After a so-so freshman season on an underachieving University of Kentucky team ended with him sliding to No. 29 in the 2013 NBA Draft, Phoenix Suns guard Archie Goodwin has a simple message for the League: “It would have been great to have been drafted where I thought I should have been,” Goodwin told SLAM during last week's Panini photo shoot portion of the Rookie Transition Program. “Now every team that didn't pick me, I've got to give them hell.”
At only 18 years of age, Goodwin was not only the youngest player selected in this past June's Draft but also, admittedly, one of the rawest. If Summer League in Las Vegas, where he averaged 13.1 ppg and 3.3 rpg, was an indicator, the native of Little Rock, AR, is on the way to shushing his detractors and backing up his bold words.
“The experience of playing with guys that had been [at Summer League] before really helped me,” said Goodwin. “I did pretty good. I did better than people thought I would do.”
Walter Cornett, of Glendale, Kentucky, is the owner and operator of Walter's Wildcat World. He founded WildcatWorld.com in 1998 making it one of the oldest Kentucky basketball fan sites in operation today.