Did The Athletic get the Phoenix Suns’ ‘forever’ starting five correct?
By Adam Maynes
On July 29, The Athletic released a “Forever starting five” selecting who would comprise the best starting five in Phoenix Suns history. Did they get it correct?
Although they have yet to win a single championship in their 52 years of existence, the Phoenix Suns have long been blessed with exceptional talent which has at least made the majority of the franchise’s history competitive and thus enjoyable.
To that degree, the Phoenix Suns have also had multiple players at every position who one could argue was the best ever in franchise history. This is what makes conversations such as this one so much fun and interesting.
In conjunction with sharp-shooter Eddie Johnson, The Athletic recently released the franchise’s “forever starting five,” a fun take on the yearly offseason conversation of who the best players in a particular franchise’s history should be.
Let’s not only break down their list and see if they got it right, but then also imagine how this starting-five were to look if they were actually able to all play together.
Point Guard
As they note in their story, there is no bigger “duh” selection on this list than Steve Nash as the team’s all-time starting point guard, and they will receive no debate from me here.
If a player wins an MVP for the Phoenix Suns, they are destined to be on this list (spoilers!)
There are far too many accolades and statistics to mention in his defense, and what he accomplished with the Phoenix Suns is known by NBA fans the world over.
In the end, while Gail Goodrich had a higher scoring average (and too finds himself in the Hall of Fame), as did Kevin Johnson (who for three seasons in his early-20s averaged an outstanding 21.7 points and 11.3 assists per game while shooting 51.7% from the field), and Jason Kidd was a walking triple-double waiting to happen, Steve Nash helped to revolutionize the sport, led the league in assists five times, and averaged double-digits in assists seven times, finishing 0.3 per game below 10.0 an eighth time (thanks, Terry Porter).
Of course too, Nash led Mike D’Antoni‘s seven seconds of less method of play (what had previously been known in the Valley as Run and Gun and the Cotton Express), and helped take a struggling franchise, into instant championship contention.