There is NO DOUBT Suns have much BETTER scouts than us. BUT we were much LUCKIER than them with the lottory.
On a a tangent, I"m always amazed at who the Suns have had running the point for them in the past decade: Kevin Johnson, Steve Nash, Penny Hardaway (more 2 guard by then), Stephon Marbury, and Jason Kidd. Did I leave anybody out? That's a busload of talent.
kidrock8 - I stand corrected- You are right. I do recall now that Gugliotta was signed by PHX. He was a free agent from Minn. I am glad we did not end up with him. The Suns have had amazing talent at the point over the years. They have never won a championship have they?
Not the case at all. Tsakalidas was picked #25. It was clearly a better pick than the 12 guys picked before him. By my count only 3 guys after him (Jaric, Najera & Redd) are arguably more valuable--thus this was a very good pick by the Suns. To put things in perspective, while Tsakaliodas was picked #25--guys like Collier went #15, Mateen Cleaves went #14, Etan Thomas went #12, Moiso #11, Pryzbilla went #9, Mihm went #8 and Demarr Johson went #6. Tsakalidas isn't great, but he is cheaper, better, and by far a better pick than any of those guys. It is sicking to think the Rockets could have had Turkog., Mason, Q, Magloire, Peterson or Tsakaliodas instead of Collier at #15--though then Yao would probably be in Denver or Cleveland now so I guess we got lucky after all. BTW I totally agree with the sentiment the Suns have been almost as bad in trades and FA acquisitions as they have been good in finding undervalued gems in the draft. I'd rather be lucky in the lottery, pretty good in the draft, and make relatively good decisions with players already in the league--a la Rockets. Despite the Suns better drafting I think we are in a much better short term and long term position.
Pre-1980 Phoenix Suns 1st round draft picks: 1979 -- Kyle Macy, Kentucky 1978 -- Marty Byrnes, Syracuse 1977 -- Walter Davis, North Carolina 1976 -- Ron Lee, Oregon 1975 -- Alvan Adams, Oklahoma Ricky Sobers, Nevada-Las Vegas 1974 -- John Shumate, Notre Dame 1973 -- Mike Bantom, St. Joseph's 1972 -- Corky Calhoun, Pennsylvania 1971 -- John Roche, South Carolina 1970 -- Greg Howard, New Mexico 1969 -- Neal Walk, Florida 1968 -- Gary Gregor, South Carolina In 1975 the Suns made it to the finals, where they lost to the Celtics. Alvan Adams won Rookie of the Year.
He was a helluva player. There were stretches during the season were he single handedly carried that team. He made a HUGE impact as a rookie.
if you want to talk about good draft, u can't miss Lakers....Elden Cambel, Eddie John, Kobe, Fisher...they all got picked like mid first round..
What sucks for the Suns is when we had the #2 picks. I believe the Suns had two #2 picks and the number one draft choices in those respective years were Lew Alcindor and David Robinson. The Suns never had a dominate center...ever. Gugliotta was a bad signing, not because he ended up being injured most of the time, but because Jerry Colangelo was extremely desperate after losing McDyess. As for bad trades...some of the worst trades from recent Suns history... ...the trade for McDyess in which we gave up Wesley Person, Tony Dumas, two 2nd round picks, and two 1st round picks...and it's only a bad trade because McDyess left for Denver after one season. ...Cliff Robinson for Vinny Del Negro and John Wallace. Ultimately, it didn't turn out so bad since we traded Del Negro and Jud Beuchler for Bo Outlaw and a 1st round pick(Amare Stoudemire). That first round pick was originally given to the Magic in the Penny trade, but the Magic gave it back to us. ...and I think someone said we traded Steve Nash for a cheese sandwich. It really isn't so bad after all because that cheese sandwich turned to be Shawn Marion. Even the trade made sense at the time because we still had Kidd and KJ on the team. Whew!
