FanPost

Where are the 2004-2005 Phoenix Suns Now?

Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images

At the end of the 2003-04 regular season the Suns, and their fans, had reached rock bottom (or so we thought was rock bottom for the franchise). The roster had several very nice young pieces in Amare Stoudemire, Shawn Marion, Joe Johnson, and Leandro Barbosa. These players, it seemed, were the future of the franchise. Throughout the season, gone were aging relics like Penny Hardaway and Tom Gugliotta, and swept away were the rotten apples in Stephan Marbury and Antonio McDyess. Most importantly, gone was failed Head Coach, Frank Johnson.

The remaining young and developing core provided fans hope for the future, and new coach Mike D'Antonio provided the vision. All the team needed was a floor general to bring the whole thing together.

In walks, Steve Nash.

A former Sun and Dallas favorite, Nash provided the gas for the D'Antoni car and a team who had finished a lowly 29-53 in 2004, would rocket to the top of the league in 2005, finishing 62-20.

While the 2004-05 Suns team would jumpstart an era of excitement matched only by the Barkley era (although surpassed in duration) the season would end in disappointment, as the Suns ultimately lost to the eventual Champion San Antonio Spurs in the Western Conference Finals.

Why remind you of this now? With the retirement of Amare Stoudemire yesterday, I began to wonder: Where are the 2004-05 Suns today? Most of them are retired now, but of that roster, who is left? The answers to that are below:

* denotes retired

Leandro Barbosa – After bouncing around the league since his departure from Phoenix in 2010, and most recently winning a Championship with Golden State in 2015, "Beep Beep" Barbosa is back in the Valley of the Suns for his third go around, recently signing a two-year contract.

Zarko Cabarkapa* – In two seasons with Phoenix and two more in Golden State, Cabarkapa essentially retired from basketball at the age of 25 to recuperate from serious back injuries. In 2008 he began to practice with a professional club in Europe attempting to return to game shape. While he did return to professional ball in Yugoslavia for a short stint in 2009, he was never again able to compete at the level that made him the #17 overall pick for the Suns in 2003.

Steven Hunter* – The 2004-05 season would be his only season with the Suns, Hunter played for three more teams before moving onto play in Europe in 2011. Retiring for good in ‘11, Hunter remains loyal to the Suns as an ambassador for the team in the community.

Jim Jackson* – Picked up in a mid-season trade, Jackson's presence proved most valuable after Joe Johnson's severe facial injury. Playing very well as a veteran sub, he would be waved in March the following season, before signing with the Lakers for his last professional stop. He retired from the NBA, after playing for an NBA record 12 teams, in 2006.

Maciej Lampe – Playing sparingly for two seasons including 2004-05, Lampe would hang around the NBA through the 2005-06 season. Since then he has played professionally throughout Europe, with varying degrees of success, and currently plays with FC Barcelona.

Shawn Marion* – Following his infamous trade to Miami for Shaquille O’Neal, Marion played in Toronto for a short stint before signing with the Dallas Mavericks where he spent five Seasons and winning the 2011 NBA Championship. The 2014-15 season would be his final, spent in Cleveland, where the Cavaliers would come up short in the Finals to Golden State, and his role had diminished to the end of a bench role. Marion retired following that Finals series.

Walter McCarty* – Playing in only 28 games for the Suns following a mid-season trade with Boston, McCarty played for one more season in 2005-06 before retiring after ten seasons in the League.

Steve Nash* – Steve would win the League’s MVP following the 2004-05 season, and then again following the 2005-06 season. Nash would lead the Suns at point guard for eight seasons following his return to Phoenix, making six All-Star teams, and guiding the Suns to three Western Conference Finals appearances. Following what would become a greatly lopsided trade in favor of the Suns to the Los Angeles Lakers in 2012, Nash played in only 65 more games, before an ailing back finally forced the end of his career. He would retire a Laker, but would leave the Suns 3rd All-Time in games played, 1st in 3pt FGM and FGA, 1st in AST, 1st in TRV, 1st in 3-pt FG%, 1st FT%, 3rd in AST per game, 1st in Assist%, 1st in Offensive rating, 1st in Offensive win shares, 3rd in win shares, 2nd in Offensive Box Plus/Minus. Nash is now currently a player development consultant for the Golden State Warriors.

Bo Outlaw* – The 2004-2005 season was his second stint with the Suns, and the second to last stop of his career. After Phoenix released him following the ’05 season, Outlaw signed with the Orlando Magic playing three more seasons before retiring.

Smush Parker – The greatest first name in NBA history would get off the bench for five games in 2004 scoring a total of 15 points with 4 assists and 2 steals. Following the 2008 season, Smush left the NBA for Europe where he continues his professional playing career to this day.

Quentin Richardson* – Signing with the Suns as a free agent prior to the season, ‘Q’ set the league on fire, and shattered every Suns 3-pt shooting record on the books finishing 226 for 631, including 9 in one game against the New Orleans Hornets. In an attempt to battle Tim Duncan and the Spurs down low, Q was traded to the Knicks following the season for Kurt Thomas. Q would never reach the level of 3-pt explosiveness again in his career. Following eight more seasons in the league with the Knicks, Heat, and Magic, Quentin retired following the 2012-13 season.

Paul Shirley* – Shirley played in 9 games in 2005 for the Suns, doubling his career total. Better known off the court as a free-lance writer, Shirley was a contributor to ESPN for a short time before off-color comments about Haiti in 2010 following the devastating earthquake caused his termination. He continued his playing career briefly through 2008 in Europe, before retiring for good.

Amare Stoudemire* – In 2004-05 his name lacked the apostrophe, but he game didn’t lack any flash. In only his third NBA season, ‘STAT’ would develop into one of the most prolific power forward/center’s in the game. Leading the Suns in points, scoring, FGs made and attempted, blocks, FTs made and attempted, Stoudemire’s Suns career would only be derailed by micro fracture surgery prior to the 2005-06 season. Following his eight seasons with the Suns, Stoudemire signed a massive contract as a free agent with the New York Knicks where he would spend four and a half seasons, before his in 2015. Signed by the Mavericks he spent the second half of the season in Dallas, and ending his career with one season in Miami. On July 26, 2016 he would announce his retirement from the NBA proclaiming that "once a Knick, always a Knick."

Yuta Tabuse* – The league’s first Japanese-born player, Yuta appeared in a scant four games in a Suns uniform, the only four he would ever play in in his NBA career. Following his stint with the Suns he would play in the D-League for three more seasons, before returning to Japan in 2008 where he signed with the Link Tochigi Brex, who he remains with to this day.

Jake Voskuhl* – The 2004-05 season would prove to be the final season of four with the Suns before being traded to the Charlotte Bobcats. Spending two seasons in Charlotte, before playing one in Milwaukee and one in Toronto, Voskuhl would end his NBA career in 2009. He would briefly re-appear professionally in Spain, but only played for one season.

Jackson Vroman* – Jackson played ten games his rookie season for the Suns before being part of the trade for Jim Jackson. He would play in the League for one more season with the Hornets before continuing his professional career in Europe. Unfortunately in 2015, Vroman was sitting in his pool at his home in Los Angeles, when "he got up to go inside the house, tripped on the stairs, hit his head and drown[ed] in the pool." Vroman passed away at the age of 34.

#Editor's Note - Thank you to the Brightside staff who added the picture, adding the player tags - which was a total whiff on my part, and for placing this post on their front page. As always, I greatly appreciate it.