JD's Dime: The Greatest Arizona Sports Athletes of All-Time

Here's a topic that we probably won't see on ESPN, but it still deserves to be told. Currently, Arizona sports are not exactly the most talked in the world of Sports.

The Arizona Cardinals have been to, but have never won a Super Bowl. The Suns have been to, but have never won an NBA Championship series. The Diamondbacks do have a Championship even though they are barely legal to drink (team age, not players). And the Arizona Coyotes have been a part of Arizona sports for 22 years, have been to the playoffs eight times, and have only made it past the first round once.......but have not won a title.

But it hasn't all been bad in the sports world in Arizona. The Arena Football League has seen the Arizona Rattlers go to the ArenaBowl 10 times, while winning six titles. And the Phoenix Mercury have three titles in four appearances in the Championship series. So, as the magnifying glass is so rarely on the valley of the sun of late, it's time to take a look at some of the greatest Arizona sports athletes of all-time.

First, let me give out some "honorable mentions. Let's start with Nick Davila. As exciting as watching an Arena Football League game with the fans here in Phoenix, let's be honest. The AFL is just enough football to get us through to when college football and the pro game chatter starts up again. But even with that being said, Davila was the best quarterback in the Rattlers young history. He led the team to multiple AFL titles, threw for over 32k yards and more than 760 touchdowns and only 91 interceptions.

Next "honorable mention" goes to Steve Nash. That's right, it's blasphemy that Steve Nash doesn't make the list! But here's why.....

Yes, Nash is a two-time MVP. And yes, he's the team's all-time leader in assists with 6,997. But he only gets the honorable mention because I'm looking at both sides of the ball, and there was one point guard that may be named later for the Suns that had a better all-around game.

The final honorable mention goes to a gentleman that yes, was a big part of the Cardinals history, but it wasn't the Arizona Cardinals. The Cardinals history brings them from Chicago, to St. Louis, to Arizona. But they were all part of this team's history. And this guy played a big part. From 1966-1983 the Cardinals had a quarterback by the name of Jim Hart. And all he became was the all-time leader in franchise history in passing yards with over 34k, but he also has almost twice as many touchdown passes as any other quarterback in team history.

Now on to the list, counting down from 10-1.

10. Sue Bird; Phoenix Mercury- Bird is currently 8th all-time on the WNBA career scoring list with over 6,150 points. Bird is 4th in steals all-time with more than 650, and she is first in career assists with 2,831.

9. Paul Goldschmidt; Arizona Diamondbacks- "Goldy" makes the list for Arizona athletes because of what he did when he was here. Currently, in team rankings, Goldy is ranked 2nd in hits, 2nd in home runs, 2nd in RBI's, first in walks, and 2nd in steals.

8. Kevin Johnson; Phoenix Suns- "KJ" makes the list ahead of Steve Nash because of his overall game. Yes, he was 2nd in team assists, but he was 4th in steals (twice as much as Nash), and he was 3rd in points where Nash was 7th.

7. Walter Davis; Phoenix Suns- Davis is the Phoenix Suns all-time leading scorer. He's also 4th all-time in team assists, and 3rd all-time in steals.

6. Diana Taurasi; Phoenix Mercury- Diana Taurasi is the WNBA's career leader in points by more than 1,000!! She is 4th all-time in assists and also has played all 14 years of her career with the Mercury. During this time (as she's still playing), Taurasi has led the Mercury to three WNBA titles.

5. Luis Gonzalez; Arizona Diamondbacks- Gonzalez is the franchises all-time leader in games played, at-bats, runs scored, hits, doubles, home runs, and RBI's.

4. Alvan Adams; Phoenix Suns- Alvan Adams is the Phoenix Suns leader in rebounds and steals. He's 3rd in assists, and 2nd in points. He's also 4th in blocks, and first overall in fouls....by A LOT!! Hey, they give you them to USE!!

3. Randy Johnson; Arizona Diamondbacks- The "Big Unit" is ranked first overall in ERA, strikeouts (by over 1,000), games started, complete games, and shutouts. Oh, and he also scared the hell out of John Kruk during the All-Star game when he threw a fastball over his head. But he did manage to hit a pigeon with a fastball. True story.

2. Larry Fitzgerald; Arizona Cardinals- Larry should make this list just because of how nice of a guy he is. Plus, for as long as this team has been around, Fitz is the all-time leader in receiving yards by more than 8,000 yards! He's ranked 2nd all-time in NFL history. He's also 3rd all-time in receptions with more than 1,300. Fitzgerald is also tied for sixth all-time in career touchdowns.

1. Shane Doan; Arizona Coyotes- How does Doan pass Fitz? Because most people don't realize how great and how long of a career he had here in Phoenix. Doan wins the close race between him and Fitz on who is the most likable guy in the valley. During his 20-year career, Doan is now ranked first in franchise history in games played, first in goals, first in assists, first in points, first in power-play goals, and first in game-winners! But he is ranked second in penalty minutes.......so....yeah. He's still, to me, the greatest Arizona athlete of ALL-TIME!

JD's Dime: Why The Phoenix Suns Can't Win

It's been frustrating, to say the least over the last decade or so for Phoenix Suns fans. Every year around this time free-agency starts up, their is still hope in the air. There is hope that the Suns might actually put together a team that can make the playoffs and end the drought.

The path to winning starts with one big move and a huge change in culture on the court. In my opinion, there is a move that should coincide with this culture change, but it will never happen. I would go out and give Kevin Garnett whatever he wants to be an assistant coach and teach this team how to play DEFENSE!

I'm not even sure if KG wants to coach or if he even would if he was approached. But being a die-hard Boston sports fan, I'm sure of one thing. When the Celtics won the title in 2007-2008, it wasn't because they had the "Big 3" of KG, Pierce, and Allen. It was because they had a floor general who understood how team defense works and he had the mindset, voice, and energy to back it up. Kevin Garnett is why the Celtics took home the title that year, and he's why they had the #2 overall defense in the NBA.

The Suns don't have a defensive mindset, and they continue to bring in players who yes, are flashy on offense, but are horrible at defense. Out of the 53 NBA players who received votes for a spot on the 2018-2019 NBA All-Defensive Team, none were from the Phoenix Suns. That means that even though there are only two official All-Defensive teams per year, no Suns player would have made it even if they had 10 NBA All-Defensive teams.

And today, all the hype before NBA free-agency officially starts, has rumors of the Suns going after D'Angelo Russell. And guess what, Russell didn't receive any votes for the All-Defensive team either, but he did have a teammate that got a couple votes. So YAY, the Suns will be flashy, but they won't stop anyone.

Unless you are absolutely jacked with offensive players and play "decent" defense, then you're not winning anything. The Suns have not ranked better than 21st overall in Opponents Points Allowed in 16 straight years. As a matter of fact, in the last 20 years, only ONE team has won the NBA Championship while their defense was ranked worse than 20th.....the 2000-2001 Lakers, which was their second title of three straight. And the Lakers book-ended that title with championship team defensive ranks of 6th and 9th.

The numbers don't lie. Every team in the Western Conference with a positive +/- in team points scored vs points allowed made the playoffs in the Western Conference last year. As a matter of fact, EVERY NBA TEAM made the playoffs with a positive rating counting the Eastern Conference too. No team in the Western Conference with a negative rating made the playoffs.

The other problem that I see outside of team defense is that this is a team by name only. The style of play is not team basketball, it's individual hero ball with very little movement. That's why someone like Devin Booker can score 30 points or more 60 times in the last two years, and that only translated into 19 wins.

That's why it's okay to take a team photo around one player who scored 70 points in a single game with everyone else on the team surrounding him smiling. 70 points is a great feat, but what the hell is everyone else in the photo smiling about? You lost that game by double-digits. So yes, let's celebrate the one guy who actually did anything in Boston that night and have photo proof of everyone else who was there that did absolutely NOTHING. But that's the culture that we have here in Phoenix.

Hard work is not pretty, it's not exciting, but it gets the desired results. Insanity is "doing the same thing over and over again hoping to get different results." Refusing to bring in those "hard workers" and deciding to go for flashy instead has killed this organization. The bottom line is that I can't tell you one guy on the Suns right now that can match up and lock down (or at least neutralize) the other team's #1 player.

That's why I laugh at those that say today's players are more skilled than players in the 90's. Sure, Lebron James is the greatest player on the court today. But he's the greatest player in the worst defensive era in NBA history. That's why I think it's funny how he celebrated passing Michael Jordan in points........ While still being over 600 steals behind him.

There are still two sides of the court in today's NBA........I believe. But it seems like the Suns have completely forgotten that fact. Over the last five years, they have ranked T27, LAST, LAST, 28th, and 26th in overall defense (OPA). That means that the playoff drought will continue in 2019-2020 unless this culture changes in a hurry.


The sad part is that you don't even need a "great" defensive team to make the playoffs as "average" has worked. But the Phoenix Suns are MILES away from being average on defense. And again, it doesn't look like it's going to change anytime soon.

And please don't label me as a Phoenix sports hater since I'm from Boston. I'm currently growing my beard in SUPPORT of Phoenix teams (since I live here) to make the playoffs. And I can't shave it until either a professional sports team (men's NBA, NHL, NFL, MLB, or Alex Bowman) makes the playoffs! Yeah, let's see YOU do that! So I'm cheering harder than most for the Suns to be successful, or any Arizona team to be successful!

Jeff Demers
Phoenix Area Sports

PHOENIX MERCURY DEFEATS ACES IN HOME OPENER

By Marta DeLeon

Photo by  Marta DeLeon

PHOENIX- The Phoenix Mercury appeared  in its home opener against the Las Vegas Aces at the Talking Stick Resort Arena on Friday, collecting an 86-84 win. This was the second game of the season for both teams, who are now 1-1.

The Mercury was defensively ferocious to start the first quarter with DeWanna Bonner and Sancho Lyttle having two blocks each, and Essence Carson having a block, as well. Bonner rounded out the first half with a total of five rebounds and Briann January led the team with 12 of her 16 total points. They held the Aces to just 12 points for the game’s first nine minutes.

For the first time Las Vegas took the lead in the second quarter with the help of Dearica Hamby making 10 points in just nine minutes. Liz Cambage entered the game with 2:55 left on the clock and scored six points in less than five minutes of play. The Mercury trailed the Aces for the next two quarters, but regained its fire in the fourth.  

The Aces had several chances to tie the game in the last minutes, but just could not pull through. After two referee reviews and 0.1 put back on the clock the hope of Las Vegas going home with a win did not happen.

“Tough defense was the key to the game and holding (Kelsey) Plum and (A’ja) Wilson to only 21 points,” Coach Sandy Brondello said. “ I think that’s one the best defensive games Wilson has ever faced, and she is a great player. We competed, and I’m very proud of it. They knew what plays to make, and we controlled the tempo. It wasn’t the prettiest ending, but it is something we can learn by.”

Bonner finished the game with 11 defensive rebounds and was fierce in her defense.

“Coach challenged me to pick up my defense,” Bonner said. “A’ja is a great player and I wanted to make sure I focused in and do what I can for my team. It was definitely a challenge.”

The Mercury’s next game is against the Minnesota Lynx on the road on June 6^th. This will be first time Stephanie Talbot will play against her former team since traded on May 21^st.