Suns GM: Rookie Goodwin ‘one of the hardest workers’ on team
Nov 21, 2013, 1:57 AM
The Phoenix Suns had a pretty good idea of what they were getting when they traded for the rights Kentucky’s Archie Goodwin, who was taken 29th overall in the 2013 NBA Draft.
Though his numbers were somewhat unempressive at Kentucky, Goodwin was the second-youngest player in the draft and the athletic, rangy guard had all of the physical tools and the high ceiling NBA teams look for in guards.
Goodwin seemed to see those physical tools turn into results on the floor against the Sacramento Kings Tuesday, scoring a career-high 16 points on 7-of-10 shooting to go along with two assists, rebounds and blocks.
“At 19 years old, he’s already one of the hardest workers on our team,” Suns GM Ryan McDonough told Arizona Sports 620’s Burns and Gambo Wednesday. “That’s what the background on him was coming out. You never know how that’s going to go once guys get drafted and have some money in their pockets, but he’s worked as hard, if not harder, since we drafted him. He probably gets more shots up than anybody on the team.”
Goodwin is one of several Suns players that got their experience at a high-profile college program, such as Duke, Kansas, Arizona, Kentucy and UCONN. McDonough said it’s nice to find players that players have experience playing against high-level talent on a big state, but he doesn’t like making decisions based on a player’s college.
“There’s some value to that, but it’s not something I specifically look for,” McDonough said. “If you do that, you’ll miss a Damian Lillard or George Hill or some of the good players from smaller programs.”
