Did The Athletic get the Phoenix Suns’ ‘forever’ starting five correct?

Center

While Amar’e Stoudemire was not a true center, he was forced to play that position for several years with Phoenix (the greatest “what if?” in franchise history to me is how great would the Suns have been in 2005-06 with a healthy STAT at the four and  Kurt Thomas at center. Unfortunately, we will never know).

However, it would be extremely interesting to have seen how Stoudemire and Barkley would work together as neither were really outside threats (as mentioned before, Chuck did shoot a couple per game, but they were usually pull-ups and not necessarily part of his traditional arsenal).

Offensively, Barkley would more closely play the role of the center, anchoring down the post while Stoudemire would be the power forward, hanging out at the top of the key waiting to set up the pick-and-roll with the ball-handler.

STAT was not really a passer, but one would have to assume too that as he would roll down the lane after Nash or Westphal dropped him the ball off the pick, Barkley would be the willing and capable recipient of a quick dump off if Stoudemire was suddenly double-teamed with Barkley’s man sneaking away to try and stop what would almost be a guaranteed one-on-one slam dunk attempt.

While I ultimately do have to agree with The Athletic’s choice at center, it’s not that clear cut though.

Not only is Amar’e a true power forward who was forced to play the five out of necessity, and while the Suns got Shaquille O’Neal at the true tail-end of his career, Shaq was still a dominant center, an All-Star, and arguably the real  best center the franchise has ever had.

In the end though, I would still pick Amar’e over Shaq because a Barkley and Shaq frontcourt would clog the lane killing all driving by the guards, and STAT’s pick and roll ability truly does set him apart.