2000, 25th Pick
Who The Suns Took:
Iakovos “Jake” Tsakalidis, Center, Greece
Career Stats:
315 GP, 4.8 PPG, 3.9 RPG, 0.3 APG, 49.0% FG
Who The Suns Should Have Taken:
Michael Redd, Shooting Guard, Ohio State – Originally taken by the Milwaukee Bucks with the 43rd overall pick
Career Stats:
629 GP, 19.0 PPG, 3.8 RPG, 2.1 APG, 44.7% FG
“The European Shaq” is what they called him. Unfortunately Tsakalidis couldn’t live up to that moniker, didn’t play very long, and was largely ineffective when he did.
Michael Redd had an injury-plagued career, but when he was on the court and healthy, he was one of the best scorers in the league. In the 12 years he played, he averaged under 12 points a game in five of those seasons – yet still finished his career averaging 19 points per game. He ended up playing for Phoenix anyways, later in his career after his prime. But imagine Redd being a part of the 60 win Suns teams of the mid-2000’s… He averaged over 25 PPG in 05-06 and over 26 PPG in 06-07 as basically the only good player on the Bucks. (Quinton Richardson, who?) Pairing him with three other All-Stars and several great shooters… He would have averaged 20 on five less shots and would have easily taken the spot of Joe Johnson. Adding Michael Redd to those Suns teams would have been comparable to today’s Golden State Warriors.
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Part 4 will feature Suns picks from 2002 to 2009. All stats were pulled from www.basketball-reference.com.