1979–80 Phoenix Suns season

1979–80 Phoenix Suns season
Head coach	John MacLeod
General manager	Jerry Colangelo
Owner(s)	Richard Bloch
Arena	Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum
Results
Record	55–27 (.671)
Place	Division: 3rd (Pacific) Conference: 4th (Western)
Playoff finish	Lost in Semifinals to Los Angeles (1–4)
Stats @ Basketball-Reference.com
Radio	KTAR

The 1979–80 Phoenix Suns season was the 12th season for the Phoenix Suns of the National Basketball Association and at 55–27, the team's best regular season record since the franchise's inception. The Suns defeated Western Conference foe Kansas City in the opening round of the playoffs, marking the first time the Suns had won a playoff series in back-to-back seasons. In the Western Conference Semifinals, the Suns would lose to the Pacific-winning Los Angeles Lakers, who later went on to win the season's championship. The Suns were led by head coach John MacLeod, his seventh season with the team, and played all home games in Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

Paul Westphal led the Suns in scoring with a 21.9 point-per-game average and earned All-NBA First Team honors, while Walter Davis was second in team scoring with a 21.5 average. Both Westphal and Davis would return as selections to the All-Star Game. Truck Robinson and Alvan Adams provided an inside presence, averaging 17 and 15 points per game to go with nine and eight rebounds each. Robinson would play in just three of the eight Suns' playoff games, however.

Offseason

NBA Draft

Main article: 1979 NBA Draft

Round	Pick	Player	Position	Nationality	College
1	22	Kyle Macy	Guard	United States	Kentucky
2	24	Johnny High	Guard	United States	Nevada
3	64	Al Green	Guard	United States	Louisiana State
4	86	Malcolm Cesare	Forward	United States	Florida
5	107	Mark Eaton	Center	United States	Cypress JC
6	127	Dale Shackelford	Forward	United States	Syracuse
7	147	Ollie Matson	Forward	United States	Pepperdine
8	165	Charles Jones	Center	United States	Albany State
9	183	Hosea Champine	Guard	United States	Robert Morris
10	201	Korky Nelson	Center	United States	Santa Clara

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 F/C 45 Cook, Jeff 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 215 lb (98 kg) 1956-10-21 Idaho State 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  (IN) 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 G 22 High, Johnny 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 185 lb (84 kg) 1957-04-25 Nevada C 53 Kelley, Rich 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) 235 lb (107 kg) 1953-03-23 Stanford F 50 Kramer, Joel  6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 203 lb (92 kg) 1955-11-30 San Diego 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) John Wetzel (Virginia Tech) Legend (C) Team captain (DP) Unsigned draft pick (FA) Free agent (S) Suspended Injured

Depth chart

Pos.	Starter	Bench	Reserve	Inactive
C	Alvan Adams	Rich Kelley		Bayard Forrest
PF	Truck Robinson	Gar Heard	Jeff Cook
SF	Walter Davis	Alvin Scott		Joel Kramer
SG	Paul Westphal	Johnny High
PG	Don Buse	Mike Bratz

Regular season

Standings

Pacific Division	W	L	PCT	GB	Home	Road	Div
y-Los Angeles Lakers	60	22	.732	–	37–4	23–18	19–11
x-Seattle SuperSonics	56	26	.683	4	33–8	23–18	18–12
x-Phoenix Suns	55	27	.671	5	37–5	18–22	19–11
x-Portland Trail Blazers	38	44	.463	22	26–15	12–29	13–17
San Diego Clippers	35	47	.427	25	24–17	11–30	13–17
Golden State Warriors	24	58	.293	36	15–26	9–32	8–22

#	Western Conference
	Team	W	L	PCT	GB
1	c-Los Angeles Lakers	60	22	.732	–
2	y-Milwaukee Bucks	49	33	.598	11
3	x-Seattle SuperSonics	56	26	.683	4
4	x-Phoenix Suns	55	27	.671	5
5	x-Kansas City Kings	47	35	.573	13
6	x-Portland Trail Blazers	38	44	.463	22
7	San Diego Clippers	35	47	.427	25
8	Chicago Bulls	30	52	.366	30
9	Denver Nuggets	30	52	.366	30
10	Utah Jazz	24	58	.293	36
11	Golden State Warriors	24	58	.293	36

Awards and honors

All-Star

• Paul Westphal was selected as a reserve for the Western Conference in the All-Star Game. It was his fourth consecutive All-Star selection. Westphal finished fourth in voting among Western Conference guards with 127,409 votes.
• Walter Davis was selected as a reserve for the Western Conference in the All-Star Game. It was his third consecutive All-Star selection. Davis finished fourth in voting among Western Conference forwards with 100,546 votes.

Season

• Paul Westphal was named to the All-NBA First Team.
• 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	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

Season

Player	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3FG%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
Alvan Adams	75	63	28.9	.531	.000	.797	8.1	4.3	1.4	.7+	14.9
Mike Bratz	82	1	19.4	.392	.244	.870	2.0	2.7	1.1	.1	8.5
Don Buse	81	81	30.9	.443	.241	.664	2.9	4.0	1.6	.1	7.7
Jeff Cook	66	14	13.7	.469	.000	.806	3.7	1.3	.4	.3	5.5
Walter Davis	75	73	30.8	.563	.000	.819	3.6	4.5	1.5	.3	21.5
Garfield Heard	82	5	17.1	.417	.000	.744	4.6	1.2	1.0	.6	5.0
Johnny High	82	0	13.7	.446	.143	.674	2.1	1.5	.9	.2	5.0
Rich Kelley*	23	0	16.2	.506	.	.783	5.1	2.2	1.2	.7+	5.8
Joel Kramer	54	6	13.2	.469	.000	.800	2.8	1.4	.5	.1	3.5
Truck Robinson	82	82	33.0	.512	.	.667	9.4	1.7	.7	.7	17.3
Alvin Scott	79	3	16.5	.422	.333†	.779	2.9	1.2	.6	.7	4.4
Paul Westphal	82	82	32.5	.525	.280†	.862	2.3	5.1	1.5	.4	21.9

* - Stats with the Suns.
† - Minimum 25 three-pointers made.
+ - Minimum 50 games played.

Playoffs

Player	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3FG%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
Alvan Adams	8	8	31.4	.566†	.	.895^	9.6	5.8	.9	1.3	16.1
Mike Bratz	8	0	21.1	.512	.391	.900^	2.5	2.0	1.1	.0	13.0
Don Buse	8	8	29.5	.438	.385	.636	2.6	5.5	.8	.0	8.5
Jeff Cook	7	0	14.0	.667†	.	.846	3.0	1.0	.6	.3	7.7
Walter Davis	8	8	30.6	.504	.000	.737	2.9	4.4	.5	.1	20.8
Garfield Heard	8	6	27.9	.393	.	.733	6.4	1.5	1.1	1.4	6.9
Johnny High	8	0	15.0	.387	.000	.500	3.1	2.5	.8	.3	4.0
Rich Kelley	8	0	18.3	.432	.000	.900^	4.5	2.8	1.1	.9	5.9
Truck Robinson	3	2	21.3	.375	.	.714	6.7	1.3	1.0	.7	5.7
Alvin Scott	8	0	17.5	.515	.000	.500	2.8	1.3	.5	.6	4.8
Paul Westphal	8	8	31.6	.486	.083	.875	1.3	3.9	1.4	.4	20.9

† - Minimum 20 field goals made.
^ - Minimum 10 free throws made.

Transactions

Trades

June 22, 1979	To Washington Bullets---- Rights to Steve Malovic	To Phoenix Suns---- 1979 first-round draft pick ( Kyle Macy) 1980 third-round draft pick ( John Campbell)
August 20, 1979	To Detroit Pistons---- 1981 fourth-round draft pick ( Don Koonce)	To Phoenix Suns---- Andre Wakefield
February 15, 1980	To New Jersey Nets---- 1982 first-round draft pick ( Brook Steppe) 1983 second-round draft pick ( Pace Mannion) Cash considerations	To Phoenix Suns---- Rich Kelley

Free agents

Additions

Date	Player	Contract	Old Team
May 22, 1979	Jeff Cook	Undisclosed	Washington Lumberjacks (WBA)
September 13, 1979	Greg Griffin	Undisclosed	Phoenix Suns

Subtractions

Date	Player	Reason Left	New Team
September 4, 1979	Ted McClain	Waived
October 1, 1979	Al Green	Waived
October 1, 1979	Charles Jones	Waived	Maine Lumberjacks (CBA)
October 1, 1979	Greg Griffin	Waived
October 12, 1979	Andre Wakefield	Waived	Utah Jazz

References

• Standings on Basketball Reference