12 days X-Mas – Obscure stats in Suns history Day 3
By Adam Maynes
The Phoenix Suns have never been known as a center producing franchise, and yet in their history they have had some pretty recognizable names.
From Neil Walk, to Alvan Adams, from Mark West to Shaquille O’Neal, the Suns have gotten by with some solid centers, guys who can put the ball in the basket with great efficiency, even if none of them have ever been the kind of superstar that every franchise dreams of employing (at least in their primes).
When you look at the list of the franchise’s most efficient scorers, those players with the best 2-pt field goal percentages, many of the most popular names in franchise history make up the top-10. Mark West and Shaquille O’Neal adorn the top two in franchise history, each as the only two players who have a career average of at least 60% (61.4 and 61.0% respectively). Larry Nance (56.3%), Amar’e Stoudemire (54.7%), Charles Barkley (54.2%), and Steve Nash (53.5 – the only guard) each hold positions in the top-10, all possibly with life-long spots on this list.
Phoenix Suns
But, in honor of the third day of Christmas, I wanted to note who comes in third place on this list. Granted, not every name is that of someone who fans would immediately think off the top of their head when playing some sort of Suns trivia, Oliver Miller (57.3% – 4th overall) and Andrew Lang (53.9% – 9th) for instance, yet the third place name is the one that is most interesting.
Ed Pickney.
Ed Pickney, with his Suns career-average of 57.4% from 2-pt range, was drafted by Phoenix with the 10th overall selection in 1985, part of Jerry Colangelo’s eternal quest for the next great big man.
Winning the NCAA Tournament’s Most Outstanding Player award in 1985 as a senior after Villanova upset heavily favored (and Patrick Ewing-led) Georgetown, Pickney overall had solid college stats with a four-year run of 15.6 points and 8.9 rebounds while shooting 60.4% from the field.
Pickney played for two seasons with Phoenix and amassed what at the time was actually the franchise’s best 2-pt field goal percentage in the team’s history. In his second year with Phoenix he averaged a decent 10.5 points and 7.3 rebounds, mainly as a starter but with 15 games off the bench, stats that were nice, but nothing like that of a big that the franchise could build around.
In the summer of 1987, just two years after Phoenix drafted him, the short-lived career of Pickney in Phoenix ended as he was traded to the Sacramento Kings for shooter Eddie Johnson. Phoenix middled at the bottom of the Western Conference in Johnson’s first year, missing the playoffs by three games, although the re-hiring of Cotton Fitzsimmons in the summer of ’88 changed all of that for the following year.
And so for now, Ed Pickney retains the third spot on the Phoenix Suns’ all-time best 2-pt field goal percentage list, good enough to make the 3rd day of Christmas list of Lost or Obscure stats.
I would be remiss if I did not mention at least one other thing about Ed, as much as it hurts to even bring it up. While Pickney was drafted 10th overall in 1985, three picks later a future Hall of Famer big was selected by the Utah Jazz: Karl Malone.
Sure had the Suns drafted Malone they may have never signed Tom Chambers and likely never traded for Charles Barkley, but who knows how different the franchise’s history might be – possibly one with Championships – if generally the same late 1980’s team was intact, only a young Malone was at the heart of it.