Aug. 31, 2013
The home page at Hoopshype.com includes the website’s listing of the top 50 players in Suns history.
After 50 slideshow clicks, a couple of things seem fairly obvious: For one, this franchise has been blessed with outstanding guard play, and two, there's been not so much outstanding work at center.
Right, you already knew those things.
One of the more interesting rankings is Leandro Barbosa checking in at No. 16 ... four spots ahead of Dennis Johnson and three ahead of Grant Hill. OK, so L.B. spent more than twice as many seasons in a Suns uniform as D.J. did (three). But the Hall of Famer twice was an All-Star in those three seasons. And he had enough value in trade to bring back Paul Westphal from Boston.
Hill’s contributions went far beyond numbers ... and yes, I realize that in today’s analytics culture, them’s fightin’ words.
Anyway, current Suns on the list are Channing Frye (46) and Marcin Gortat (43). I’m sure a couple of guys on the Suns beat would include Archie Goodwin, but we can wait at least one season, right?
Also, recently departed Jared Dudley checked in at No. 31.
Oh, and who’s ranked No. 1? Hoopshype went with a really popular guard -- who now must also be ranked as a member of the Lakers -- one spot ahead of Charles Barkley.
-- Randy Hill
