Jeff Hornacek player stats

[bwgood77]

I was just thinking about the rumors of us looking for another pg (and maybe us dealing Bledsoe) and wondered why Hornacek liked the 2 pg lineup so much, so I decided to look up his stats (him always feeling like he was more of a true pg), to see how many assists he had while playing with guys who got a ton of assists (KJ and Stockton). He also got to the WCF twice with KJ and the NBA finals twice with Stockton and the WCF four times with Stockton.

Some of his numbers were pretty great. Check this out, and look at the players on this list (pretty damn good list of players to be on). If I was able to narrow the list down to also only include players who shot over 43% from 3pt range, he would be the only one (Larry Bird was the only one close and over 39%)

http://bkref.com/tiny/NAqKM

[GMATCallahan]

Kevin Johnson has said that Hornacek was by far his favorite shooting guard to play with. Hornacek's best asset was shooting the basketball, but all his other skills rendered him more versatile than many other shooting guards. The only concern was that his relative lack of size and strength made dealing with the big post-up guards of that era (primarily Michael Jordan, Clyde Drexler, and Magic Johnson) difficult. Even so, the Suns still ripped Magic's Lakers in the 1990 playoffs.

Hornacek could certainly pass. In the one game that K.J. missed in '88-'89, Hornacek passed for 18 assists against 0 turnovers.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/198903020PHO.html

Occasionally, he would pass for more assists in a game than K.J.

http://www.basketballreference.com/teams/boxscore.htm?yr=1991&b=19911129&tm=PHO

http://www.basketballreference.com/teams/boxscore.htm?yr=1991&b=19920327&tm=PHO

Even so, what he did with Dragic and Bledsoe is at least a step beyond how Hornacek ever played with K.J. or Stockton. Regardless of what the simplistic media now tries to imagine in order to create simpler, more attractive stories, and as Hornacek has admitted, he and K.J. did not function as two point guards playing interchangeably. Hornacek has even talked about how he proved resentful at first, because Cotton Fitzsimmons took the point guard job away from Hornacek and gave it to K.J. But as Hornacek has said, he quickly realized that the change was for the best, as he became the shooting guard and the switch made his career. K.J. ran the show and Hornacek primarily played off the basketball, moving off weak-side down-screens for jump-shots and curling drives off K.J.'s passes. But Hornacek's ball-handling and passing skills meant that he was not just a shooter or even a scorer. He could serve as a secondary playmaker off those plays, or off the weak-side in general if plays on the strong-side broke down. Additionally, his point guard skills meant that if the Suns could not easily outlet the ball to K.J., they could look to Hornacek, and he could bring the ball down the floor to find a teammate in transition or get into a quick pick-and-roll. That way, the Suns could play at a faster pace and enjoy more possessions where they could look to score against a defense that had not set itself up. And in that era, defenders would pick up opposing point guards in the back-court more often, increasing the value of an off-guard who could also handle the ball and run an offense.

Most of all, though, there was much more fluidity and flexibility in the NBA back then. Players were not as specialized, and the ball was supposed to move briskly. You see how the Spurs play now, and how they're really the only team in the NBA that plays that way. A quarter-century ago, almost all of the top teams, or the good teams, played that way, including the Suns (before Barkley's arrival). Hornacek's ball-handling, passing skills, and court awareness just enhanced Phoenix's offensive fluidity and flexibility in that regard. He and K.J. did not function as interchangeable point guards like Dragic and Bledsoe, but guards in general (and players generally) were more interchangeable, much like the Spurs today. You didn't just look for one guy to tally assists, another guy to shoot, another guy to run, and so forth. The game created the numbers rather than the numbers creating the game, and these two highlight videos (from Game Four of the 1989 Western Conference Finals and Game Five of the 1990 Western Conference Finals) give you a good idea of the game's fluidity and how Hornacek's skills enhanced it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwD4p2bWfsc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIjtgjR0R4Q

By the way, Hornacek often served as the Suns' backup point guard while K.J. was resting, especially in the 1989 and 1990 playoffs (and the '88-'89 regular season), further increasing his value to the team.

Steve Kerr, who was a rookie on the '88-'89 Suns (he hardly played), has since said that the best back-court that he ever played with was the trio of K.J., Hornacek, and Dan Majerle. If you see the second box score that I've linked to, or view the second video that I've linked to, you'll receive a good idea why Kerr made that statement.

[bwgood77]

Hornacek could certainly pass. In the one game that K.J. missed in '88-'89, Hornacek passed for 18 assists against 0 turnovers.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/198903020PHO.html

Wow. I wonder how good of a pure pg he would have been. He probably could have been a lot like Nash with the way he could shoot it at the line, from 2 pt range, and from 3 pt range.

Even so, what he did with Dragic and Bledsoe is at least a step beyond how Hornacek ever played with K.J. or Stockton.

Yes, I realize that. I loved that team from 88-92. Partially because they came out of nowhere, especially KJ near the end of his rookie year. I don't think a second year guard in a long time has had as good as a second year as he did. Can you imagine a guard today getting numbers like he did in their 2nd-4th years like he did? Not that I didn't enjoy the Barkley years as much...they were fun too, but everyone always seems to talk about the Barkley years and no one seems to remember the four years prior, which were pretty great.

Good to see you post again. I miss reading your posts on espn and your occasional post here. Love to see you post more here.

Checked out the videos. Watching that team play brings back good memories. Remembering those two WCF we lost is painful. Those Lakers were huge. Hornacek trying to guard Worthy was it? It's amazing we took them out in 5 the next year. That Portland series I distinctly remember because we crushed them in game 3 and beat them in game 4 decisively after losing the first two games by 1 and 2 points. I definitely felt pretty good going into game 5, and then we lose game 6. So disappointing. It would have been nice to pick apart the Bad Boys.

[ExplosionsInDaSky]

Philly/Phoenix fan dropping by,
I remember those years prior to Barkley arriving. Those were some great teams! I remember ousting LA in five games (that was the first year I watched NBA basketball). I also remember the beatdown we gave Portland in game three...Hornacek had a four point play in that game that I remember, falling away/getting fouled and still swished a three.

[bwgood77]

Philly/Phoenix fan dropping by,
I remember those years prior to Barkley arriving. Those were some great teams! I remember ousting LA in five games (that was the first year I watched NBA basketball). I also remember the beatdown we gave Portland in game three...Hornacek had a four point play in that game that I remember, falling away/getting fouled and still swished a three.

Just pulled up the box score for that game. Look at the assists between KJ and Hornacek. But more importantly, look at the FG% from our starters! That was like the Spurs in this year's finals, or probably better.
Especially KJ, Hornacek, Rambis and Chambers. Pretty unbelievable.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/box ... 50PHO.html