketball-reference.com. He is the Suns all-time leader in games played, minutes, rebounds and steals. His jersey was retired by the Suns, although he allowed Grant Hill to wear his No. 33 later.

3) Amar’e Stoudemire: Oh, Amar’e. I just wrote a piece about how Amar’e Stoudemire may never regain All-Star form, but it’s impossible to deny the impact he had on the highly successful yet ultimately disappointing run-and-gun Suns during his eight seasons in Phoenix. Stoudemire fell to the Suns at the ninth pick in the 2002 NBA Draft and won the Rookie of the Year award. In his best season, STAT averaged 26 points, 8.9 rebounds, 1.6 assists, 1.6 blocks and 1.0 steal per game while shooting 56 percent from the field. His pick-and-roll with Steve Nash was unstoppable for years and helped lead Phoenix to the 2010 Western Conference Finals, where they fell to the Lakers in six games (because God decided it was okay to use Ron Artest to punish Jason Richardson for not boxing out). The Suns ended up letting him walk and got nothing in return (of course), but his athleticism had an immediate impact and made the Suns so fun to watch for the greater part of a decade. Oh and he did things like this on a nightly basis.

2) Walter Davis: Davis was the fifth pick in the 1977 NBA Draft as the Phoenix Suns took him two picks ahead of Bernard King. But even though King would go down as the one of the greatest New York Knicks of all time, Davis wrapped up Rookie of the Year honors, averaging 24.2 points and six rebounds per game. “The Greyhound” gave the Suns 11 good years and had his number retired as the Suns all-time leading scorer (15,666 points). True, his later years were marred by back problems and a cocaine addiction, but Davis is one of the greatest Suns of all time and one of their finest draft picks.

1) Steve Nash: This one is a little complicated, since Nash was actually booed by Phoenix fans when he was announced as the 15th pick in the 1996 NBA Draft. And to be honest, his immediate impact in Phoenix was close to non-existent as he played behind Sam Cassell, Kevin Johnson and later, Jason Kidd. He was even traded to the Dallas Mavericks after just two uneventful years with the Suns. But this ultimately turned out to be a great pick, since he was traded to the Mavericks for the draft pick that turned into Shawn Marion and when the Suns signed Nash after Mark Cuban was unwilling to pay for him, everything worked out in the end as the Steve Nash era was ready to begin in Phoenix.

Worst Honorable Mentions:

Neal Walk: 1969, picked ahead of Jo Jo White, who came back to haunt Phoenix as he torched the Suns in Game 5 of the 1976 NBA Finals, a triple-overtime game known as one of the greatest games ever played. White was the Finals MVP that year as Boston won in six games.
Jake Tsakalidis: Somewhat defensible since it was the Suns’ sole pick in the 2000 draft and the only standout guys drafted behind him were Michael Redd and Eddie House. But still. It was Jake Tsakalidis.
Markieff Morris: 2011, drafted ahead of Kawhi Leonard, Nikola Vucevic, Iman Shumpert, Tobias Harris, Kenneth Faried, Reggie Jackson, Norris Cole, Jimmy Butler and Chandler Parsons. Morris is still developing, but look at that list of guys actively contributing on a regular basis to their respective teams. You’re not going to tell me the Suns would take the Morris twins over the majority of players on that list.
Kendall Marshall: 2012, picked ahead of Evan Fournier, Tyler Zeller, John Henson, Maurice Harkless, Festus Ezeli and Draymond Green. Not an all-time worst pick just yet, but keep your eye on this one.
Zarko Cabarkapa: 2003 draft, picked ahead of David West, Boris Diaw, Carlos Delfino, Kendrick Perkins, Matt Bonner and Kyle Korver. His name alone should’ve been an indicator.
John Shumate: 1974, picked ahead of Hall of Famers and All-Stars like Bobby Jones, Scott Wedman, Campy Russell, Jamaal Wilkes, Brian Winters, Maurice Lucas, Billy Knight, Truck Robinson, John Drew and Phil Smith.

Worst 5 Picks:

5) Ed Pinckney/Jay Humphries: We’re going to cheat a little bit here and combine the Suns’ two first round picks in 1984 and 1985. In ’85, the Suns drafted Pinckney 10th, ahead of  Hall of Famers Karl Malone and Joe Dumars as well as eventual All-Stars A.C. Green and Terry Porter. The year before, they had picked Jay Humphries 13th, just two picks ahead of John Stockton. So for those of you scoring at home, the Stockton-Malone era could have happened in Phoenix if the Suns had been better talent evaluators. Humphries played in Phoenix for three seasons before he was traded while Pinckney lasted only two seasons with the Suns. Not exactly Hall-of-Fame talent.

4) Robin Lopez: It was a tossup between Robin Lopez and Jake Tsakalidsis, but since there weren’t really any standout guys picked after Tsakalidis, we have to pick on the closest thing to inaudible caveman the league has seen since Moses Malone. If only Lopez had Malone’s talent or rebounding skills. The weaker of the Lopez twins was selected 15th in the 2008 draft and played behind Shaquille O’Neal that season. But when you consider he was drafted ahead of Marreese Speights, Roy Hibbert, J.J. Hickson, Ryan Anderson, Serge Ibaka, Nicolas Batum, George Hill, Nikola Pekovic, Omer Asik, Mario Chalmers AND DeAndre Jordan … isn’t it logical to think those run-and-gun Suns teams might have fared a little better in the postseason with another low-post threat to help out Amar’e Stoudemire? Isn’t it plausible to wonder if Steve Nash and Grant Hill would have rings right now, if only that 2010 team had any one of those talented big men instead? This is one of those picks that often falls under the radar, but it’s one of the biggest reasons the 2010 Phoenix Suns fell short of their goal.

3) Earl Clark: This one got about 10 times worse when Steve Kerr later admitted a trade with Golden State for Stephen Curry fell through. The Suns had already said they liked Jrue Holiday in the 2009 draft, but because they already had Steve Nash, Goran Dragic and possibly Stephen Curry coming in, they chose Earl Clark with their 14th pick. The Suns defended the move by saying Clark would help Phoenix match up better defensively with tall small forwards like Kevin Durant and Dirk Nowitzki. Clark turned out to be nothing more than another draft bust. But what about Jrue Holiday, Ty Lawson, Jeff Teague and Taj Gibson, all of whom were drafted afterward? You guessed it–not draft busts.

2) Armen Gilliam: For the sake of NBA history and Michael Jordan’s legacy, it’s probably better Scottie Pippen fell to the Chicago Bulls in the 1987 NBA Draft. And technically Armen Gilliam wasn’t a terrible choice as the No. 2 pick since he made the All-Rookie team. But Gilliam’s numbers didn’t really take off until he was traded after just two years, so when you consider the fact that this guy was picked ahead of Pippen, Kenny Smith, Kevin Johnson, Horace Grant, Reggie Miller, Muggsy Bogues, Mark Jackson and Reggie Lewis in that draft, it becomes pretty hard to defend. But hey, any time you can pass up Hall of Famers and All-Stars to get your hands on a guy who will change his name from “Armon” to “Armen” just so people can actually pronounce it, you have to do it.

1) William Bedford: If you’re not depressed already, you might want to stop reading at this point. For those of you brave souls who are still here, the worst draft pick in Phoenix Suns history has to be William Bedford, who was the sixth pick in the 1986 NBA Draft. The 7’0″ Bedford was projected to be a superstar and was taken ahead of guys like Ron Harper, Scott Skiles, Arvydas Sabonis, Mark Price and Dennis Rodman. But like Len Bias, Chris Washburn and Roy Tarpley in that very same draft, Bedford had a drug addiction that would hamper his short six-year career. Most NBA fans remember the Celtics dynasty that might have been if Len Bias hadn’t overdosed, but Phoenix Suns fans should also remember what might have been if Bedford had been clean. I bet it would’ve been more memorable than the 4.1 points and 2.4 rebounds per game he averaged for his career, which mercifully died out in Detroit and then San Antonio.

BONUS: Because the Phoenix Suns have made so many bonehead moves with their draft picks (most notably in the last decade), I felt it was important to make a special category for good draft picks Phoenix ended up giving away, usually for cash considerations or eventual busted draft picks:

5) Rudy Fernandez (traded to the Portland Trail Blazers for cash considerations).

4) Nate Robinson (traded with Quentin Richardson to the New York Knicks for Kurt Thomas and the rights to Dijon Thompson).

3) Marcin Gortat (traded to the Orlando Magic for future cash considerations).

2) Luol Deng (traded to the Chicago Bulls via prior agreement for a second-round pick and cash considerations).

1) Rajon Rondo (traded with Brian Grant to the Boston Celtics for Cleveland’s 2007 first round pick and cash considerations. That 2007 pick turned into … wait for it … Rudy Fernandez.)

Suns fans … are you depressed yet?