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2016–17 Phoenix Suns season | |
---|---|
Head coach | Earl Watson |
General manager | Ryan McDonough |
Owners | Robert Sarver |
Arena | Talking Stick Resort Arena |
Results | |
Record | 24–58 (.293) |
Place | Division: 5th (
Pacific) Conference: 15th ( Western) |
Playoff finish | Did not qualify |
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com | |
Local media | |
Television | Fox Sports Arizona |
Radio | KTAR |
The 2016–17 NBA season was the Phoenix Suns' 49th season in the NBA [1] and their 24th season in the Talking Stick Resort Arena. It was also the first season with a team-owned D-League affiliate, called the Northern Arizona Suns, which relocated to the nearby Prescott Valley. The Suns failed to qualify for the playoffs for the seventh straight season.
This season featured a remarkable performance from sophomore Devin Booker who scored 70 points during a game vs. the Boston Celtics in March 2017, becoming the youngest NBA player to do so at the age of 20.
Round | Pick | Player | Position(s) | Nationality(-ies) | College / Club |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 4 | Dragan Bender | Forward/center | ![]() ![]() |
![]() |
1 | 8 | Marquese Chriss | Forward/center | ![]() |
Washington |
2 | 34 | Tyler Ulis | Point Guard | ![]() |
Kentucky |
The Phoenix Suns would once again enter the draft with three first-round picks and one second round pick this season, tying the 2013–14 season for the most first round selections the team has ever had. They own their first selection in the first round, which was at the original Pick 4 and is now the highest selection they'd ever have since 1987, while their second first-round pick (which was stuck in Pick 13 for the fourth time in six years) was had by the February 18, 2016 trade deadline with the Washington Wizards trading it away to them (similar to what happened in the 2014 NBA draft) along with the temporary additions of power forward/centers DeJuan Blair and Kris Humphries in exchange for removing Markieff Morris from the team due to his incessant demands of wanting out of the team after an earlier trade involving his twin brother, Marcus Morris, occurred on July 2, 2015. The Suns would be the only team this season to hold multiple NBA Draft lottery selections because of it. Not only that, but the Suns also got their third first round selection at Pick 28 from the newly defending champion Cleveland Cavaliers due to an earlier trade involving the Boston Celtics, where they got the Cleveland Cavaliers' first round draft pick that Boston acquired in an earlier trade alongside the also-temporary addition of Marcus Thornton in exchange for Isaiah Thomas. The lone second round pick they have is also the pick they had on their own accord in spite of having a continuously declining record (done in by injuries and other turmoil involving the team placed throughout last season, which included the aforementioned trade that Markieff Morris demanded during that season) in the process. The Suns had also initially planned to get the Minnesota Timberwolves' second round selection for this year (which would have been Rade Zagorac at Pick 35 this year), but traded it away in a different trade with the Boston Celtics (back when it was still considered to be a first round draft pick) in order to get Brandan Wright on the team under the same season they first acquired Isaiah Thomas. Furthermore, there was still the projection that the Los Angeles Lakers' first-round pick that had belonged to the Suns before the 2014–15 season came and went originally planned to convey itself for the draft in 2016, but they ultimately didn't due to lottery protections allowing the Lakers to keep their pick (which was Brandon Ingram at Pick 2) for another season.
With the fourth pick of the draft, Phoenix would select the Bosnian-born Croatian power forward/center Dragan Bender from Maccabi Tel Aviv in Israel. During his time with Maccabi Tel Aviv, Bender would hold many different averages due to playing in multiple European competitions the previous season. Most notably, Bender would average 5.4 points, 2.7 rebounds, 0.8 assists, 0.8 blocks, and 0.6 steals per game in Israel in 13.8 minutes of play off the bench during his second season with what was considered a star-studded team in Maccabi Tel Aviv, with him putting up 2.1 points, 1.4 rebounds, 0.6 assists, 0.4 blocks, and 0.3 steals per game in the Euroleague with 10.6 minutes of similar play off the bench. However, he'd also be an Israeli League Cup champion for his team in 2015, a two-time Israeli State Cup champion for his team, and he'd also be an Israeli All-Star in 2016. He would be signed with the Suns this season instead of becoming a draft-and-stash candidate for the team this season, thus becoming the newest, youngest draft player the Suns have ever taken in the draft, ahead of last year's first round draft pick, Devin Booker. He'd also be the youngest Suns player in franchise history ahead of Maciej Lampe, a player that made his NBA debut with the Suns at around 18 years old himself, although Lampe was drafted at a much younger time during the 2003 NBA draft by the New York Knicks himself.
After the fourth selection came and went, the Suns would make a trade involving the Sacramento Kings where they'd trade their 13th and 28th selections (which would be Greek center Georgios Papagiannis at Pick 13 and a Haitian power forward/center from the University of Kentucky in Skal Labissière at Pick 28 respectively), the draft rights for Bogdan Bogdanović, and the 2020 second round draft pick they acquired from the Detroit Pistons due to an earlier trade involving Marcus Morris and the Kings would select Marquese Chriss from the University of Washington for them with the eighth pick of the draft. During his only season at Washington, Chriss would average 13.8 points, 5.4 rebounds, 1.6 blocks, 0.9 steals, and 0.8 assists in 24.9 minutes of action, with him breaking the university's freshman record for the most blocks in their first season and being mentioned as an honorable mention for the All-Pac-12 Freshman Team. It would also be revealed later on that Phoenix was neck-and-neck between the two power forwards/centers before the trade, with Phoenix deciding to go for Dragan first due to the fact that he was more likely to be selected by a team like the Minnesota Timberwolves, the New Orleans Pelicans, or the Denver Nuggets instead of Sacramento if he fell than Marquese did, [5] although the Suns figured either choice would have given them both power forwards with Jaylen Brown being selected by Boston at Pick 3 and the next three teams likely wanting players that were guards anyway. [6]
Finally, with the thirty-fourth pick of the draft, the Suns selected Tyler Ulis from the University of Kentucky. In his two seasons with Kentucky (one of which being spent on the bench alongside Phoenix's 2015 first round selection Devin Booker), Ulis averaged 11.3 points, 5.3 assists, 2.4 rebounds, and 1.2 steals per game with the Wildcats, also being a part of the SEC All-Freshman Team for 2015 similar to Devin. However, his sophomore season would provide a major jump for Ulis, recording 17.3 points, 7 assists, 3 rebounds, and 1.5 steals per game for Kentucky, which resulted in many honors for him in his second and final season with the team, ranging from the SEC Tournament's MVP and All-SEC First Team to the SEC Player of the Year and the SEC Defensive Player of the Year (with him also being the second guy in the SEC behind Anthony Davis to earn those two honors in the same season) to even gaining major honors and awards with the Bob Cousy Award and being a part of the consensus All-American First Team for 2016. Another player that had declared for the 2016 NBA draft, but ultimately wasn't selected around the time was Derrick Jones Jr., an athletic freshman small forward from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas who only played for one season because of a controversy revolving around his ACT test score he had back in Baltimore, Maryland.
Players Mirza Teletović, Jon Leuer, and Chase Budinger, as well as the returning Ronnie Price all became unrestricted free agents as of the end of the 2015–16 NBA season. In addition, both power forward/center Alan Williams and shooting guard John Jenkins also had player options that could potentially make themselves unrestricted free agents as well, so long as the team ended up declining their player options before September 1 and October 24 respectively. Furthermore, former starting small forward P. J. Tucker also has a player option for this season as well, but he would end up accepting his option before the free agency period began. With Alan Williams, he was considered very likely to have his contract guaranteed considering his All-NBA Summer League First Team worthy performance during his time in Las Vegas this season, according to a statement that general manager Ryan McDonough made about him on July 24, 2016. His deal would be made official, though, on September 1, 2016, when he did get his second year fully guaranteed by the Suns officially. Meanwhile, John Jenkins originally held his player option for the team to decide upon around July 11. However, both Jenkins and the Suns agreed to extend their option before the beginning of the regular season, which was mainly dependent on circumstances at hand involving not just Jenkins, but the team as well. At the end of the day, though, the Suns also decided to keep John Jenkins on October 24, 2016, despite not performing so well in the preseason due to not just potential trade purposes, but also the fact that his second and third years on his contract with the team were still non-guaranteed years for Jenkins (especially his third year, with his second year remaining non-guaranteed until the league-wide deadline on January 6, 2017), as well as his own shooting abilities he displayed during last season. The Suns also planned to convince their 27th pick from the 2014 NBA draft, Bogdan Bogdanović, to leave his current team in Fenerbahçe (Ülker) from Turkey to play in the NBA early before the salary he gets from the team rises exponentially next season due to him no longer being bound to the rookie-scale deal. However, it was later confirmed before the 2016 NBA draft began that Bogdan would end up staying with his current team in Turkey for at least one more season. In the end, though, that decision would get him traded to the Sacramento Kings alongside their 13th and 28th picks and the Detroit Pistons' 2020 second round pick for the draft rights of power forward Marquese Chriss.
At the beginning of free agency, the Suns got back shooting guard/small forward Jared Dudley, a player who had previously played with Phoenix from 2008 to 2013 (including the team's last playoff run in 2010), on a 3-year deal worth $30 million. However, they'd also lose power forward Mirza Teletović to the Milwaukee Bucks earlier in the day, who was worth exactly the same amount as well. With that said, Dudley sees his second stint with the Suns as him being a stretch power forward instead. [7] He also wants to help bring back the same sort of atmosphere the team held back in their 2009–10 season again. [8] A day after that, the Suns would let their other power forward they had last season, Jon Leuer, leave on a 4-year deal worth $42 million for the Detroit Pistons. On July 6, it would be announced that another former Suns player from the Seven Seconds Or Less era of Suns teams would return with the Suns in combo guard Leandro Barbosa, a player who was with the team twice from 2003 to 2010 and 2014, coming back again (this time from the previously 2015 NBA Finals champion and 73–9 Golden State Warriors (with Golden State winning the 2017 NBA Finals in downright dominant fashion)) on a 2-year deal worth $8 million this time around. The signing would be official on July 19, which was over two weeks before he'd begin playing for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro for his home nation of Brazil. Six days later, it was announced that Ronnie Price would sign a 2-year deal worth $5 million with the Oklahoma City Thunder due to the combination of Phoenix re-signing Leandro Barbosa again and drafting Tyler Ulis in the second round, although Price's signing wouldn't be official until August 13. Coach Earl Watson also hinted that Ronnie Price could also return to Phoenix (under the guise of an assistant head coach for the staff at the time) when the time is right for him to do that. Finally, Chase Budinger would sign a non-guaranteed deal to try his luck at signing an official, regular season deal with the Brooklyn Nets on September 21, 2016, although his signing wouldn't be ready until five days later. However, he would ultimately be waived by the Nets about a month later on October 18, 2016. Almost a week afterwards, Ronnie Price would be waived by the Oklahoma City Thunder on October 24, 2016, despite the fact that his two-year deal with the Thunder was fully guaranteed. Chase Budinger would sign with the Saski Baskonia in Spain for the rest of the season on October 27, 2016, while Ronnie Price would not sign up with another team until January 27, 2017.
On August 20, 2016, the Suns were projected to sign a D-League affiliate point guard (who had previously played for the Bakersfield Jam before the location and team name change) named Askia Booker (who is not related to Devin Booker) to a non-guaranteed training camp deal after a strong enough performance he showcased for the team during the Summer League. However, instead of signing Askia Booker, the team would sign up former Nevada–Las Vegas Runnin' Rebels freshman small forward Derrick Jones Jr. to a deal on September 13, 2016, with the move almost feeling like a sign for the Suns before T. J. Warren officially announced his return to action, yet P. J. Tucker would announce he'd (likely) be out for the start of the regular season this time around. A day later, the Suns also signed 2014 second round pick Alec Brown to a non-guaranteed deal as well. Furthermore, the team would also have the likes of Hapoel Holon forward Mike Moser and Tulsa Golden Hurricane guard Shaquille Harrison joined the training camp squad alongside both Alec Brown and Derrick Jones Jr. just another day later. Two days after that, though, the Suns decided to waive Alec Brown in order to retain his draft rights, although they would later on trade him and remove his draft rights via their new Northern Arizona Suns D-League affiliate squad on October 29, 2016, to a new D-League expansion squad known as the Windy City Bulls well over a month later. On September 25, 2016, instead of having the likes of Mike Moser joining Derrick Jones Jr. and Shaquille Harrison due to a health issue, the team would also include Olympique Antibes Sharks center Gracin Bakumanya (the only international underclassman that didn't play in college to be undrafted this year) and D-League affiliate power forward Derek Cooke Jr. (who also had a satisfying enough performance in the Summer League) as their official training camp invitees. However, none of Shaquille Harrison, Gracin Bakumanya, nor Derek Cooke Jr. would play a single game for Phoenix in the preseason, as they'd all be waived on October 10. The only invited player that did get some preseason action, Derrick Jones Jr. (who was an undrafted 19 year old small forward), not only wound up getting one of the last roster spots with the Suns, but he also took over a spot on the roster over the currently more established shooting guard in Archie Goodwin, who not only spent three full seasons with the team as it was, but also had guaranteed money over both Derrick Jones Jr. and John Jenkins to boot. It also meant that with Derrick Jones Jr. on the roster, the Suns would enter the season with four rookies on their roster after all, with four of their players also being teenagers to start out the regular season. It was later on confirmed that Archie Goodwin did request a trade out by the Phoenix Suns in a respectful manner before the end of the pre-season, but the team unfortunately couldn't find a good deal for him on time. All three of the original, non-guaranteed deals that did not stay with the Phoenix Suns (as well as Askia Booker) would soon find themselves as a part of the nearby Northern Arizona Suns D-League affiliate team, while Archie Goodwin would sign a two-year deal with the New Orleans Pelicans on November 6, 2016, although he'd only last until November 20 that same year before playing for the newly formed Greensboro Swarm D-League team ten days later until March 15, 2017, where he'd sign a two-year deal for the Brooklyn Nets after signing two 10-day contracts with them.
On January 6, 2017, after agreeing to keep John Jenkins during the start of the season, the team officially announced that Jenkins would no longer be on the team anymore, and that his remaining two years on his deal (or rather, one and a half year due to his half-season with the Suns being guaranteed money by that point) would be fully waived off of their salary. This decision came after the notion that he only played four games this season (22 the previous one) and didn't perform well at all during that time. It also held the purpose of opening up a roster spot for any possible trades the Suns could make between then and the trade deadline involving a veteran like P. J. Tucker. His contract that year would have been fully guaranteed otherwise had he stayed with the team after that point. On the other hand, the contract Derrick Jones Jr. signed would be fully guaranteed a day later himself due to his contract originally being non-guaranteed at the time. On January 27, 2017, it was announced that Ronnie Price would return with the Suns for his third stint with the squad (although due to him not playing official, regular season games for the Thunder or anyone else before that point, it's still technically considered a part of his second stint instead), as he would sign a 10-day contract with the team during that point. John Jenkins would sign up to play for the Westchester Knicks in the D-League on February 3, while Ronnie Price would sign a second 10-day contract three days later. Finally, on February 23, the Suns would trade away a Top-55 protected second round pick in order to get themselves small forward Mike Scott (a player that Atlanta had acquired in Phoenix's 2010 sign-and-trade for Josh Childress), the draft rights to Turkish shooting guard Cenk Akyol, and $500,000 in cash considerations from the Atlanta Hawks, as well as trade fan-favorite small/power forward (and the last consistent remnant of the Lance Blanks era) P. J. Tucker to his original NBA team, the Toronto Raptors, for power forward/center Jared Sullinger, both their 2017 & 2018 second round draft picks, and extra cash considerations worth $1,000,000 from them. However, neither Jared Sullinger nor Mike Scott would play for the Suns this season, with them both being waived for salary cap purposes and instead would allow Ronnie Price to sign a one-year contract to stay for the rest of the year as a player. The Suns would also provide Jarell Eddie two 10-day contracts on March 19, 2017, and March 29, 2017, before ultimately signing a D-League player from their own affiliate squad, Elijah Millsap of the Northern Arizona Suns, to a multi-year deal on April 9, 2017.
The Suns had initially planned to start a coaching search after their previous season ended. Some of the candidates that were linked to the Suns at the time as potential new candidates included Luke Walton, Mike D'Antoni, Jay Wright, and Dan Majerle, just to name a few examples. However, because of overwhelmingly positive support from both the team's players and the front office alike (which included an improved performance throughout the last two months of the season, even with major injuries to Eric Bledsoe, T. J. Warren, and later Brandon Knight in mind), Earl Watson would earn his new three-year deal worth $7.5 million to become the full-time head coach for the Suns, effective as of April 19, 2016. [9] [10] During Earl's re-introduction conference as full-time head coach, fellow players (at the time) Devin Booker, Brandon Knight, Mirza Teletović, and Ronnie Price all showed up to the event in support of the move, with the rest of the roster (at that time) also expressing profound support of it. On May 5, 2016 (exactly the same day Senior Adviser Lon Babby resigned from his duties with the team), three assistant coaches the team had throughout last season in former Phoenix Mercury head coach Corey Gaines, replacement assistant coach Bob Hill, and player development assistant coach Irving Roland would not have their contracts renewed after the season the team had last season, with Chris Darnell taking up the absent player development role led by Irving until further notice. [11] That left with only assistant coach Nate Bjorkgren and player development coach Jason Fraser as the only assistant coaches/player development coaches left from last season's debacle. Watson later told people that the assistant coaches he's got that he wants them to join him by sitting next to him or moving on to lead their own program somewhere else later on down the line.
On May 18, a day after the 2016 NBA Draft Lottery ended with everyone remaining exactly where they were at all this time, the Suns hired the Canadian Portland Trail Blazers' assistant coach Jay Triano into being the team's official associate head coach for Earl Watson on a three-year deal of his own. [12] [13] On June 25, two days after the 2016 NBA draft ended, the Phoenix Suns announced that one of its former players, Tyrone Corbin, would be a new assistant coach for Earl Watson's staff. During the 2016 NBA Summer League, it was announced that both Bret Burchard and Scott Vaughan would be assistant head coaches for the Suns throughout the event. [14] On July 7, 2016, the Suns would add an old college assistant coach named Scott Duncan to their team as a player development assistant. Duncan was previously an assistant coach for various Division I campuses in the NCAA since 1978, ranging from coach Watson's campus at UCLA and Oregon to Clemson and Washington State, with Northern Illinois, Fresno State, New Mexico, and Cleveland State all holding him around at one point or another, with his most recent tenure being a part of the University of Montana as an associate head coach for six straight seasons. Later on that month, on July 27, it was announced that the Suns would be close to completing their coaching staff by having a former college teammate of Steve Nash, as well as a former NBA player and video coordinator and player development coach for the San Antonio Spurs named Marlon Garnett join the team as both an assistant head coach and a player development coach similar to what current assistant head coach Nate Bjorkgren held last year under former head coach Jeff Hornacek before the first coaching shake-up of last season left Nate exclusively as an assistant coach only. Finally, on September 13, it was announced that the team had a last-minute addition to their player development staff with former 2004 NBA Finals champion and All-Star Mehmet Okur joining the team as an official player development coach, thus becoming the first Turkish born citizen to enter an NBA coaching staff in some way. It was a move to bring some extra help for the Suns' young big men, especially the Suns' first round rookies this season in Dragan Bender and Marquese Chriss. More specifically, it was done to have the players learn how to do moves in the post and utilize those moves properly. Both Triano and Okur would mark the first time a team had two or more foreign born coaches being a part of the same NBA coaching staff, although it wouldn't mark the first time the team had an international coach altogether.
Two weeks after announcing that Earl Watson would be the full-time coach of the Suns, former president of basketball operations and senior adviser Lon Babby announced his resignation from his duties with the team after his six-year tenure with the Suns. [15] At the same time, assistant video coordinator Ross Geiger did not get his contract renewed. On July 27, 2016, it was announced that in addition to retaining Chris Darnell as their head video coordinator, the Suns got former Long Beach State University, St. John's University, California State Fullerton University, and Los Angeles Clippers video coordinator Jason Tilton and former video coordinator for the San Antonio Spurs and Team U.S.A., as well as video intern for last season's 73–9 Golden State Warriors Julian Mills as the team's newest assistant video coordinators with former Campbell University, Southeastern Louisiana University, North Carolina University, and Michigan State University athletic trainer Quinton Sawyer joining as the team's assistant athletic trainer and sports science coordinator. Then, on September 13, 2016, alongside the new addition of former NBA Finals champion and All-Star Mehmet Okur to the coaching staff for a player development role, it was announced that former Minnesota Timberwolves, Washington Wizards, and Detroit Pistons scout Jason Hervey (not to be confused with the actor) would join the Suns as an advanced scout.
Players | Coaches | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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|
|
Player | 2016–17 Salary |
---|---|
Eric Bledsoe | $14,000,000 |
Brandon Knight | $12,606,250 |
Tyson Chandler | $12,415,000 |
Jared Dudley | $10,470,000 |
Oleksiy "Alex" Len | $4,823,621 |
Dragan Bender | $4,276,320 |
Leandro Barbosa | $4,000,000 |
Marquese Chriss | $2,941,440 |
Devin Booker | $2,148,360 |
T. J. Warren | $2,128,920 |
Tyler Ulis | $918,369 |
Alan Williams | $874,636 |
Ronnie Price | $693,682 |
Derrick Jones Jr. | $543,471 |
Elijah Millsap | $23,069 |
Total | $77,140,018 |
Once again, the Suns would be forced to pay the remaining salary they originally had left for Michael Beasley under this season due to the buyout the Suns did on September 3, 2013, which was $777,778. However, this would actually be done as the team's official last year for payment for him since, similar to the amnesty of Josh Childress beforehand, they would no longer have to pay him again after his value is fully paid off. Not only that, but former Suns player Kris Humphries would have the salary of his previous contract he had during his short stint there be paid out throughout this season (which would total out to $4,630,000) due to the stipulations of him being waived on February 27, 2016. Furthermore, the Suns would wind up releasing Archie Goodwin before the start of this season, which means that currently, the Suns will also pay Archie Goodwin the rest of his salary this season (which was around $2,094,089) to essentially not play for them anymore. The Suns would also pay out half of John Jenkins' salary that they had throughout his time with the team (which would be half of $1,050,961), but the rest for the next year and the half they would have paid out for Jenkins after January 6, 2017, would no longer be paid out to him from here on out. Not only that, but by waiving the contracts of both Jared Sullinger and Mike Scott (who both have deals reaching $5,628,000 and $3,333,334 respectively that expire after the end of this season), as well as gain an extra $1,500,000 received from both of those respective deals at hand ($1,000,000 of which came from Toronto, while $500,000 would come from Atlanta), the Suns would have enough money to reach the minimum salary cap space needed to satisfy the NBA salary floor after signing Ronnie Price for the rest of the season at a grand total of $693,682 on February 23, 2017. [16]
For the second straight season, the Suns would start out their season by having six pre-season games to play under before the regular season began. Oddly enough, this time around, they'd start the preseason really early, only to have their biggest gap come for an entire week between their last home game of the preseason in Arizona against Dallas and the last official home game out in Anaheim against the L.A. Lakers. The reality is this season is the first season where a new system decided how the schedule will be done for every team in the league, and due to the new Collective Bargaining Agreement that was updated in 2017, the pre-season is going to be shortened as well after this season. The Suns would also actually be the very first opponent of the San Antonio Spurs without having Tim Duncan around playing for the team there whatsoever since he first arrived in the late 1990s. They would win their game by a score of 91–86 with their starting line-up being Eric Bledsoe, Devin Booker, T. J. Warren, Jared Dudley, and Tyson Chandler, which would also be their starting lineup for at least the start of the regular season. However, the Suns would lose two straight close matches before staging their biggest comeback in pre-season history, going from a 30-point deficit to winning their road match against the Utah Jazz with the final score of 111–110 with a few key slam dunks late in the fourth quarter by the now-former Suns shooting guard Archie Goodwin to close out the game. Ultimately, the Suns would end their pre-season with a 4–2 record with a three-game winning streak to end the event, although none of their games would end with a higher margin differential than 5 points.
Pacific Division | W | L | PCT | GB | Home | Road | Div | GP |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
z – Golden State Warriors | 67 | 15 | .817 | – | 36–5 | 31–10 | 14–2 | 82 |
x – Los Angeles Clippers | 51 | 31 | .622 | 16.0 | 29–12 | 22–19 | 10–6 | 82 |
Sacramento Kings | 32 | 50 | .390 | 35.0 | 17–24 | 15–26 | 7–9 | 82 |
Los Angeles Lakers | 26 | 56 | .317 | 41.0 | 17–24 | 9–32 | 6–10 | 82 |
Phoenix Suns | 24 | 58 | .293 | 43.0 | 15–26 | 9–32 | 3–13 | 82 |
Western Conference | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
# | Team | W | L | PCT | GB | GP |
1 | z – Golden State Warriors * | 67 | 15 | .817 | – | 82 |
2 | y – San Antonio Spurs * | 61 | 21 | .744 | 6.0 | 82 |
3 | x – Houston Rockets | 55 | 27 | .671 | 12.0 | 82 |
4 | x – Los Angeles Clippers | 51 | 31 | .622 | 16.0 | 82 |
5 | y – Utah Jazz * | 51 | 31 | .622 | 16.0 | 82 |
6 | x – Oklahoma City Thunder | 47 | 35 | .573 | 20.0 | 82 |
7 | x – Memphis Grizzlies | 43 | 39 | .524 | 24.0 | 82 |
8 | x – Portland Trail Blazers | 41 | 41 | .500 | 26.0 | 82 |
9 | Denver Nuggets | 40 | 42 | .488 | 27.0 | 82 |
10 | New Orleans Pelicans | 34 | 48 | .415 | 33.0 | 82 |
11 | Dallas Mavericks | 33 | 49 | .402 | 34.0 | 82 |
12 | Sacramento Kings | 32 | 50 | .390 | 35.0 | 82 |
13 | Minnesota Timberwolves | 31 | 51 | .378 | 36.0 | 82 |
14 | Los Angeles Lakers | 26 | 56 | .317 | 41.0 | 82 |
15 | Phoenix Suns | 24 | 58 | .293 | 43.0 | 82 |
2016–17 game log Total: 24–58 (Home: 15–26; Road: 9–32) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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October: 0–4 (home: 0–2; road: 0–2)
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November
: 6–9 (home: 3–3; road: 3–6)
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December
: 4–11 (home: 3–4; road: 1–7)
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January
: 5–9 (home: 2–6; road: 3–3)
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February
: 3–9 (home: 2–3; road: 1–6)
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March
: 4–12 (home: 3–6; road: 1–6)
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April
: 2–4 (home: 2–2; road: 0–2)
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2016–17 season schedule |
GP | Games played | GS | Games started | MPG | Minutes per game |
FG% | Field-goal percentage | 3P% | 3-point field-goal percentage | FT% | Free-throw percentage |
RPG | Rebounds per game | APG | Assists per game | SPG | Steals per game |
BPG | Blocks per game | PPG | Points per game |
Player | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Leandro Barbosa | 67 | 0 | 14.4 | .439 | .357 | .889 | 1.6 | 1.2 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 6.3 |
Dragan Bender | 43 | 0 | 13.3 | .354 | .277 | .364 | 2.4 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 0.5 | 3.4 |
Eric Bledsoe | 66 | 66 | 33.0 | .434 | .335 | .847 | 4.8 | 6.3 | 1.4 | 0.5 | 21.1 |
Devin Booker | 78 | 78 | 35.0 | .423 | .363 | .832 | 3.2 | 3.4 | 0.9 | 0.3 | 22.1 |
Tyson Chandler | 47 | 46 | 27.6 | .671 | .000 | .734 | 11.5 | 0.6 | 0.7 | 0.5 | 8.4 |
Marquese Chriss | 82 | 75 | 21.3 | .449 | .321 | .624 | 4.2 | 0.7 | 0.8 | 0.9 | 9.2 |
Jared Dudley | 64 | 7 | 21.3 | .454 | .379 | .662 | 3.5 | 1.9 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 6.8 |
Jarell Eddie* | 5 | 0 | 12.4 | .316 | .250 | .889 | 1.4 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 4.8 |
John Jenkins* | 4 | 0 | 3.3 | .400 | .500 | .800 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.8 |
Derrick Jones Jr. | 32 | 8 | 17.0 | .562 | .273 | .707 | 2.5 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 5.3 |
Brandon Knight* | 54 | 5 | 21.1 | .398 | .324 | .857 | 2.2 | 2.4 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 11.0 |
Oleksiy "Alex" Len | 77 | 34 | 20.3 | .497 | .250 | .721 | 6.6 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 1.3 | 8.0 |
Elijah Millsap* | 2 | 0 | 11.5 | .143 | .000 | .500 | 3.0 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.5 |
Ronnie Price | 14 | 0 | 9.6 | .167 | .176 | .750 | 0.8 | 1.3 | 1.2 | 0.2 | 1.0 |
P. J. Tucker* | 57 | 17 | 28.5 | .415 | .338 | .792 | 6.0 | 1.3 | 0.8 | 0.1 | 7.0 |
Tyler Ulis | 61 | 15 | 18.4 | .421 | .266 | .775 | 1.6 | 3.7 | 0.8 | 0.1 | 7.3 |
T. J. Warren | 66 | 59 | 31.0 | .495 | .263 | .773 | 5.1 | 1.1 | 1.2 | 0.6 | 14.4 |
Alan Williams | 47 | 0 | 15.1 | .517 | .000 | .625 | 6.2 | 0.5 | 0.6 | 0.7 | 7.4 |
* – Stats with the Suns
Player | Duration | Reason for Missed Time | Games Missed | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Start | End | |||
Devin Booker | October 31, 2016 | November 2, 2016 | Sprained right big toe during the first road Oklahoma City game. | 1 |
Derrick Jones Jr. | November 3, 2016 | November 19, 2016 | Assigned to the Northern Arizona Suns by Phoenix. | 8 |
Tyson Chandler | November 8, 2016 | November 16, 2016 | His mother, Vernie Re Threadgill, had died. | 4 |
Tyson Chandler | November 18, 2016 | November 25, 2016 | Attended funeral services for his mother. | 4 |
T. J. Warren | November 19, 2016 | December 17, 2016 | Got a concussion during the road Indiana game. | 13 |
Derrick Jones Jr. | November 25, 2016 | December 15, 2016 | Assigned to the Northern Arizona Suns by Phoenix. | 9 |
Jared Dudley | November 27, 2016 | November 30, 2016 | Hurt left foot during practice. | 1 |
Alex Len | December 13, 2016 | December 17, 2016 | Had a right hip contusion. | 2 |
Derrick Jones Jr. | December 23, 2016 | January 30, 2017 | Assigned to the Northern Arizona Suns multiple times by Phoenix. | 18 |
Brandon Knight | January 3, 2017 | January 5, 2017 | Sprained his right wrist during the second road L.A. Clippers game. | 1 |
Brandon Knight | January 14, 2017 | January 19, 2017 | Hurt calf & got tendinitis after the first Mexico City game. | 2 |
Tyson Chandler | January 16, 2017 | January 19, 2017 | Encountered gastroenteritis after the second Mexico City game. | 1 |
Jared Dudley | January 16, 2017 | January 26, 2017 | Had some flu-like symptoms before the first home Utah game. | 5 |
Dragan Bender | January 24, 2017 | February 1, 2017 | Twisted right ankle during the road Toronto game. | 4 |
Dragan Bender | February 3, 2017 | April 2, 2017 | Had a contusion on his right ankle against the L.A. Clippers. | 28 |
Alex Len | February 10, 2017 | February 11, 2017 | Suspended for a late-game altercation against Memphis. | 1 |
Tyson Chandler | February 11, 2017 | February 13, 2017 | Twisted right ankle during the second quarter at home against Chicago. | 1 |
Eric Bledsoe | February 11, 2017 | February 13, 2017 | Rest from a back-to-back night between Chicago at home and Houston. | 1 |
Brandon Knight | February 24, 2017 | The Entire Season | Recorded continuous back spasms after the All-Star Weekend was done. | 26 |
Alex Len | March 11, 2017 | March 15, 2017 | Got a right hip contusion after last game against the L.A. Lakers. | 2 |
Eric Bledsoe | March 15, 2017 | The Entire Season | Held a bruised right tendon. | 15 |
Leandro Barbosa | March 17, 2017 | March 21, 2017 | Had an illness after their second home game against Sacramento. | 2 |
Devin Booker | March 19, 2017 | March 21, 2017 | Got a sprained ankle during their home game against Orlando. | 1 |
Ronnie Price | March 19, 2017 | March 28, 2017 | Got a lower left leg contusion. | 5 |
Alan Williams | March 21, 2017 | March 23, 2017 | Encountered gastroenteritis after the road Detroit game. | 1 |
T. J. Warren | March 23, 2017 | March 26, 2017 | Had a left foot contusion after the road Miami game. | 2 |
Devin Booker | March 28, 2017 | March 30, 2017 | Got an aggravated ankle during the road Charlotte game. | 1 |
T. J. Warren | April 2, 2017 | April 5, 2017 | Got an illness before beginning the last Houston home game. | 1 |
Leandro Barbosa | April 2, 2017 | The Entire Season | Got right hamstring spasms before beginning the last Houston home game. | 5 |
Jared Dudley | April 11, 2017 | April 11, 2017 | Hurt left toe / ligament after the last home game against Dallas. | 1 |
Devin Booker | April 11, 2017 | April 11, 2017 | Rest up his body against Sacramento. | 1 |
June 23, 2016 | To
Phoenix Suns
|
To
Sacramento Kings
|
February 23, 2017 | Three–team trade | |
To
Phoenix Suns
|
To
Atlanta Hawks
| |
To
Toronto Raptors
|
Player | Signed | Former team |
---|---|---|
Jared Dudley | Signed 3-year deal worth $30 Million | Washington Wizards |
Leandro Barbosa | Signed 2-year deal worth $8 Million | Golden State Warriors |
Derrick Jones Jr. | Signed 3-year non-guaranteed deal worth $2.5 Million [a] | University of Nevada, Las Vegas Runnin' Rebels [b] |
Ronnie Price | Signed two 10-day contracts / 1-year deal worth $693,682 [c] | Oklahoma City Thunder / Phoenix Suns [d] |
Jarell Eddie | Signed two 10-day contracts worth $102,898 | Windy City Bulls |
Elijah Millsap | Signed 2-year non-guaranteed deal worth $1,547,374 [e] | Northern Arizona Suns |
^ a: The deal for
Derrick Jones Jr. that was originally signed with the Suns after making it through training camp had him enter a non-guaranteed three year deal, similar to that of his former teammate,
John Jenkins. However, unlike his former teammate, Derrick would end up guaranteeing at least his first season with the Suns (which was worth $543,471) on January 7, 2017 after providing some very promising efforts during his time in the
D-League with their affiliate squad, the
Northern Arizona Suns. His second year still allows him the chance to earn $905,249 guaranteed next year, while his third year allows him to earn $1,050,252 if he makes it that long. Furthermore, there's also a team option that allows him to stay for one extra year on the team, assuming he makes it to that point, for an extra $1,126,220.
^ b:
Derrick Jones Jr. originally declared for the
2016 NBA draft similar to the team's other rookies like
Dragan Bender,
Marquese Chriss, and
Tyler Ulis, but he was ultimately undrafted due to his lesser recognition at the
University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He also first tried to play for the
Sacramento Kings during the
2016 NBA Summer League, but due to an injury he had earlier on at that point, he could not play a single game with them during that time.
^ c:
Ronnie Price first signed a couple of 10-day contracts with the Suns after failing to find a new team to play with as a result of a failed preseason stint with his former team (at that point in time), the
Oklahoma City Thunder. Each of those contracts were worth $91,274 at that time, which amounted to a total of $182,548 by that point. However, Ronnie would ultimately sign a one year deal with the team for the rest of the season on February 24, 2017 due to a combination of having him remain a positive influence on the younger players and providing some solid efforts on the court all-around. In addition to that, there was also hints of Price potentially accepting an assistant coach job with the Suns after this season ended, primarily on head coach
Earl Watson's end, although Ronnie later noted that he still had a desire to play in the NBA.
^ d: Originally,
Ronnie Price signed a two year deal worth $5,000,000 to play as a primary back-up point guard for
Russell Westbrook and the
Oklahoma City Thunder on July 25, 2016. However, despite having his deal be fully guaranteed at the time, Price was ultimately waived from the team on October 27, 2016 before even having a chance to play in the regular season for them. Because of that brief stint in the pre-season, most media outlets look to merge Price's previous season with the
Phoenix Suns with the current one at hand and say he didn't truly leave the Suns during that point in time, even though he only officially returned to the team on January 27, 2017.
^ e: Because
Elijah Millsap signed with the
Phoenix Suns at such a late point in the regular season (April 9, 2017), he was ultimately signed to a non-guaranteed two year deal with the Phoenix Suns after the consistently good work he provided for their
D-League squad, the
Northern Arizona Suns. What that means is that even though his first "year" with the Suns was guaranteed money for Elijah (at a total of $23,069), his second year with them isn't fully guaranteed until January 7, 2018 in the event he remains with the team by then.
Player | Reason left | New team |
---|---|---|
Bogdan Bogdanović | Traded [f] |
Sacramento Kings /
![]() |
Mirza Teletović | Unrestricted free agent | Milwaukee Bucks |
Jon Leuer | Unrestricted free agent | Detroit Pistons |
Ronnie Price | Unrestricted free agent | Oklahoma City Thunder / Phoenix Suns [d] |
Chase Budinger | Unrestricted free agent |
Brooklyn Nets /
![]() |
Alec Brown | Waived / Traded [i] |
Northern Arizona Suns /
Windy City Bulls /
![]() |
Archie Goodwin | Waived [k] | New Orleans Pelicans / Greensboro Swarm / Brooklyn Nets [l] |
John Jenkins | Waived [m] | Westchester Knicks |
P. J. Tucker | Traded |
![]() |
Mike Scott | Waived [n] | Washington Wizards [o] |
Jared Sullinger | Waived [n] |
![]() |
Jarell Eddie | Second 10-day contract expired | Windy City Bulls / Boston Celtics / Chicago Bulls [p] |
^ f: While
Bogdan Bogdanović never played for the
Phoenix Suns; his refusal to sign with the team when he was first given the chance to was what ultimately caused him to get traded to the
Sacramento Kings on the night of the
2016 NBA draft, where his draft rights went alongside Pick 13 (who became the Greek center
Georgios Papagiannis), Pick 28 (who was Haitian center/power forward
Skal Labissière from the
University of Kentucky), and the
Detroit Pistons' 2020 second round draft pick (which eventually became
Xavier Tillman) out to Sacramento in exchange for the Kings' 8th pick of the draft, which was power forward
Marquese Chriss.
^ g: Even though
Bogdan Bogdanović's draft rights were traded to the
Sacramento Kings, he ultimately made the decision to remain with his then-current international squad,
Fenerbahçe (Ülker), a few days before the
2016 NBA draft began, for the purpose of helping the
Turkish squad win their first ever
EuroLeague championship.
^ h:
Chase Budinger originally signed a (non-guaranteed) deal to play for the
Brooklyn Nets on September 21, 2016. However, much like with
Ronnie Price during his brief stint with the
Oklahoma City Thunder, Chase Budinger would ultimately not get picked up by Brooklyn for the regular season, although his decision was confirmed on October 18, 2016 instead. After being waived by the Nets, Chase would sign a one year deal with the
Club Deportivo Saski-Baskonia, S.A.D. out in
Spain on October 27, 2016.
^ i: Even though
Alec Brown never played an official game with the
Phoenix Suns, according to some sources, Brown was signed up for a training camp deal on September 14, 2016 for an apparent purpose of retaining his draft rights with the team. However, while he was waived from the team just three days after his original training camp contract came and went for that original purpose of retaining his draft rights, those rights were ultimately traded away to the
Windy City Bulls on September 19, 2017.
^ j: While
Alec Brown never originally played for the
Northern Arizona Suns (having previously just played for the
Obradoiro Clube de Amigos do Baloncesto out in
Spain a season prior), he was originally projected to play for them there after having his contract waived by their parent organization. However, his rights would be traded away to the newly formed
Windy City Bulls
D-League franchise, who are a child organization to the parent
Chicago Bulls franchise. Brown would continue playing for the
Windy City Bulls until the end of their season on April 6, 2017, where he later signed up for the
Movistar Estudiantes, S.A.D. in
Spain for the rest of the season soon afterwards.
^ k: While
Archie Goodwin was ultimately waived by the
Phoenix Suns on October 24, 2016 after their pre-season concluded, he originally asked general manager
Ryan McDonough to be traded during the pre-season if it was at all possible for him. However, the Suns didn't find any good offers for Archie whatsoever, and they were unfortunately forced to waive him over players like
John Jenkins and
Derrick Jones Jr. instead, despite providing some better results than either player (especially John Jenkins) during the pre-season.
^ l: Originally,
Archie Goodwin signed a deal to play with the struggling
New Orleans Pelicans on November 7, 2016, after starting out the season with a surprisingly poor record. However, after only playing three games with the Pelicans, Goodwin was waived by them thirteen days later on November 20. After that, Goodwin was forced to play out in the
D-League under yet another expansion squad, the
Greensboro Swarm (a child organization of the parent
Charlotte Hornets franchise), ten days later on November 30. He would continue to play for Greensboro until March 15, 2017, where he originally signed a 10-day contract with the
Brooklyn Nets. After showcasing his worth to them (to the point of having them considerably improve themselves later on in the season, albeit not enough to have the worst record that season), he signed another 10-day contract with them on March 25 before having a two year deal on April 5, 2017 confirmed with the Nets.
^ m: Even though
John Jenkins was waived on January 6, 2017 after failing to showcase any significant value or worth for the team in any way, Jenkins was partially guaranteed $525,481 throughout the season he was with the team thanks to a previous three year contract he signed with the team giving out partial guarantees after staying with Phoenix beyond his first season with the squad.
^ n: Both
Jared Sullinger and
Mike Scott never played a single game with the Suns thanks to them being waived for salary purposes relating to the respective trades they were both involved with, between
Jared Sullinger being given to the Suns alongside two second round draft picks in 2017 & 2018 and $1,000,000 in a traded player exception in exchange for
P. J. Tucker going back to his original NBA team, the
Toronto Raptors, and
Mike Scott going to the team was originally projected to draft him before the
Josh Childress trade came and went alongside the draft rights to Turkish shooting guard
Cenk Akyol and $500,000 via another traded player exception in exchange for a second round pick this year that ultimately would not be going to the
Atlanta Hawks due to their own second round pick being top 55 protected this year. Both players were primarily involved with helping the team get above the salary floor before the end of the season.
^ o: Neither
Jared Sullinger nor
Mike Scott managed to sign up with a new team after being waived by the Suns this season. In the case of Mike Scott, it related to him dealing with a court case involving him and his brother, which went on until May 3, 2017, where both him and his brother were cleared due to there being
racial profiling involved with that case.
Mike Scott would sign up with the
Washington Wizards on the
Fourth of July in 2017, while
Jared Sullinger ultimately went to
China to play for the
Shenzhen New Century Leopards on September 12, 2017.
^ p: As a result of signing with the
Phoenix Suns so late into the season,
Jarell Eddie did not find a new team to play with after ending his season with them early on April 7, 2017. He would be without a team to play for until September 12, 2017, where he got a training camp deal with the
Chicago Bulls. He would later be off of the team on October 16, 2017 (one day before the upcoming season began) with Chicago signing
Kay Felder that day before returning to Chicago's affiliate team, the
Windy City Bulls, on October 24, 2017. He would remain in the Windy City until January 20, 2018, where he would sign a 10-day contract with the
Boston Celtics. However, he would return to the Windy City Bulls on January 30 after his 10 day contract in Boston expired, which ultimately led to Eddie going to the
Chicago Bulls on February 28, 2018 with their own 10-day contract for him.
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|
2016–17 Phoenix Suns season | |
---|---|
Head coach | Earl Watson |
General manager | Ryan McDonough |
Owners | Robert Sarver |
Arena | Talking Stick Resort Arena |
Results | |
Record | 24–58 (.293) |
Place | Division: 5th (
Pacific) Conference: 15th ( Western) |
Playoff finish | Did not qualify |
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com | |
Local media | |
Television | Fox Sports Arizona |
Radio | KTAR |
The 2016–17 NBA season was the Phoenix Suns' 49th season in the NBA [1] and their 24th season in the Talking Stick Resort Arena. It was also the first season with a team-owned D-League affiliate, called the Northern Arizona Suns, which relocated to the nearby Prescott Valley. The Suns failed to qualify for the playoffs for the seventh straight season.
This season featured a remarkable performance from sophomore Devin Booker who scored 70 points during a game vs. the Boston Celtics in March 2017, becoming the youngest NBA player to do so at the age of 20.
Round | Pick | Player | Position(s) | Nationality(-ies) | College / Club |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 4 | Dragan Bender | Forward/center | ![]() ![]() |
![]() |
1 | 8 | Marquese Chriss | Forward/center | ![]() |
Washington |
2 | 34 | Tyler Ulis | Point Guard | ![]() |
Kentucky |
The Phoenix Suns would once again enter the draft with three first-round picks and one second round pick this season, tying the 2013–14 season for the most first round selections the team has ever had. They own their first selection in the first round, which was at the original Pick 4 and is now the highest selection they'd ever have since 1987, while their second first-round pick (which was stuck in Pick 13 for the fourth time in six years) was had by the February 18, 2016 trade deadline with the Washington Wizards trading it away to them (similar to what happened in the 2014 NBA draft) along with the temporary additions of power forward/centers DeJuan Blair and Kris Humphries in exchange for removing Markieff Morris from the team due to his incessant demands of wanting out of the team after an earlier trade involving his twin brother, Marcus Morris, occurred on July 2, 2015. The Suns would be the only team this season to hold multiple NBA Draft lottery selections because of it. Not only that, but the Suns also got their third first round selection at Pick 28 from the newly defending champion Cleveland Cavaliers due to an earlier trade involving the Boston Celtics, where they got the Cleveland Cavaliers' first round draft pick that Boston acquired in an earlier trade alongside the also-temporary addition of Marcus Thornton in exchange for Isaiah Thomas. The lone second round pick they have is also the pick they had on their own accord in spite of having a continuously declining record (done in by injuries and other turmoil involving the team placed throughout last season, which included the aforementioned trade that Markieff Morris demanded during that season) in the process. The Suns had also initially planned to get the Minnesota Timberwolves' second round selection for this year (which would have been Rade Zagorac at Pick 35 this year), but traded it away in a different trade with the Boston Celtics (back when it was still considered to be a first round draft pick) in order to get Brandan Wright on the team under the same season they first acquired Isaiah Thomas. Furthermore, there was still the projection that the Los Angeles Lakers' first-round pick that had belonged to the Suns before the 2014–15 season came and went originally planned to convey itself for the draft in 2016, but they ultimately didn't due to lottery protections allowing the Lakers to keep their pick (which was Brandon Ingram at Pick 2) for another season.
With the fourth pick of the draft, Phoenix would select the Bosnian-born Croatian power forward/center Dragan Bender from Maccabi Tel Aviv in Israel. During his time with Maccabi Tel Aviv, Bender would hold many different averages due to playing in multiple European competitions the previous season. Most notably, Bender would average 5.4 points, 2.7 rebounds, 0.8 assists, 0.8 blocks, and 0.6 steals per game in Israel in 13.8 minutes of play off the bench during his second season with what was considered a star-studded team in Maccabi Tel Aviv, with him putting up 2.1 points, 1.4 rebounds, 0.6 assists, 0.4 blocks, and 0.3 steals per game in the Euroleague with 10.6 minutes of similar play off the bench. However, he'd also be an Israeli League Cup champion for his team in 2015, a two-time Israeli State Cup champion for his team, and he'd also be an Israeli All-Star in 2016. He would be signed with the Suns this season instead of becoming a draft-and-stash candidate for the team this season, thus becoming the newest, youngest draft player the Suns have ever taken in the draft, ahead of last year's first round draft pick, Devin Booker. He'd also be the youngest Suns player in franchise history ahead of Maciej Lampe, a player that made his NBA debut with the Suns at around 18 years old himself, although Lampe was drafted at a much younger time during the 2003 NBA draft by the New York Knicks himself.
After the fourth selection came and went, the Suns would make a trade involving the Sacramento Kings where they'd trade their 13th and 28th selections (which would be Greek center Georgios Papagiannis at Pick 13 and a Haitian power forward/center from the University of Kentucky in Skal Labissière at Pick 28 respectively), the draft rights for Bogdan Bogdanović, and the 2020 second round draft pick they acquired from the Detroit Pistons due to an earlier trade involving Marcus Morris and the Kings would select Marquese Chriss from the University of Washington for them with the eighth pick of the draft. During his only season at Washington, Chriss would average 13.8 points, 5.4 rebounds, 1.6 blocks, 0.9 steals, and 0.8 assists in 24.9 minutes of action, with him breaking the university's freshman record for the most blocks in their first season and being mentioned as an honorable mention for the All-Pac-12 Freshman Team. It would also be revealed later on that Phoenix was neck-and-neck between the two power forwards/centers before the trade, with Phoenix deciding to go for Dragan first due to the fact that he was more likely to be selected by a team like the Minnesota Timberwolves, the New Orleans Pelicans, or the Denver Nuggets instead of Sacramento if he fell than Marquese did, [5] although the Suns figured either choice would have given them both power forwards with Jaylen Brown being selected by Boston at Pick 3 and the next three teams likely wanting players that were guards anyway. [6]
Finally, with the thirty-fourth pick of the draft, the Suns selected Tyler Ulis from the University of Kentucky. In his two seasons with Kentucky (one of which being spent on the bench alongside Phoenix's 2015 first round selection Devin Booker), Ulis averaged 11.3 points, 5.3 assists, 2.4 rebounds, and 1.2 steals per game with the Wildcats, also being a part of the SEC All-Freshman Team for 2015 similar to Devin. However, his sophomore season would provide a major jump for Ulis, recording 17.3 points, 7 assists, 3 rebounds, and 1.5 steals per game for Kentucky, which resulted in many honors for him in his second and final season with the team, ranging from the SEC Tournament's MVP and All-SEC First Team to the SEC Player of the Year and the SEC Defensive Player of the Year (with him also being the second guy in the SEC behind Anthony Davis to earn those two honors in the same season) to even gaining major honors and awards with the Bob Cousy Award and being a part of the consensus All-American First Team for 2016. Another player that had declared for the 2016 NBA draft, but ultimately wasn't selected around the time was Derrick Jones Jr., an athletic freshman small forward from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas who only played for one season because of a controversy revolving around his ACT test score he had back in Baltimore, Maryland.
Players Mirza Teletović, Jon Leuer, and Chase Budinger, as well as the returning Ronnie Price all became unrestricted free agents as of the end of the 2015–16 NBA season. In addition, both power forward/center Alan Williams and shooting guard John Jenkins also had player options that could potentially make themselves unrestricted free agents as well, so long as the team ended up declining their player options before September 1 and October 24 respectively. Furthermore, former starting small forward P. J. Tucker also has a player option for this season as well, but he would end up accepting his option before the free agency period began. With Alan Williams, he was considered very likely to have his contract guaranteed considering his All-NBA Summer League First Team worthy performance during his time in Las Vegas this season, according to a statement that general manager Ryan McDonough made about him on July 24, 2016. His deal would be made official, though, on September 1, 2016, when he did get his second year fully guaranteed by the Suns officially. Meanwhile, John Jenkins originally held his player option for the team to decide upon around July 11. However, both Jenkins and the Suns agreed to extend their option before the beginning of the regular season, which was mainly dependent on circumstances at hand involving not just Jenkins, but the team as well. At the end of the day, though, the Suns also decided to keep John Jenkins on October 24, 2016, despite not performing so well in the preseason due to not just potential trade purposes, but also the fact that his second and third years on his contract with the team were still non-guaranteed years for Jenkins (especially his third year, with his second year remaining non-guaranteed until the league-wide deadline on January 6, 2017), as well as his own shooting abilities he displayed during last season. The Suns also planned to convince their 27th pick from the 2014 NBA draft, Bogdan Bogdanović, to leave his current team in Fenerbahçe (Ülker) from Turkey to play in the NBA early before the salary he gets from the team rises exponentially next season due to him no longer being bound to the rookie-scale deal. However, it was later confirmed before the 2016 NBA draft began that Bogdan would end up staying with his current team in Turkey for at least one more season. In the end, though, that decision would get him traded to the Sacramento Kings alongside their 13th and 28th picks and the Detroit Pistons' 2020 second round pick for the draft rights of power forward Marquese Chriss.
At the beginning of free agency, the Suns got back shooting guard/small forward Jared Dudley, a player who had previously played with Phoenix from 2008 to 2013 (including the team's last playoff run in 2010), on a 3-year deal worth $30 million. However, they'd also lose power forward Mirza Teletović to the Milwaukee Bucks earlier in the day, who was worth exactly the same amount as well. With that said, Dudley sees his second stint with the Suns as him being a stretch power forward instead. [7] He also wants to help bring back the same sort of atmosphere the team held back in their 2009–10 season again. [8] A day after that, the Suns would let their other power forward they had last season, Jon Leuer, leave on a 4-year deal worth $42 million for the Detroit Pistons. On July 6, it would be announced that another former Suns player from the Seven Seconds Or Less era of Suns teams would return with the Suns in combo guard Leandro Barbosa, a player who was with the team twice from 2003 to 2010 and 2014, coming back again (this time from the previously 2015 NBA Finals champion and 73–9 Golden State Warriors (with Golden State winning the 2017 NBA Finals in downright dominant fashion)) on a 2-year deal worth $8 million this time around. The signing would be official on July 19, which was over two weeks before he'd begin playing for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro for his home nation of Brazil. Six days later, it was announced that Ronnie Price would sign a 2-year deal worth $5 million with the Oklahoma City Thunder due to the combination of Phoenix re-signing Leandro Barbosa again and drafting Tyler Ulis in the second round, although Price's signing wouldn't be official until August 13. Coach Earl Watson also hinted that Ronnie Price could also return to Phoenix (under the guise of an assistant head coach for the staff at the time) when the time is right for him to do that. Finally, Chase Budinger would sign a non-guaranteed deal to try his luck at signing an official, regular season deal with the Brooklyn Nets on September 21, 2016, although his signing wouldn't be ready until five days later. However, he would ultimately be waived by the Nets about a month later on October 18, 2016. Almost a week afterwards, Ronnie Price would be waived by the Oklahoma City Thunder on October 24, 2016, despite the fact that his two-year deal with the Thunder was fully guaranteed. Chase Budinger would sign with the Saski Baskonia in Spain for the rest of the season on October 27, 2016, while Ronnie Price would not sign up with another team until January 27, 2017.
On August 20, 2016, the Suns were projected to sign a D-League affiliate point guard (who had previously played for the Bakersfield Jam before the location and team name change) named Askia Booker (who is not related to Devin Booker) to a non-guaranteed training camp deal after a strong enough performance he showcased for the team during the Summer League. However, instead of signing Askia Booker, the team would sign up former Nevada–Las Vegas Runnin' Rebels freshman small forward Derrick Jones Jr. to a deal on September 13, 2016, with the move almost feeling like a sign for the Suns before T. J. Warren officially announced his return to action, yet P. J. Tucker would announce he'd (likely) be out for the start of the regular season this time around. A day later, the Suns also signed 2014 second round pick Alec Brown to a non-guaranteed deal as well. Furthermore, the team would also have the likes of Hapoel Holon forward Mike Moser and Tulsa Golden Hurricane guard Shaquille Harrison joined the training camp squad alongside both Alec Brown and Derrick Jones Jr. just another day later. Two days after that, though, the Suns decided to waive Alec Brown in order to retain his draft rights, although they would later on trade him and remove his draft rights via their new Northern Arizona Suns D-League affiliate squad on October 29, 2016, to a new D-League expansion squad known as the Windy City Bulls well over a month later. On September 25, 2016, instead of having the likes of Mike Moser joining Derrick Jones Jr. and Shaquille Harrison due to a health issue, the team would also include Olympique Antibes Sharks center Gracin Bakumanya (the only international underclassman that didn't play in college to be undrafted this year) and D-League affiliate power forward Derek Cooke Jr. (who also had a satisfying enough performance in the Summer League) as their official training camp invitees. However, none of Shaquille Harrison, Gracin Bakumanya, nor Derek Cooke Jr. would play a single game for Phoenix in the preseason, as they'd all be waived on October 10. The only invited player that did get some preseason action, Derrick Jones Jr. (who was an undrafted 19 year old small forward), not only wound up getting one of the last roster spots with the Suns, but he also took over a spot on the roster over the currently more established shooting guard in Archie Goodwin, who not only spent three full seasons with the team as it was, but also had guaranteed money over both Derrick Jones Jr. and John Jenkins to boot. It also meant that with Derrick Jones Jr. on the roster, the Suns would enter the season with four rookies on their roster after all, with four of their players also being teenagers to start out the regular season. It was later on confirmed that Archie Goodwin did request a trade out by the Phoenix Suns in a respectful manner before the end of the pre-season, but the team unfortunately couldn't find a good deal for him on time. All three of the original, non-guaranteed deals that did not stay with the Phoenix Suns (as well as Askia Booker) would soon find themselves as a part of the nearby Northern Arizona Suns D-League affiliate team, while Archie Goodwin would sign a two-year deal with the New Orleans Pelicans on November 6, 2016, although he'd only last until November 20 that same year before playing for the newly formed Greensboro Swarm D-League team ten days later until March 15, 2017, where he'd sign a two-year deal for the Brooklyn Nets after signing two 10-day contracts with them.
On January 6, 2017, after agreeing to keep John Jenkins during the start of the season, the team officially announced that Jenkins would no longer be on the team anymore, and that his remaining two years on his deal (or rather, one and a half year due to his half-season with the Suns being guaranteed money by that point) would be fully waived off of their salary. This decision came after the notion that he only played four games this season (22 the previous one) and didn't perform well at all during that time. It also held the purpose of opening up a roster spot for any possible trades the Suns could make between then and the trade deadline involving a veteran like P. J. Tucker. His contract that year would have been fully guaranteed otherwise had he stayed with the team after that point. On the other hand, the contract Derrick Jones Jr. signed would be fully guaranteed a day later himself due to his contract originally being non-guaranteed at the time. On January 27, 2017, it was announced that Ronnie Price would return with the Suns for his third stint with the squad (although due to him not playing official, regular season games for the Thunder or anyone else before that point, it's still technically considered a part of his second stint instead), as he would sign a 10-day contract with the team during that point. John Jenkins would sign up to play for the Westchester Knicks in the D-League on February 3, while Ronnie Price would sign a second 10-day contract three days later. Finally, on February 23, the Suns would trade away a Top-55 protected second round pick in order to get themselves small forward Mike Scott (a player that Atlanta had acquired in Phoenix's 2010 sign-and-trade for Josh Childress), the draft rights to Turkish shooting guard Cenk Akyol, and $500,000 in cash considerations from the Atlanta Hawks, as well as trade fan-favorite small/power forward (and the last consistent remnant of the Lance Blanks era) P. J. Tucker to his original NBA team, the Toronto Raptors, for power forward/center Jared Sullinger, both their 2017 & 2018 second round draft picks, and extra cash considerations worth $1,000,000 from them. However, neither Jared Sullinger nor Mike Scott would play for the Suns this season, with them both being waived for salary cap purposes and instead would allow Ronnie Price to sign a one-year contract to stay for the rest of the year as a player. The Suns would also provide Jarell Eddie two 10-day contracts on March 19, 2017, and March 29, 2017, before ultimately signing a D-League player from their own affiliate squad, Elijah Millsap of the Northern Arizona Suns, to a multi-year deal on April 9, 2017.
The Suns had initially planned to start a coaching search after their previous season ended. Some of the candidates that were linked to the Suns at the time as potential new candidates included Luke Walton, Mike D'Antoni, Jay Wright, and Dan Majerle, just to name a few examples. However, because of overwhelmingly positive support from both the team's players and the front office alike (which included an improved performance throughout the last two months of the season, even with major injuries to Eric Bledsoe, T. J. Warren, and later Brandon Knight in mind), Earl Watson would earn his new three-year deal worth $7.5 million to become the full-time head coach for the Suns, effective as of April 19, 2016. [9] [10] During Earl's re-introduction conference as full-time head coach, fellow players (at the time) Devin Booker, Brandon Knight, Mirza Teletović, and Ronnie Price all showed up to the event in support of the move, with the rest of the roster (at that time) also expressing profound support of it. On May 5, 2016 (exactly the same day Senior Adviser Lon Babby resigned from his duties with the team), three assistant coaches the team had throughout last season in former Phoenix Mercury head coach Corey Gaines, replacement assistant coach Bob Hill, and player development assistant coach Irving Roland would not have their contracts renewed after the season the team had last season, with Chris Darnell taking up the absent player development role led by Irving until further notice. [11] That left with only assistant coach Nate Bjorkgren and player development coach Jason Fraser as the only assistant coaches/player development coaches left from last season's debacle. Watson later told people that the assistant coaches he's got that he wants them to join him by sitting next to him or moving on to lead their own program somewhere else later on down the line.
On May 18, a day after the 2016 NBA Draft Lottery ended with everyone remaining exactly where they were at all this time, the Suns hired the Canadian Portland Trail Blazers' assistant coach Jay Triano into being the team's official associate head coach for Earl Watson on a three-year deal of his own. [12] [13] On June 25, two days after the 2016 NBA draft ended, the Phoenix Suns announced that one of its former players, Tyrone Corbin, would be a new assistant coach for Earl Watson's staff. During the 2016 NBA Summer League, it was announced that both Bret Burchard and Scott Vaughan would be assistant head coaches for the Suns throughout the event. [14] On July 7, 2016, the Suns would add an old college assistant coach named Scott Duncan to their team as a player development assistant. Duncan was previously an assistant coach for various Division I campuses in the NCAA since 1978, ranging from coach Watson's campus at UCLA and Oregon to Clemson and Washington State, with Northern Illinois, Fresno State, New Mexico, and Cleveland State all holding him around at one point or another, with his most recent tenure being a part of the University of Montana as an associate head coach for six straight seasons. Later on that month, on July 27, it was announced that the Suns would be close to completing their coaching staff by having a former college teammate of Steve Nash, as well as a former NBA player and video coordinator and player development coach for the San Antonio Spurs named Marlon Garnett join the team as both an assistant head coach and a player development coach similar to what current assistant head coach Nate Bjorkgren held last year under former head coach Jeff Hornacek before the first coaching shake-up of last season left Nate exclusively as an assistant coach only. Finally, on September 13, it was announced that the team had a last-minute addition to their player development staff with former 2004 NBA Finals champion and All-Star Mehmet Okur joining the team as an official player development coach, thus becoming the first Turkish born citizen to enter an NBA coaching staff in some way. It was a move to bring some extra help for the Suns' young big men, especially the Suns' first round rookies this season in Dragan Bender and Marquese Chriss. More specifically, it was done to have the players learn how to do moves in the post and utilize those moves properly. Both Triano and Okur would mark the first time a team had two or more foreign born coaches being a part of the same NBA coaching staff, although it wouldn't mark the first time the team had an international coach altogether.
Two weeks after announcing that Earl Watson would be the full-time coach of the Suns, former president of basketball operations and senior adviser Lon Babby announced his resignation from his duties with the team after his six-year tenure with the Suns. [15] At the same time, assistant video coordinator Ross Geiger did not get his contract renewed. On July 27, 2016, it was announced that in addition to retaining Chris Darnell as their head video coordinator, the Suns got former Long Beach State University, St. John's University, California State Fullerton University, and Los Angeles Clippers video coordinator Jason Tilton and former video coordinator for the San Antonio Spurs and Team U.S.A., as well as video intern for last season's 73–9 Golden State Warriors Julian Mills as the team's newest assistant video coordinators with former Campbell University, Southeastern Louisiana University, North Carolina University, and Michigan State University athletic trainer Quinton Sawyer joining as the team's assistant athletic trainer and sports science coordinator. Then, on September 13, 2016, alongside the new addition of former NBA Finals champion and All-Star Mehmet Okur to the coaching staff for a player development role, it was announced that former Minnesota Timberwolves, Washington Wizards, and Detroit Pistons scout Jason Hervey (not to be confused with the actor) would join the Suns as an advanced scout.
Players | Coaches | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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|
Player | 2016–17 Salary |
---|---|
Eric Bledsoe | $14,000,000 |
Brandon Knight | $12,606,250 |
Tyson Chandler | $12,415,000 |
Jared Dudley | $10,470,000 |
Oleksiy "Alex" Len | $4,823,621 |
Dragan Bender | $4,276,320 |
Leandro Barbosa | $4,000,000 |
Marquese Chriss | $2,941,440 |
Devin Booker | $2,148,360 |
T. J. Warren | $2,128,920 |
Tyler Ulis | $918,369 |
Alan Williams | $874,636 |
Ronnie Price | $693,682 |
Derrick Jones Jr. | $543,471 |
Elijah Millsap | $23,069 |
Total | $77,140,018 |
Once again, the Suns would be forced to pay the remaining salary they originally had left for Michael Beasley under this season due to the buyout the Suns did on September 3, 2013, which was $777,778. However, this would actually be done as the team's official last year for payment for him since, similar to the amnesty of Josh Childress beforehand, they would no longer have to pay him again after his value is fully paid off. Not only that, but former Suns player Kris Humphries would have the salary of his previous contract he had during his short stint there be paid out throughout this season (which would total out to $4,630,000) due to the stipulations of him being waived on February 27, 2016. Furthermore, the Suns would wind up releasing Archie Goodwin before the start of this season, which means that currently, the Suns will also pay Archie Goodwin the rest of his salary this season (which was around $2,094,089) to essentially not play for them anymore. The Suns would also pay out half of John Jenkins' salary that they had throughout his time with the team (which would be half of $1,050,961), but the rest for the next year and the half they would have paid out for Jenkins after January 6, 2017, would no longer be paid out to him from here on out. Not only that, but by waiving the contracts of both Jared Sullinger and Mike Scott (who both have deals reaching $5,628,000 and $3,333,334 respectively that expire after the end of this season), as well as gain an extra $1,500,000 received from both of those respective deals at hand ($1,000,000 of which came from Toronto, while $500,000 would come from Atlanta), the Suns would have enough money to reach the minimum salary cap space needed to satisfy the NBA salary floor after signing Ronnie Price for the rest of the season at a grand total of $693,682 on February 23, 2017. [16]
For the second straight season, the Suns would start out their season by having six pre-season games to play under before the regular season began. Oddly enough, this time around, they'd start the preseason really early, only to have their biggest gap come for an entire week between their last home game of the preseason in Arizona against Dallas and the last official home game out in Anaheim against the L.A. Lakers. The reality is this season is the first season where a new system decided how the schedule will be done for every team in the league, and due to the new Collective Bargaining Agreement that was updated in 2017, the pre-season is going to be shortened as well after this season. The Suns would also actually be the very first opponent of the San Antonio Spurs without having Tim Duncan around playing for the team there whatsoever since he first arrived in the late 1990s. They would win their game by a score of 91–86 with their starting line-up being Eric Bledsoe, Devin Booker, T. J. Warren, Jared Dudley, and Tyson Chandler, which would also be their starting lineup for at least the start of the regular season. However, the Suns would lose two straight close matches before staging their biggest comeback in pre-season history, going from a 30-point deficit to winning their road match against the Utah Jazz with the final score of 111–110 with a few key slam dunks late in the fourth quarter by the now-former Suns shooting guard Archie Goodwin to close out the game. Ultimately, the Suns would end their pre-season with a 4–2 record with a three-game winning streak to end the event, although none of their games would end with a higher margin differential than 5 points.
2016 pre-season game log Total: 4–2 (Home: 2–1; Road: 2–1) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Pre-season: 4–2 (home: 2–1; road: 2–1)
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2016–17 season schedule |
Pacific Division | W | L | PCT | GB | Home | Road | Div | GP |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
z – Golden State Warriors | 67 | 15 | .817 | – | 36–5 | 31–10 | 14–2 | 82 |
x – Los Angeles Clippers | 51 | 31 | .622 | 16.0 | 29–12 | 22–19 | 10–6 | 82 |
Sacramento Kings | 32 | 50 | .390 | 35.0 | 17–24 | 15–26 | 7–9 | 82 |
Los Angeles Lakers | 26 | 56 | .317 | 41.0 | 17–24 | 9–32 | 6–10 | 82 |
Phoenix Suns | 24 | 58 | .293 | 43.0 | 15–26 | 9–32 | 3–13 | 82 |
Western Conference | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
# | Team | W | L | PCT | GB | GP |
1 | z – Golden State Warriors * | 67 | 15 | .817 | – | 82 |
2 | y – San Antonio Spurs * | 61 | 21 | .744 | 6.0 | 82 |
3 | x – Houston Rockets | 55 | 27 | .671 | 12.0 | 82 |
4 | x – Los Angeles Clippers | 51 | 31 | .622 | 16.0 | 82 |
5 | y – Utah Jazz * | 51 | 31 | .622 | 16.0 | 82 |
6 | x – Oklahoma City Thunder | 47 | 35 | .573 | 20.0 | 82 |
7 | x – Memphis Grizzlies | 43 | 39 | .524 | 24.0 | 82 |
8 | x – Portland Trail Blazers | 41 | 41 | .500 | 26.0 | 82 |
9 | Denver Nuggets | 40 | 42 | .488 | 27.0 | 82 |
10 | New Orleans Pelicans | 34 | 48 | .415 | 33.0 | 82 |
11 | Dallas Mavericks | 33 | 49 | .402 | 34.0 | 82 |
12 | Sacramento Kings | 32 | 50 | .390 | 35.0 | 82 |
13 | Minnesota Timberwolves | 31 | 51 | .378 | 36.0 | 82 |
14 | Los Angeles Lakers | 26 | 56 | .317 | 41.0 | 82 |
15 | Phoenix Suns | 24 | 58 | .293 | 43.0 | 82 |
2016–17 game log Total: 24–58 (Home: 15–26; Road: 9–32) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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October: 0–4 (home: 0–2; road: 0–2)
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November
: 6–9 (home: 3–3; road: 3–6)
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December
: 4–11 (home: 3–4; road: 1–7)
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January
: 5–9 (home: 2–6; road: 3–3)
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February
: 3–9 (home: 2–3; road: 1–6)
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March
: 4–12 (home: 3–6; road: 1–6)
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April
: 2–4 (home: 2–2; road: 0–2)
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2016–17 season schedule |
GP | Games played | GS | Games started | MPG | Minutes per game |
FG% | Field-goal percentage | 3P% | 3-point field-goal percentage | FT% | Free-throw percentage |
RPG | Rebounds per game | APG | Assists per game | SPG | Steals per game |
BPG | Blocks per game | PPG | Points per game |
Player | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Leandro Barbosa | 67 | 0 | 14.4 | .439 | .357 | .889 | 1.6 | 1.2 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 6.3 |
Dragan Bender | 43 | 0 | 13.3 | .354 | .277 | .364 | 2.4 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 0.5 | 3.4 |
Eric Bledsoe | 66 | 66 | 33.0 | .434 | .335 | .847 | 4.8 | 6.3 | 1.4 | 0.5 | 21.1 |
Devin Booker | 78 | 78 | 35.0 | .423 | .363 | .832 | 3.2 | 3.4 | 0.9 | 0.3 | 22.1 |
Tyson Chandler | 47 | 46 | 27.6 | .671 | .000 | .734 | 11.5 | 0.6 | 0.7 | 0.5 | 8.4 |
Marquese Chriss | 82 | 75 | 21.3 | .449 | .321 | .624 | 4.2 | 0.7 | 0.8 | 0.9 | 9.2 |
Jared Dudley | 64 | 7 | 21.3 | .454 | .379 | .662 | 3.5 | 1.9 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 6.8 |
Jarell Eddie* | 5 | 0 | 12.4 | .316 | .250 | .889 | 1.4 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 4.8 |
John Jenkins* | 4 | 0 | 3.3 | .400 | .500 | .800 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.8 |
Derrick Jones Jr. | 32 | 8 | 17.0 | .562 | .273 | .707 | 2.5 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 5.3 |
Brandon Knight* | 54 | 5 | 21.1 | .398 | .324 | .857 | 2.2 | 2.4 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 11.0 |
Oleksiy "Alex" Len | 77 | 34 | 20.3 | .497 | .250 | .721 | 6.6 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 1.3 | 8.0 |
Elijah Millsap* | 2 | 0 | 11.5 | .143 | .000 | .500 | 3.0 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.5 |
Ronnie Price | 14 | 0 | 9.6 | .167 | .176 | .750 | 0.8 | 1.3 | 1.2 | 0.2 | 1.0 |
P. J. Tucker* | 57 | 17 | 28.5 | .415 | .338 | .792 | 6.0 | 1.3 | 0.8 | 0.1 | 7.0 |
Tyler Ulis | 61 | 15 | 18.4 | .421 | .266 | .775 | 1.6 | 3.7 | 0.8 | 0.1 | 7.3 |
T. J. Warren | 66 | 59 | 31.0 | .495 | .263 | .773 | 5.1 | 1.1 | 1.2 | 0.6 | 14.4 |
Alan Williams | 47 | 0 | 15.1 | .517 | .000 | .625 | 6.2 | 0.5 | 0.6 | 0.7 | 7.4 |
* – Stats with the Suns
Player | Duration | Reason for Missed Time | Games Missed | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Start | End | |||
Devin Booker | October 31, 2016 | November 2, 2016 | Sprained right big toe during the first road Oklahoma City game. | 1 |
Derrick Jones Jr. | November 3, 2016 | November 19, 2016 | Assigned to the Northern Arizona Suns by Phoenix. | 8 |
Tyson Chandler | November 8, 2016 | November 16, 2016 | His mother, Vernie Re Threadgill, had died. | 4 |
Tyson Chandler | November 18, 2016 | November 25, 2016 | Attended funeral services for his mother. | 4 |
T. J. Warren | November 19, 2016 | December 17, 2016 | Got a concussion during the road Indiana game. | 13 |
Derrick Jones Jr. | November 25, 2016 | December 15, 2016 | Assigned to the Northern Arizona Suns by Phoenix. | 9 |
Jared Dudley | November 27, 2016 | November 30, 2016 | Hurt left foot during practice. | 1 |
Alex Len | December 13, 2016 | December 17, 2016 | Had a right hip contusion. | 2 |
Derrick Jones Jr. | December 23, 2016 | January 30, 2017 | Assigned to the Northern Arizona Suns multiple times by Phoenix. | 18 |
Brandon Knight | January 3, 2017 | January 5, 2017 | Sprained his right wrist during the second road L.A. Clippers game. | 1 |
Brandon Knight | January 14, 2017 | January 19, 2017 | Hurt calf & got tendinitis after the first Mexico City game. | 2 |
Tyson Chandler | January 16, 2017 | January 19, 2017 | Encountered gastroenteritis after the second Mexico City game. | 1 |
Jared Dudley | January 16, 2017 | January 26, 2017 | Had some flu-like symptoms before the first home Utah game. | 5 |
Dragan Bender | January 24, 2017 | February 1, 2017 | Twisted right ankle during the road Toronto game. | 4 |
Dragan Bender | February 3, 2017 | April 2, 2017 | Had a contusion on his right ankle against the L.A. Clippers. | 28 |
Alex Len | February 10, 2017 | February 11, 2017 | Suspended for a late-game altercation against Memphis. | 1 |
Tyson Chandler | February 11, 2017 | February 13, 2017 | Twisted right ankle during the second quarter at home against Chicago. | 1 |
Eric Bledsoe | February 11, 2017 | February 13, 2017 | Rest from a back-to-back night between Chicago at home and Houston. | 1 |
Brandon Knight | February 24, 2017 | The Entire Season | Recorded continuous back spasms after the All-Star Weekend was done. | 26 |
Alex Len | March 11, 2017 | March 15, 2017 | Got a right hip contusion after last game against the L.A. Lakers. | 2 |
Eric Bledsoe | March 15, 2017 | The Entire Season | Held a bruised right tendon. | 15 |
Leandro Barbosa | March 17, 2017 | March 21, 2017 | Had an illness after their second home game against Sacramento. | 2 |
Devin Booker | March 19, 2017 | March 21, 2017 | Got a sprained ankle during their home game against Orlando. | 1 |
Ronnie Price | March 19, 2017 | March 28, 2017 | Got a lower left leg contusion. | 5 |
Alan Williams | March 21, 2017 | March 23, 2017 | Encountered gastroenteritis after the road Detroit game. | 1 |
T. J. Warren | March 23, 2017 | March 26, 2017 | Had a left foot contusion after the road Miami game. | 2 |
Devin Booker | March 28, 2017 | March 30, 2017 | Got an aggravated ankle during the road Charlotte game. | 1 |
T. J. Warren | April 2, 2017 | April 5, 2017 | Got an illness before beginning the last Houston home game. | 1 |
Leandro Barbosa | April 2, 2017 | The Entire Season | Got right hamstring spasms before beginning the last Houston home game. | 5 |
Jared Dudley | April 11, 2017 | April 11, 2017 | Hurt left toe / ligament after the last home game against Dallas. | 1 |
Devin Booker | April 11, 2017 | April 11, 2017 | Rest up his body against Sacramento. | 1 |
June 23, 2016 | To
Phoenix Suns
|
To
Sacramento Kings
|
February 23, 2017 | Three–team trade | |
To
Phoenix Suns
|
To
Atlanta Hawks
| |
To
Toronto Raptors
|
Player | Signed | Former team |
---|---|---|
Jared Dudley | Signed 3-year deal worth $30 Million | Washington Wizards |
Leandro Barbosa | Signed 2-year deal worth $8 Million | Golden State Warriors |
Derrick Jones Jr. | Signed 3-year non-guaranteed deal worth $2.5 Million [a] | University of Nevada, Las Vegas Runnin' Rebels [b] |
Ronnie Price | Signed two 10-day contracts / 1-year deal worth $693,682 [c] | Oklahoma City Thunder / Phoenix Suns [d] |
Jarell Eddie | Signed two 10-day contracts worth $102,898 | Windy City Bulls |
Elijah Millsap | Signed 2-year non-guaranteed deal worth $1,547,374 [e] | Northern Arizona Suns |
^ a: The deal for
Derrick Jones Jr. that was originally signed with the Suns after making it through training camp had him enter a non-guaranteed three year deal, similar to that of his former teammate,
John Jenkins. However, unlike his former teammate, Derrick would end up guaranteeing at least his first season with the Suns (which was worth $543,471) on January 7, 2017 after providing some very promising efforts during his time in the
D-League with their affiliate squad, the
Northern Arizona Suns. His second year still allows him the chance to earn $905,249 guaranteed next year, while his third year allows him to earn $1,050,252 if he makes it that long. Furthermore, there's also a team option that allows him to stay for one extra year on the team, assuming he makes it to that point, for an extra $1,126,220.
^ b:
Derrick Jones Jr. originally declared for the
2016 NBA draft similar to the team's other rookies like
Dragan Bender,
Marquese Chriss, and
Tyler Ulis, but he was ultimately undrafted due to his lesser recognition at the
University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He also first tried to play for the
Sacramento Kings during the
2016 NBA Summer League, but due to an injury he had earlier on at that point, he could not play a single game with them during that time.
^ c:
Ronnie Price first signed a couple of 10-day contracts with the Suns after failing to find a new team to play with as a result of a failed preseason stint with his former team (at that point in time), the
Oklahoma City Thunder. Each of those contracts were worth $91,274 at that time, which amounted to a total of $182,548 by that point. However, Ronnie would ultimately sign a one year deal with the team for the rest of the season on February 24, 2017 due to a combination of having him remain a positive influence on the younger players and providing some solid efforts on the court all-around. In addition to that, there was also hints of Price potentially accepting an assistant coach job with the Suns after this season ended, primarily on head coach
Earl Watson's end, although Ronnie later noted that he still had a desire to play in the NBA.
^ d: Originally,
Ronnie Price signed a two year deal worth $5,000,000 to play as a primary back-up point guard for
Russell Westbrook and the
Oklahoma City Thunder on July 25, 2016. However, despite having his deal be fully guaranteed at the time, Price was ultimately waived from the team on October 27, 2016 before even having a chance to play in the regular season for them. Because of that brief stint in the pre-season, most media outlets look to merge Price's previous season with the
Phoenix Suns with the current one at hand and say he didn't truly leave the Suns during that point in time, even though he only officially returned to the team on January 27, 2017.
^ e: Because
Elijah Millsap signed with the
Phoenix Suns at such a late point in the regular season (April 9, 2017), he was ultimately signed to a non-guaranteed two year deal with the Phoenix Suns after the consistently good work he provided for their
D-League squad, the
Northern Arizona Suns. What that means is that even though his first "year" with the Suns was guaranteed money for Elijah (at a total of $23,069), his second year with them isn't fully guaranteed until January 7, 2018 in the event he remains with the team by then.
Player | Reason left | New team |
---|---|---|
Bogdan Bogdanović | Traded [f] |
Sacramento Kings /
![]() |
Mirza Teletović | Unrestricted free agent | Milwaukee Bucks |
Jon Leuer | Unrestricted free agent | Detroit Pistons |
Ronnie Price | Unrestricted free agent | Oklahoma City Thunder / Phoenix Suns [d] |
Chase Budinger | Unrestricted free agent |
Brooklyn Nets /
![]() |
Alec Brown | Waived / Traded [i] |
Northern Arizona Suns /
Windy City Bulls /
![]() |
Archie Goodwin | Waived [k] | New Orleans Pelicans / Greensboro Swarm / Brooklyn Nets [l] |
John Jenkins | Waived [m] | Westchester Knicks |
P. J. Tucker | Traded |
![]() |
Mike Scott | Waived [n] | Washington Wizards [o] |
Jared Sullinger | Waived [n] |
![]() |
Jarell Eddie | Second 10-day contract expired | Windy City Bulls / Boston Celtics / Chicago Bulls [p] |
^ f: While
Bogdan Bogdanović never played for the
Phoenix Suns; his refusal to sign with the team when he was first given the chance to was what ultimately caused him to get traded to the
Sacramento Kings on the night of the
2016 NBA draft, where his draft rights went alongside Pick 13 (who became the Greek center
Georgios Papagiannis), Pick 28 (who was Haitian center/power forward
Skal Labissière from the
University of Kentucky), and the
Detroit Pistons' 2020 second round draft pick (which eventually became
Xavier Tillman) out to Sacramento in exchange for the Kings' 8th pick of the draft, which was power forward
Marquese Chriss.
^ g: Even though
Bogdan Bogdanović's draft rights were traded to the
Sacramento Kings, he ultimately made the decision to remain with his then-current international squad,
Fenerbahçe (Ülker), a few days before the
2016 NBA draft began, for the purpose of helping the
Turkish squad win their first ever
EuroLeague championship.
^ h:
Chase Budinger originally signed a (non-guaranteed) deal to play for the
Brooklyn Nets on September 21, 2016. However, much like with
Ronnie Price during his brief stint with the
Oklahoma City Thunder, Chase Budinger would ultimately not get picked up by Brooklyn for the regular season, although his decision was confirmed on October 18, 2016 instead. After being waived by the Nets, Chase would sign a one year deal with the
Club Deportivo Saski-Baskonia, S.A.D. out in
Spain on October 27, 2016.
^ i: Even though
Alec Brown never played an official game with the
Phoenix Suns, according to some sources, Brown was signed up for a training camp deal on September 14, 2016 for an apparent purpose of retaining his draft rights with the team. However, while he was waived from the team just three days after his original training camp contract came and went for that original purpose of retaining his draft rights, those rights were ultimately traded away to the
Windy City Bulls on September 19, 2017.
^ j: While
Alec Brown never originally played for the
Northern Arizona Suns (having previously just played for the
Obradoiro Clube de Amigos do Baloncesto out in
Spain a season prior), he was originally projected to play for them there after having his contract waived by their parent organization. However, his rights would be traded away to the newly formed
Windy City Bulls
D-League franchise, who are a child organization to the parent
Chicago Bulls franchise. Brown would continue playing for the
Windy City Bulls until the end of their season on April 6, 2017, where he later signed up for the
Movistar Estudiantes, S.A.D. in
Spain for the rest of the season soon afterwards.
^ k: While
Archie Goodwin was ultimately waived by the
Phoenix Suns on October 24, 2016 after their pre-season concluded, he originally asked general manager
Ryan McDonough to be traded during the pre-season if it was at all possible for him. However, the Suns didn't find any good offers for Archie whatsoever, and they were unfortunately forced to waive him over players like
John Jenkins and
Derrick Jones Jr. instead, despite providing some better results than either player (especially John Jenkins) during the pre-season.
^ l: Originally,
Archie Goodwin signed a deal to play with the struggling
New Orleans Pelicans on November 7, 2016, after starting out the season with a surprisingly poor record. However, after only playing three games with the Pelicans, Goodwin was waived by them thirteen days later on November 20. After that, Goodwin was forced to play out in the
D-League under yet another expansion squad, the
Greensboro Swarm (a child organization of the parent
Charlotte Hornets franchise), ten days later on November 30. He would continue to play for Greensboro until March 15, 2017, where he originally signed a 10-day contract with the
Brooklyn Nets. After showcasing his worth to them (to the point of having them considerably improve themselves later on in the season, albeit not enough to have the worst record that season), he signed another 10-day contract with them on March 25 before having a two year deal on April 5, 2017 confirmed with the Nets.
^ m: Even though
John Jenkins was waived on January 6, 2017 after failing to showcase any significant value or worth for the team in any way, Jenkins was partially guaranteed $525,481 throughout the season he was with the team thanks to a previous three year contract he signed with the team giving out partial guarantees after staying with Phoenix beyond his first season with the squad.
^ n: Both
Jared Sullinger and
Mike Scott never played a single game with the Suns thanks to them being waived for salary purposes relating to the respective trades they were both involved with, between
Jared Sullinger being given to the Suns alongside two second round draft picks in 2017 & 2018 and $1,000,000 in a traded player exception in exchange for
P. J. Tucker going back to his original NBA team, the
Toronto Raptors, and
Mike Scott going to the team was originally projected to draft him before the
Josh Childress trade came and went alongside the draft rights to Turkish shooting guard
Cenk Akyol and $500,000 via another traded player exception in exchange for a second round pick this year that ultimately would not be going to the
Atlanta Hawks due to their own second round pick being top 55 protected this year. Both players were primarily involved with helping the team get above the salary floor before the end of the season.
^ o: Neither
Jared Sullinger nor
Mike Scott managed to sign up with a new team after being waived by the Suns this season. In the case of Mike Scott, it related to him dealing with a court case involving him and his brother, which went on until May 3, 2017, where both him and his brother were cleared due to there being
racial profiling involved with that case.
Mike Scott would sign up with the
Washington Wizards on the
Fourth of July in 2017, while
Jared Sullinger ultimately went to
China to play for the
Shenzhen New Century Leopards on September 12, 2017.
^ p: As a result of signing with the
Phoenix Suns so late into the season,
Jarell Eddie did not find a new team to play with after ending his season with them early on April 7, 2017. He would be without a team to play for until September 12, 2017, where he got a training camp deal with the
Chicago Bulls. He would later be off of the team on October 16, 2017 (one day before the upcoming season began) with Chicago signing
Kay Felder that day before returning to Chicago's affiliate team, the
Windy City Bulls, on October 24, 2017. He would remain in the Windy City until January 20, 2018, where he would sign a 10-day contract with the
Boston Celtics. However, he would return to the Windy City Bulls on January 30 after his 10 day contract in Boston expired, which ultimately led to Eddie going to the
Chicago Bulls on February 28, 2018 with their own 10-day contract for him.
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