Phoenix Suns
The Phoenix Suns are a professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. They are members of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association (NBA), and the only team in their division not to be based in California. Since 1992 their home arena has been the US Airways Center, which was formerly known as America West Arena, in downtown Phoenix. The Arena is often referred to as the "Purple Palace" due to its purple seats, which also is one of the Suns colors.
The Suns began play as an expansion team in 1968. The franchise owns the NBA's fourth-best all-time winning percentage, winning 55 percent of its games, as of the end of the 2012–2013 season. In forty-five years of play, they have made the playoffs 29 times, posted nineteen seasons of 50 or more wins, made nine trips to the Western Conference Finals, and advanced to the NBA Finals in 1976 and 1993. As a result, based on their all-time win-loss percentage, the Suns are the most winning franchise to have never won an NBA Championship
2012–present: Rebuilding with a New Design[]
In the 2012 NBA Draft, the Suns used their 13th pick to select Kendall Marshall, a 6'4" point guard from the North Carolina Tar Heels. Marshall was a prolific passer in his two seasons at North Carolina; setting the ACC[12] and North Carolina[] season assist records, along with winning the Bob Cousy Award[14 in his sophomore season with the Tar Heels.
During the 2012 free agency period, the Suns began their transition from the Steve Nash era by trading Nash to the rival Los Angeles Lakers in exchange for first round picks in 2013 and 2015, as well as second round picks for 2013 and 2014. After the trade, the Suns would then re-acquire point guard Goran Dragić from Houston, sign Minnesota Timberwolves forward Michael Beasley, and also claim Houston forward Luis Scola off waivers while also using their amnesty clause (as codified in the 2011 collective bargaining agreement) to waive Josh Childress. They also did a three-way trade with the New Orleans Hornets and the Minnesota Timberwolves by trading Robin Lopez & Hakim Warrick to the Hornets and a 2014 second rounder to the Timberwolves in exchange for Wesley Johnson, a lottery protected future first rounder, and the rights of Brad Miller and Jerome Dyson. The latter two players' rights were later waived and the Suns then signed Jermaine O'Nell for one year. The Suns also grabbed P. J. Tucker based on his performance with the Suns' Summer League team. On September 20, it was announced that Channing Frye had dilated cardiomyopathy. As a result, he won't be playing for the 2012-13 season and sometimes makes a special appearance to do the pre-game show for local Suns games with Tom Leander and Tom Chambers. The Suns would become the 4th fastest NBA team to win 2,000 games with a 97-81 road victory against the Chicago Bulls. That would also mark the last victory for Alvin Gentry.
On January 18, 2013, the day after a loss that broke a 24-game winning streak at home against the Milwaukee Bucks, head coach Alvin Gentry agreed to leave the Phoenix Suns organization. Two days later, it was announced that player development coach Lindsey Hunter would take on an interim head coach role for the remainder of the season. A few days later, it was announced that assistant head coaches Dan Majerle and Elston Turner had also resigned from their positions. On February 21, 2013, it was announced that the Suns had traded a future second round pick to the Houston Rockets in exchange for Marcus Morris, the twin brother of power forward Markieff Morris] A day later, the Suns traded point guard Sebastian Telfair to the Toronto Raptors in exchange for Iranian center Hamed Haddadi and a 2014 second round pick. The Phoenix Suns ended their first post-Steve Nash season with a 25-57 win-loss record. It was their second-worst record in franchise history, behind only their inaugural season.
On April 22, 2013, it was announced that the Suns had fired General Manager Lance Blanks, after the second-worst season in franchise history. Blanks had been the GM since August 5, 2010.[17] On May 7, 2013, former Celtics assistant GM Ryan McDonough was announced as the new GM of the Suns.[18] On May 26, 2013, the Suns hired former Sun Jeff Hornacek as their head coach to replace interim head coach Lindsey Hunter. A day later, the Suns hired Washington Wizards director of player personnel Pat Connelly and former Lakers assistant general manager Ronnie Lester as new master talent evaluators for the Suns.[19] The Suns would also hire Emilio Kovačić as an international scouting consultant and Trevor Bukstein as an assistant general manager.[20][21] Before officially announcing their newest assistant head coaches, lead assistant Igor Kokoškov ended up leaving to be an assistant for the Cleveland Cavaliers. On June 12, it was announced that not only was Hall of Famer Ralph Sampson no longer an assistant head coach, but the team would also have former Suns player Mark West and former Washington Wizards assistant coach Jerry Sichting as the team's newest assistant head coaches.[22] The team would also start the new season with modified logos that the team originally had, replacing most of the purple involved on their logos with black.
In the 2013 NBA Draft, the Suns would select center Olexiy "Alex" Len from the University of Maryland with their 5th pick on June 27.
Phoenix Suns Roster[]
| Player | # Number | Position |
|---|---|---|
| Goran Dragic | 1 | Guard |
| Michael Beasley | 0 | Small forward |
| Marcin Gortat | 4 | Center |
| Louis Scloa | 14 | Forward |
| Shannon Brown | 26 | Shooting guard |
| Hamed Haddadi | 98 | Center |
| Jared Dudley | 3 | Small forward |
| Markieff Morris | 11 | Power forward |
| Kendall Marshall | 12 | Point guard |
| Jermaine O'Neal | 20 | Center |
| Marcus Norris | 15 | Power forward |
| Channing Fyre | 8 | Power forward |
| Wesley Johnson | 2 | Forward |
| P. J. Tucker | 17 | Forward |
| DiateGarrett | 10 | Guard |