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Phoenix Suns: A look back at NBA Draft history before 2018

By Gerald Bourguet

Photo by Jeff Haynes/NBAE via Getty Images
Photo by Jeff Haynes/NBAE via Getty Images /
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With picks at Nos. 1, 16, 31 and 59 in the 2018 NBA Draft, what should the Phoenix Suns expect based on their draft history and the league’s in general?

The Phoenix Suns enter the 2018 NBA Draft facing more pressure than any other NBA franchise, not only because they’ll be selecting first overall for the first time in franchise history, but also because they really need to nail this draft and start assembling some talent around Devin Booker.

In 50 years in the association, the Suns have never held the No. 1 overall pick, so this is unfamiliar territory. However, it’s not exactly uncharted territory either, since the No. 1 pick is almost always what people remember when they look back on any given draft.

Select a franchise star to lead your team to championships, MVP awards and All-Star appearances and the pick will never be forgotten. Draft a complete bust and it will never be forgotten either, only this time, because it’ll be living in infamy.

Heaping more pressure on general manager Ryan McDonough’s plate are the Suns’ three other picks in this year’s draft, which come in at No. 16 (via the Miami Heat), No. 31 and No. 59 (via the Toronto Raptors). It’s highly unlikely the team actually uses all four picks, with McDonough looking to be aggressive this summer and the possibility of draft-day trades looming large.

With that being said, what should Suns fans expect from their picks in the 2018 NBA Draft, given the team’s draft history and that of the league in general? Here’s a quick look at the history of the No. 1, No. 16, No. 31 and No. 59 picks.

No. 1

Dating back to 1950, which was the first NBA Draft that didn’t involve the Basketball Association of America (BAA), there have been 68 first overall picks. Suffice it to say this selection has featured an overwhelming amount of success over the years.

Of those 68 No. 1 overall picks,

  • 21 have won Rookie of the Year (out of 65 total ROY winners, and it could be 22 of 66 if Ben Simmons wins this year)
  • 44 have appeared in an All-Star game (261 selections combined)
  • 30 have made an All-NBA team (173 selections combined)
  • 20 have won a championship (for 45 total rings, and it could be 46 if LeBron James wins again this year)
  • 11 have won MVP (accounting for 22 of the 62 total MVP trophies in NBA history, and it could be 23 of 63 if LeBron beats out James Harden, or 12 No. 1 selections and 23 of 63 MVP awards if Anthony Davis wins)
  • 17 have made the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame (with LeBron, Tim Duncan, Chris Webber, Dwight Howard and more to follow)

So to recap, a No. 1 pick has gone on to win ROY nearly one out of every three times, MVP more than one out of every three times, and a title almost one out of every three times. Nearly half of the No. 1 picks in NBA history have made at least one All-NBA team, more than half have made an All-Star Game, and a quarter of them have been elected to the Hall of Fame.

That’s a pretty good base to work with, especially when you take a look at some of the all-time greats who were taken first overall and went on to change the course of their respective franchises forever:

This is all without mentioning NBA greats who may not have drastically altered their franchises, but still had fantastic careers, including David Thompson (1975), Mark Aguirre (1981), Ralph Sampson (1983), Brad Daugherty (1986), Larry Johnson (1991), Chris Webber (1993), Glenn Robinson (1994), Elton Brand (1999), Kenyon Martin (2000), Yao Ming (2002) and Andrew Bogut (2005).

You can expect Karl-Anthony Towns (2015) and Ben Simmons (2016) to join one of those two groups in the future as well.

However, there are always the busts to consider, and drafting first overall, you can be guaranteed no one will ever forget when a franchise whiffs on a pick here. Some of the most notable busts at No. 1 include:

The Suns have a tough decision to make between DeAndre Ayton and Luka Doncic at No. 1, but with both seeming like can’t-miss prospects, the fanbase will be hoping whoever Phoenix takes is capable of teaming up with Devin Booker and Josh Jackson to bring this franchise its long-awaited championship.

No. 16

The Suns have never had the first overall pick, but they’ve selected at No. 16 once before.

However, that was all the way back in 1975, when they took Ricky Sobers. He only played two seasons in Phoenix, averaging 11.4 points, 3.1 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game, but he did play a role in “the greatest game ever played.”

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In that infamous Game 5 of the 1976 NBA Finals against the Boston Celtics, Sobers tied Paul Westphal with a team-high 25 points and added six assists.

The Suns will be hoping they can land another rotation player at No. 16 if they don’t wind up trading the pick. If that’s the case, there are a few notable names taken at No. 16 in league history to feel comforted by, even if most of them were only one-time All-Stars (outside of John Stockton, of course).

As you’ll notice, the league has gotten a lot better about using the No. 16 overall pick to snag serviceable NBA players. Just close your eyes when you get to the one from 1999:

No. 31

The Suns have had the No. 31 overall pick three times in their franchise history. In 1974, they took Fred Saunders, who played 86 games over two seasons for the team, averaging 5.6 points and 3.4 rebounds per game. He lasted in the pros for four years.

In 1986, Phoenix took Joe Ward, who never played a single game in the NBA. In 1990, the Suns selected Negele Knight at No. 31. He averaged 5.7 points and 2.8 assists per game over four seasons with the team, and his NBA career lasted only six years.

However, once again, there are a few notable players in NBA history who were taken at No. 31 overall and provide hope:

So if all else fails, at least the Suns can rest easy knowing their 31st overall pick has a good chance of becoming a championship-caliber coach or GM one day a la Doc Rivers or Danny Ainge.

No. 59

The 59th overall pick, as expected, has rarely yielded rotation players, let alone memorable names. The Suns have had the 59th pick four times before, but three of the players they drafted there in the 1970s and 80s don’t even have Wikipedia or Basketball-Reference pages.

Their most recent selection there, D.J. Strawberry, averaged 2.2 points in 8.2 minutes per game for the Suns in 2007-08, but other than his fantastic name and the fact that he went on to become a Greek and Turkish league champion, there’s not much to report here.

Next: 2018 NBA Mock Draft - Doncic still No. 1 in post-lottery edition

In any case, it’s highly unlikely the Suns do anything with this pick other than trade it or use it on a draft-and-stash prospect.

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