1978–79 Phoenix Suns season

1978–79 Phoenix Suns season
Head coach	John MacLeod
General manager	Jerry Colangelo
Owner(s)	Richard Bloch
Arena	Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum
Results
Record	50–32 (.610)
Place	Division: 2nd (Pacific) Conference: 3rd (Western)
Playoff finish	Lost in Conference Finals to Seattle (3–4)
Stats @ Basketball-Reference.com
Radio	KTAR

The 1978–79 Phoenix Suns season was the 11th season for the Phoenix Suns of the National Basketball Association and the first time they reached the 50-win mark to end the regular season. The team repeated a second-place finish in an expanded Pacific division and the Western Conference's second-best record, thus earning a spot in the playoffs, the franchise's first time extending the season in back-to-back seasons. For the first time since the '75–'76 team, the Suns returned to the Western Conference Finals, before being dispatched by Pacific division champion Seattle in seven games. The Suns were led by head coach John MacLeod and played all home games in Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

Paul Westphal, whom led the Suns with his 24 points per game, made his third straight appearance in the All-Star Game and was again named to the All-NBA First Team. Walter Davis followed up his Rookie of the Year Award performance from the previous season with his second consecutive All-Star selection and by season's end, voted to the All-NBA Second Team. Fourth-year big man Alvan Adams hauled in a career-high 9.2 rebounds a game to go with an average of 17.8 points.

Offseason

NBA Draft

Main article: 1978 NBA Draft

Round	Pick	Player	Position	Nationality	College
1	19	Marty Byrnes	Forward	United States	Syracuse
3	63	Joel Kramer	Forward	United States	San Diego State
4	85	Bob Miller	Center	United States	Cincinnati
4	88	Wayne Smith	Guard	United States	California-Irvine
5	107	Andre Wakefield	Guard	United States	Loyola (IL)
6	128	Charles Thompson	Forward	United States	Houston
7	149	Steve Malovic	Center	United States	San Diego State
8	167	George Fowler	Center	United States	Pacific
9	184	Nate Stokes	Forward	United States	Grand Canyon
10	199	Lewis Cohen	Guard	United States	Cal Poly

Roster

Phoenix Suns roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Nat. Name Height Weight DOB (Y-M-D) From F/C 33 Adams, Alvan 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 210 lb (95 kg) 1954-07-19 Oklahoma G 23 Bratz, Mike 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 185 lb (84 kg) 1955-10-17 Stanford G 10 Buse, Don 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 190 lb (86 kg) 1950-08-10 Evansville G/F 6 Davis, Walter 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 193 lb (88 kg) 1954-09-09 North Carolina C 35 Forrest, Bayard 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 235 lb (107 kg) 1954-07-08 Grand Canyon F 24 Heard, Garfield 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 219 lb (99 kg) 1948-05-03 Oklahoma F 50 Kramer, Joel 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 203 lb (92 kg) 1955-11-30 San Diego State G 12 McClain, Ted 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 180 lb (82 kg) 1946-08-30 Tennessee State F 21 Robinson, Leonard 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 225 lb (102 kg) 1951-10-04 Tennessee State F 14 Scott, Alvin 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 185 lb (84 kg) 1955-09-14 Oral Roberts G 44 Westphal, Paul 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 195 lb (88 kg) 1950-11-30 Southern California	Head coach John MacLeod (Bellarmine) Assistant coach(es) Al Bianchi (Bowling Green) Legend (C) Team captain (DP) Unsigned draft pick (FA) Free agent (S) Suspended Injured

Depth chart

Pos.	Starter	Bench	Reserve	Inactive
C	Alvan Adams	Bayard Forrest
PF	Truck Robinson	Gar Heard
SF	Walter Davis	Joel Kramer
SG	Paul Westphal	Alvin Scott
PG	Don Buse	Mike Bratz	Ted McClain

Regular season

Standings

Pacific Division	W	L	PCT	GB	Home	Road	Div
y-Seattle SuperSonics	52	30	.634	–	31-10	21-20	11–9
x-Phoenix Suns	50	32	.610	2	32–9	18–23	11–9
x-Los Angeles Lakers	47	35	.573	5	31–10	16–25	11–9
x-Portland Trail Blazers	45	37	.549	7	33–8	12–29	8–12
San Diego Clippers	43	39	.524	9	29–12	14–27	11–9
Golden State Warriors	38	44	.463	14	23–18	15–26	8–12

#	Western Conference
	Team	W	L	PCT	GB
1	z-Seattle SuperSonics	52	30	.634	–
2	y-Kansas City Kings	48	34	.585	4
3	x-Phoenix Suns	50	32	.610	2
4	x-Denver Nuggets	47	35	.573	5
5	x-Los Angeles Lakers	47	35	.573	5
6	x-Portland Trail Blazers	45	37	.549	7
7	San Diego Clippers	43	39	.524	9
8	Indiana Pacers	38	44	.463	14
8	Milwaukee Bucks	38	44	.463	14
8	Golden State Warriors	38	44	.463	14
11	Chicago Bulls	31	51	.378	21

Awards and honors

All-Star

• Paul Westphal was voted as a starter for the Western Conference in the All-Star Game. It was his third consecutive All-Star selection. Westphal finished second in voting among Western Conference guards with 251,829 votes.
• Walter Davis was selected as a reserve for the Western Conference in the All-Star Game. It was his second consecutive All-Star selection. Davis finished fifth in voting among Western Conference forwards with 118,546 votes.

Season

• Paul Westphal was named to the All-NBA First Team.
• Walter Davis was named to the All-NBA Second Team. Davis also finished tenth in MVP voting.
• Don Buse was named to the All-Defensive First Team.

Player statistics

Legend
GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game
FG%	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

Season

Player	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
Alvan Adams	77	74	30.7	.530	.799	9.2	4.7	1.4	.8	17.8
Mike Bratz	77	0	16.8	.454	.818	1.8	2.3	.8	.1	8.1
Don Buse	82	82	31.0	.495	.769	2.6	4.3	1.9	.2	7.8
Marty Byrnes*	43	1	17.1	.489	.730	2.3	1.4	.3	.0	6.8
Walter Davis	79	78	30.8	.561	.831	4.7	4.3	1.9	.3	23.6
Bayard Forrest	75	7	16.6	.434	.539	4.2	2.2	.4	.5	4.0
Garfield Heard	63	37	19.3	.441	.689	5.6	1.0	.8	.9	6.3
Joel Kramer	82	1	17.1	.489	.710	4.1	1.1	.5	.3	5.9
Ron Lee*	43	1	22.0	.452	.712	2.6	3.1	1.6	.1	9.8
Ted McClain	36	0	12.9	.470	.913^	1.9	1.7	.5	.0	4.6
Truck Robinson*	26	20	29.1	.508	.642	8.7	1.5	.7	.5	16.0
Alvin Scott	81	28	21.4	.535	.714	4.4	1.6	1.0	.8	6.7
Paul Westphal	81	81	32.6	.535	.837^	2.0	6.5	1.4	.3	24.0

* - Stats with the Suns.
^ - Minimum 125 free throws made.

Playoffs

Player	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
Alvan Adams	12	12	31.0	.475	.710	7.5	4.4	.9	1.0	12.8
Mike Bratz	15	0	19.5	.496	.763	1.4	2.0	1.0	.2	10.6
Don Buse	15	15	34.1	.405	.727	3.7	3.5	1.5	.3	7.9
Walter Davis	15	15	32.7	.520	.813	4.6	5.3	1.7	.3	22.1
Bayard Forrest	14	0	7.9	.556†	.200	2.1	0.8	.3	.1	1.6
Garfield Heard	15	9	21.3	.372	.600	7.1	0.9	.8	1.7	5.5
Joel Kramer	15	3	17.1	.542†	.722	3.8	1.3	.6	.5	6.0
Ted McClain	14	0	7.4	.441	.813	1.1	0.9	.4	.0	3.1
Truck Robinson	15	6	26.1	.403	.652	8.1	0.7	.4	.8	10.5
Alvin Scott	15	0	14.5	.385	.619	2.8	1.5	.4	1.1	3.5
Paul Westphal	15	15	35.6	.495	.788	2.2	4.3	1.0	.3	22.4

† - Minimum 20 field goals made.

Transactions

Trades

October 11, 1978	To Boston Celtics Dennis Awtrey	To Phoenix Suns 1979 second-round draft pick ( Johnny High) Cash considerations
January 12, 1979	To New Orleans Jazz Marty Byrnes Ron Lee 1979 first-round draft pick ( Larry Knight) 1980 first-round draft pick ( John Duren) Cash considerations	To Phoenix Suns Truck Robinson

Free agents

Additions

Date	Player	Contract	Old Team
January 15, 1979	Ted McClain	Undisclosed	Philadelphia 76ers

Subtractions

Date	Player	Reason Left	New Team
August 23, 1978	Greg Griffin	Suspended for signing overseas
August 23, 1978	Wayne Smith	Waived
September 13, 1978	Curtis Perry	Retired
October 12, 1978	Ira Terrell	Waived	New Orleans Jazz
October 12, 1978	Andre Wakefield	Waived	Chicago Bulls

References

• Standings on Basketball Reference