Phoenix Suns Flashback Friday: 20/20 Vision

We had some fun last week as we explored every player in Phoenix Suns history that donned the jersey number 10. All 24 of them! We’re back this Phoenix Suns Flashback Friday to do the same, but this time with the much more exciting number 20! Okay, maybe not much more exciting, but there is some quality to talent that has come through Phoenix and chosen to put the number on.

The end goal? To gain a little bit of historical knowledge and then determine who we would start, bench, and trade from the bunch.

A recap of last week’s PSFF (Phoenix Suns Flashback Friday...that’s a fun sound to make, isn’t it? It’s like, “Francisco”). After listing every player who wore number 10, using 50 games played with Phoenix as a line of demarcation to start, bench, and trade them, here is where we landed:

• START: Leandro Barbosa (84% of the vote)
• BENCH: Jalen Smith (24% of the vote, narrowly beating out Damion Lee at 23%)
• TRADE: Jalen Smith (53% of the vote)

Stix is living rent free in our heads it appears, or recency bias really has a hold on us. Yeah, he was arguably one of the most bone-headed picks in Suns history. Okay, perhaps that is a stretch. But he was one of the worst decisions in the James Jones era.

Now we’re on to number 20.

11 players have worn jersey number 20 in the Suns’ 55-year history, averaging 93.6 games played, 6.2 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 0.9 assists. You have a total of 1 All-Star appearances from the bunch and 1 Player of the Week award. That’s it for the hardware from number 20. A fourth overall pick that didn’t pan out, a guy named Corky, and a clumsy draft-day acquisition that may have cost us a championship after being injured in Game 1 of the NBA Finals.

The list:

• Corky Calhoun 1973-1975 (172 GP, 6.8 PTS, 4.5 REB, 1.3 AST)
• Maurice Lucas 1983-1985 (215 GP, 15.4 PTS, 9.7 REB, 2.6 AST)
• Rumeal Robinson 1997 (12 GP, 3 PTS, 0.6 REB, 0.7 AST)
• Marko Milič 1998-1999 (44 GP, 2.5 PTS, 0.7 REB, 0.3 AST)
• Jumaine Jones 2007 (18 GP, 2.2 PTS, 1.3 REB, 0.1 AST)
• Jarron Collins 2010 (34 GP, 1 PTS, 1.8 REB, 0.2 AST)
• Garret Siler 2011 (21 GP, 2.1 PTS, 1.3 REB, 0.1 AST)
• Jermaine O’Neal 2013 (55 GP, 8.3 PTS, 5.3 REB, 0.8 AST)
• Archie Goodwin 2014-2016 (150 GP, 6.2 PTS, 2 REB 1.2 AST)
• Josh Jackson 2018-2019 (156 GP, 12.3 PTS, 4.5 REB, 1.9 AST)
• Dario Šarić 2020-2023 (153 GP, 8.9 PTS, 4.8 REB, 1.6 AST)

It is an interesting list primary filled with bigs, whereas jersey number 10 was primarily guards. You have some guys who did great things before and after being a Sun, but not a ton of production while in Phoenix.

Some fun facts? You got it.

• 2.6% of players who have played a game in a Suns jersey have worn 20Jarron Collins, Garret Siler, and Jermaine O’Neal all tied for tallest player to wear #20 at 6’11”
• Maurice Lucas played the most games in #20 with 215
• Garret Siler was a 10-day contract guy who had a weight clause
• Josh Jackson shot 29.4% from three with Phoenix
• Rumeal Robinson came to Phoenix as the Suns dished out Robert Horry
• Both Corky Calhoun and Josh Jackson were taken 4th overall by the Suns

For the purposes of our start, bench trade game, only six players are eligible as they played 50 or more games for the Suns. Those players, who we’ll delve into a bit more below, are Corky Calhoun, Maurice Lucas, Jermaine O’Neal, Archie Goodwin, Josh Jackson, and Dario Saric.

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Corky Calhoun

‘Ole Corky, eh? Drafted with the 4th pick by the Suns in the 1972 NBA Draft, the University of Pennsylvania product played 172 games with the team. He was also drafted by the ABA’s Kentucky Colonels, but he chose to come to the Valley to play his professional basketball.

Photo by NBA Photos/NBAE via Getty Images

The 6’7” small forward was with the team for three seasons, scoring a career-high 25 points in his sophomore season. He played 32 minutes against the Cleveland Cavaliers on March 9, 1974, shooting 8-of-12 from the field and grabbing 6 rebounds.

Phoenix would trade Corky, whose real name is Davis, to the Los Angeles Lakers in November of 1974 for a couple of picks. Three years later he would win a championship with Bill Walton and the 1977 Portland Trailblazers.

Maurice Lucas

“Mo” Lucas was a beast of a human, known as “The Enforcer” for his physical style of basketball. He famously squared off against Darryl Dawkins in Game 2 of the 1977 NBA Finals, throwing blows and garnering him an ejection.

Lucas joined the Suns in 1982, coming via trade with the New York Knicks for Truck Robinson. His impact was felt early on as he earned Player of the Week honor on December 26, 1982. In that week Lucas went for 23.8 points and 9.8 rebound in four Suns’ wins. He was named to the 1983 All-Star team, where he started alongside Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Alex English, and David Thompson for the West.

He played in 215 games for the Suns over 3 seasons, starting 162 of them, and ended with 15.4 points and 8.7 points. Following a deep playoff run with the 1984-85 Suns, who lost to the Lakers in the Western Conference Finals, he would be traded to Los Angeles.

Jermaine O’Neal

A straight-from-high-school product, O’Neal played 18 years in the NBA. The Suns got him in year 17.

O’Neal joined the team as Phoenix was looking for post-Nash direction, and coupled with Jared Dudley, he was named a team captain. Of the 55 games he played in Phoenix, he started only 4, as he battled injuries and off court family issues in his one season with the Suns. A 6 time All-Star, 3 time All-NBA selection, and 2002 Most Improved Player winner, Jermaine was unfortunately too past his prime while playing in the Valley.

Archie Goodwin

Goodwin, who led the Kentucky Wildcats in scoring on the 2013 team that included Willey Cauley-Stein and Nerlans Noel, could never break on through to the other side. Taken 29th overall in the 2013 NBA Draft, he was constantly back-and-forth between the NBA and the D-League during his three seasons with the Suns.

Archie dropped 29 points his rookie season late in the year, doing so in a 104-99 victory over the Kings in the last game of the season.

At 6’5”, he was a little too big to play the point and and a little too small to play the two guard, and with the addition of Devin Booker in 2015, he became obsolete. In October of 2016, the Suns waived Goodwin. He played sporadically with the Pelicans, Nets, and Blazers before opting to play overseas. He is currently playing for BC Budivelnyk in the Ukraine.

Josh Jackson

The hype around Josh Jackson was real. He was a former #1 overall prospect coming out of high school in 2016, and after some electric highlights with the University of Kansas, Suns’ brass was chomping at the bit to bring his athleticism to the team. Personally, I felt the Suns should’ve addressed the abysmal point guard play and should target De’Araon Fox rather than drafting someone who played the same position as T.J. Warren, but what do I know?

Jackson could throw it down on the fast break, and we witnessed a few highlights along the way. There are some good memories in the clip below, coupled with the disappointment of untapped potential.

Despite obvious athleticism, other aspects of his game didn’t pan out, including his 28.4% three-point shooting over 156 games with the Suns. Factor in off the court issues — remember James Jones buying fans 12 packs of Dos Equis to make up for Jackson’s no show at a Fry’s meet-and-greet? — and he was shipped to the Memphis Grizzlies for Kyle Korver and Jevon Carter.

He is currently a free agent.

Dario Saric

Jarret Culver to the Minnesota Timberwolves for Cameron Johnson and Dario Saric. What a move.

Saric, who played three seasons prior coming to Phoenix, was a fundamentally sound forward/center who quite simply lacked athleticism. His connectivity with his teammates, however, made him a valuable piece of the 2021 team that made an NBA Finals appearance. His injury in Game 1 of the series, despite averaging 4.5 points in 10.5 minutes during the postseason run, was impactful as it was one less person to stop Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Super Dario went for 8.9 points and 4.8 rebounds in his time in Phoenix, and after playing in 37 games in 2022-23, he was traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Darius Bazley. He has teamed up once again with Chris Paul and is a currently a member of the Golden State Warriors.

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Now the fun part. We have solid players here and some decisions to make. Are you trading away Josh Jackson because you couldn’t stand him and/or you were disappointed with him as a player? /Or are you looking at the trade option as an opportunity to maximize the return for the talent? Decision, decisions.

Let us know your “why” in the comments below.

Next week, we’re attacking jersey number 30. Who has worn that one? Uncle Cliff, Troy Daniels, Nick Vanos, and Damion Jones. And others. Thanks for hanging out and driving down memory lane!