Remember Backcourt 2000? How about Googs? Was big Jake finally the answer to the Suns' hunt for a dominating big guy? There have been some serious disappointments via draft, FA signings, and trades. Below is a nice list of guys that offhand seemed to be big time busts. Or maybe not.
Check out the Suns Player Register. Who else was a bust?
Here's a small list we can use to blast off into trashing both players for their performance and FO for their acquisition. Let us not hold back:
PLAYER | SEASONS W SUNS | ACQUIRED BY | MPG | PPG | RPG | APG | COMMENTS |
Marcus Banks | 2 | FA SIGNING | 12 | 5 | N/A | 1 | Bad signing, bad contract, blame D'Antoni for this one. |
Matt Barnes | 1 | FA SIGNING | 27 | 13.6 | 5.5 | 2.8 | Shot 42% and 34% from beyond the arc, while starting a brawl with the Rockets. Barnes had his moments for the Suns, but did he help the Suns more than he hurt them with ill-advised long range bricks and nearly 3 fouls pg? |
Zarko Caparkaba |
1 | DRAFT 1ST ROUND (17TH PICK) | 11 | 4.1 | 1 | N/A | Zarko had just begun to seemingly find his groove with the suns when he was brutalized by Danny Fortson on a drive to the hoop. He never really got healthy again and was subsequently traded into obscurity (Golden State) |
Boris Diaw | 3 | Via Trade | 24 | 10 | 4 | 3.6 | Acquired in the Joe Johnson deal, Diaw had some wonderful moments (Game winner vs. Dallas in the playoffs) but too often turned into Doris when the Suns needed him to go beastly. "DUNK IT BORIS FOR GODS SAKES!" |
Chris Dudley | 1 | FA | 11.6 | 1.4 | 3.5 | N/A | Another effort to get a big man. But Dudley was 35, put up shotputs from the line, and perhaps focused too much on helping children. Come on Chris, get your priorities straight. |
Brian Grant | 1 | FA | 11.8 | 2.9 | 2.7 | N/A | 21 games 1.67 million dollars for a guy who needed to play on crutches. |
Penny Hardaway | 4 | FA | 30 | 14 | 5 | 5 | Remember how stoked you were to hear about the ill fated Back Court 2000? Well, life's full of disappointment. |
Sam Cassel | 1 | Trade | 24.5 | 14.8 | 2 | 4.5 | HA HA HA HA HA...Oh God. That Barkley trade didn't work out so hot for the Suns, no? Rule of thumb, don't pick up a guy(s) who really don't want to play for your team. Include Horry in this one. |
Stephon Marbury
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3 | Trade | 40 | 21 | 3 | 8.2 | Stephon put up some good numbers for the Suns. But would you rather have had Kidd? If only Jason would have had some anger management class before he became a Sun, who knows how history would have been changed. |
Shaquille O'Neal | 1.5 | Trade | 29 | 15 | 9.5 | 1.7 | You tell me how this worked out. |
Jake Tsakilidis | 3 | Draft-1st round (25th pick) | 18 | 5 | 4 | N/A | The Suns finally found the big man they'd been searching for since missing out on Lew Alcinder. Er, maybe not |
Hot Rod Williams | 3 | Trade (Dan Majerle) | 22 | 6 | 6 | 1 | Just a stupid trade. It made me ill to watch this slow footed sasquatch play |
Tom Gugliotta | 5 | FA | 20 | 9 | 6 | 2 | Googs never once played 60 or more games for the Suns in a single season due to injuries. |
*Editor's note: I rounded a lot of the numbers as I was doing the math in my small brain.
So, do you agree, disagree? If so, why? And what busts have I missed?