1995 pick 21 Mike Finley
1996-pick 12 Steve Nash
1997 2nd round Steven Jackson
1999 pick 9 Shawn Marion
2000 pick --25 Jake Tsakilidas[and that was a very very tough year for talent, worst draft in 20 years]
2002 Amare Stoudemire Case Jacobsen
2003 Leandro Barbosa Zarko carpakapa
2004 2nd round Jackson Vronman
acquired Joe Johnson for Tony Delk in 2002

I believe Zeke's list isn't so bad itself.

looking at the Knicks picks over the same period, it's no wonder this team is a disaster:

Off the top of my head:



1995 pick: nuthin I can remember
1996: Walter Mccarty18th, John Wallace19th and Dontae Jones21st….just missed Nash, Jermaine O’neal, Kobe and skipped Z
1997: John Thomas 27th or so
1998: nuthin I can remember
1999: Weis over Artest at 15
2000: Donnell Harvey at like 20ish, traded to Denver or Dallas or something. Lavor in round 2.
2001: no pick I can remember
2002: Nene…sigh….traded for Frank and crap. Vuja in round 2
2003: Sweetney. Lampe and 7’3” crap head in round 2
2004: Ariza in round 2

In 96, the suns also passed on Jermain Oneal and Big Z.
1998: they had traded a pick in a draft that was pretty decent.
1999: The suns passed up both kirelenko and Artest who I think are both better and marion...

2000: suns passed up Brezec and Jaric for that stiff Jake Tskalidis.

I mean we can go on and on, the key here is that the suns made some good picks, but like all teams passed on some good talent also, I don't think they have this down pat anymore than any other team.

Posted by tkf:

In 96, the suns also passed on Jermain Oneal and Big Z.
1998: they had traded a pick in a draft that was pretty decent.
1999: The suns passed up both kirelenko and Artest who I think are both better and marion...

2000: suns passed up Brezec and Jaric for that stiff Jake Tskalidis.

I mean we can go on and on, the key here is that the suns made some good picks, but like all teams passed on some good talent also, I don't think they have this down pat anymore than any other team.

who would you say had a better season this year?

A) Marion, who was an all-star on the team with best record and averaged 20 and 10 (or there abouts)
B) AK47, mostly injured on the team with the 4th worst record in the NBA
C) Artest, suspended for the season in the 12th game after charging into the stands and beating up fans.


edit: also, I'd rather have Nash than Zydrunas. You can also easily argue that over his career, Nash has been more valuable than JO. Nash was traded for Kidd, JO for Dale Davis. Nash developed into a solid rotation player pretty much right away and JO took over four years to do so. It's a toss up between JO and Nash. Phoenix also had Dyess at the time they drafted Nash.


[Edited by - crzymdups on 04/19/2005 12:15:48]

Man you're right Phoenix has a NICE list! Except of course that they fell for an overhyped white big man in 2000, the rest is awesome.