B. Patrick
As a basketball fan, I have always had a love for the lesser known, obscure and/or underappreciated. At school, when most kids were wearing Penny Hardaway, Shaquille O’Neal or Michael Jordan jerseys, I was wearing Bobby Hurley, Derek Harper and Dino Radja.
This is my open tribute to the lesser known players in today’s game. This is Spotted on the Pine.
ARCHIE GOODWIN
Name: Archie Goodwin
Team: Phoenix Suns
Jersey Number: 20
Rookie Year: 2013-14
Drafted: 1st round, 29th pick
College: Kentucky
Twitter: @A1Laflare10
Spotted on the Pine, to date, has been about young players without much spotlight. Pressed for time this week, I tried to think of a player who has had a short enough career to make a quick article but will be worth keeping an eye on. One player came to mind for me, and he probably isn’t as unheralded as other players featured in these columns.
This week’s article focuses on one of the guys I am most excited to see with my upcoming experiment with Suns season tickets: Archie Goodwin.
Born August 17th, 1994, Archie is the youngest player covered so far and will also be the second youngest player in the NBA next season behind Milwaukee’s 15th overall pick, Giannis Antetokounmpo. The Bucks rookie from Greece was born December 16, 1994.
From the Little Rock, Arkansas suburb of Sherwood, Archie attended Sylvan Hills High School where he led the Bears to back-to-back 5A state finals. He capped off his senior season with a 27-point and 7-rebound performance to win the championship and MVP honors.
These accolades helped Archie get recognized as Gatorade’s Arkansas Player of the Year twice as well as being a Parade and a McDonald’s All-American.
Ranked in the Top 12 of ESPNU, Rivals.com and Scout.com polls, Goodwin was highly sought after when National Signing Day came around. Offers were on the table from Arkansas, Memphis, Connecticut and Kansas, however Archie would be lured to team up with Nerlens Noel to quickly rebuild John Calipari’s Kentucky Wildcats who won a championship and lost seven players to the NBA Draft.
Goodwin stepped in and made an immediate impact. Switching between point and shooting guard, Archie was the third Kentucky freshman in the Calipari era to score double-digits in his first five games, the first two being future NBA players John Wall and Terrence Jones. Archie scored 22 points against LIU-Brooklyn, while also contributing nine rebounds and nine assists.
What makes the 22-9-9 line most interesting is with the rich history of Kentucky basketball, only one player has ever had a triple-double for the Wildcats.
Can you guess the player?
Hint: It was 1988.
The player?
Chris Mills.
Whether you got it right or wrong, please listen to Chris Mills rap:
Anthony Davis had come close in December 2011 and Archie did but Chris Mills is still the only Wildcat with a triple double.
Early in the season, Archie was considered a lottery pick and playing as well as any player in the country. As soon as conference play began, Archie started coming down to earth a little bit. Scouting reports had teams preventing his drive to the basket and forcing him to rely on his jump shot, which only connecting at a rate of 33%.
By February, Nerlens Noel went down with his ACL issue and with the college rankings changing on a seemingly nightly basis, the Wilcats would find themselves in the NIT tournament.
Archie was still recognized for the SEC All-Freshman team but found himself going under the radar for all the experts analyzing the NBA Draft.
At the end of the first round, the Phoenix Suns acquired the 29th pick from Golden State (who had gotten the pick from the Thunder) and took the Kentucky guard. In a draft that many expected to be the weakest in years, the Suns got a player with a ton of upside.
Some critics said his play was inconsistent at the end of the college season. It very well may have been.
The fact of the matter is Archie is going to be barely 19-years old when the season starts and is an energetic player with distinct talents on each end of the floor. He has great length to help with defense and has high success driving the basket. This summer he has worked hard on his jumper. Joining the Suns, he has Jeff Hornacek who can help with his jumper, as well as television analyst and the player with the highest-point total to never make an All-Star game, Eddie Johnson, who sells shooting DVDs.
He puts the J in Jump Shot, folks.
While Shabazz Muhammad was getting kicked out of the Rookie Transition program for bringing ladies back to his room, Archie was working hard. Being eighteen, Archie was one of the youngest present and through his hard work and maturity, Archie was named the MVP of the program.
He’s shown himself to be humble, yet confident. While the Suns are going to experiment with the Goran Dragic/Eric Bledsoe combo this season, Archie is the next in line the rotation and could be a big part of the Suns actually shining in Phoenix again.
