1988–89 Phoenix Suns season

1988–89 Phoenix Suns season
Head coach	Cotton Fitzsimmons
General manager	Jerry Colangelo
Owner(s)	Jerry Colangelo
Arena	Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum
Results
Record	55–27 (.671)
Place	Division: 2nd (Pacific) Conference: 3rd (Western)
Playoff finish	West Conference Finals (eliminated 0-4)
Stats @ Basketball-Reference.com
Radio	KTAR

The 1988–89 Phoenix Suns season was the 20th season for the Phoenix Suns of the National Basketball Association. Cotton Fitzsimmons, Suns head coach for the '70–'71 and '71–'72 seasons, returned to the franchise where he got his first head coaching position. The Suns also enjoyed the benefits of a trade which brought Tom Chambers to the Valley of the Sun, who would have an All-Star season his first year in Phoenix. The Suns' regular seasons successes were carried on through the playoffs, sweeping Denver in the first round and defeating Golden State four games to one in the Western Conference Semifinals. The Suns saw their playoff fortunes reverse in the Conference Finals when they met the season's MVP Magic Johnson and the top-seeded Los Angeles Lakers, getting swept four games to zero. All home games were played at Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

Chambers headed a triplet of Suns who averaged 20 points or more for the season, with Chambers leading the way at 25.7 points per game. Eddie Johnson, who would earn the season's Sixth Man Award, came off the bench for 21.5 per while second-year point guard Kevin Johnson obtained his 20.4 average through a starting role. Johnson, enjoying his first full season with the Suns after a midseason trade the year before, earned Most Improved Player of the Year Award while finishing third behind future Hall of Famers John Stockton and Magic Johnson in assists per game with a 12.2 average. Johnson blossomed in his role with the Suns, appearing in 81 games and finishing second in the league in average minutes per game.

NBA Draft

Main article: 1988 NBA Draft

Round	Pick	Player	Position	Nationality	College
1	7	Tim Perry	Forward	United States	Temple
1	14	Dan Majerle	Guard	United States	Central Michigan
2	28	Andrew Lang	Center	United States	Arkansas
2	38	Dean Garrett	Center	United States	Indiana
2	50	Steve Kerr	Guard	United States	Arizona
3	55	Rodney Johns	Guard	United States	Grand Canyon

The Suns used their first-round pick to select power forward Tim Perry from Temple. Perry averaged 10.5 points and 7.6 rebounds per game in four years with the Owls. In his first three years with the Suns, Perry would average 4.2 points and 2.4 rebounds per game playing in a limited role. After becoming a starter in the 1991–92 season, Perry averaged 12.3 points, 6.9 rebounds and 1.5 blocks per game. After the season, he was traded, alongside Jeff Hornacek and Andrew Lang, to the Philadelphia 76ers for superstar forward Charles Barkley.

The Suns received the 14th pick from a trade with the Cleveland Cavaliers in 1988. With the pick they would select swingman Dan Majerle from Central Michigan. Majerle averaged 21.8 points, 8.9 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game in four years with the Chippewas. Majerle would spend his first seven seasons with the Suns, appearing in three All-Star games before being traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers in 1995. He would return to play for the Suns in the 2001–02 season before retiring. His number 9 jersey was retired by the franchise in 2003.

The Suns received the 28th pick from a trade with the Milwaukee Bucks in 1988. With the pick they would select center Andrew Lang from Arkansas. Lang averaged 6.9 points, 5.7 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game in four years with the Razorbacks. Like Perry, Lang played a limited role in his first three seasons, averaging 3.7 points, 3.6 rebounds and 1.5 blocks per game. After becoming a starter in the 1991–92 season, Lang averaged 7.7 points, 6.7 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game, before being traded to the 76ers.

In 1987, the Suns traded their second-round pick to the Sacramento Kings for Eddie Johnson. The pick was then traded to the New York Knicks and then to the Detroit Pistons, who selected small forward Fennis Dembo with the 30th pick.

The Suns received the 38th pick from a trade with the Cleveland Cavaliers in 1988. With the pick they would select center Dean Garrett from Indiana. Garrett averaged 13.6 points and 8.5 rebounds per game in two years with the Hoosiers. Garrett suffered a fractured foot before appearing in any games, and missed the entire season. He was waived before the start of the 1989–90 season without appearing in any games for the franchise.

The Suns received the 50th pick from a trade with the Los Angeles Lakers in 1985. With the pick they would select guard Steve Kerr from Arizona. Kerr averaged 11.2 points and 3.4 assists per game in four years with the Wildcats. Kerr would spend most of his rookie season on the injured reserve, averaging 2.1 points per game in 26 games, before being traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers in 1989.

The Suns used their third-round pick to select point guard Rodney Johns from Grand Canyon. Johns averaged 13.2 points, 3.7 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game in two years with the Antelopes. The Suns signed Johns to a contract on September 27, but he was waived on November 1 before the start of the season.

Roster

Phoenix Suns roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Nat. Name Height Weight DOB (Y-M-D) From F/C 24 Chambers, Tom 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 220 lb (100 kg) 1959-06-21 Utah F 23 Corbin, Tyrone 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 210 lb (95 kg) 1962-12-31 DePaul G 25 Dunn, T. R. 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 192 lb (87 kg) 1955-02-01 Alabama F/C 22 Garrett, Dean  (IN) 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 225 lb (102 kg) 1966-11-27 Indiana F 44 Gattison, Kenny 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 225 lb (102 kg) 1964-05-23 Old Dominion F/C 35 Gilliam, Armon 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 230 lb (104 kg) 1964-05-28 UNLV G 14 Hornacek, Jeff 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 190 lb (86 kg) 1963-05-03 Iowa State F 8 Johnson, Eddie 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 215 lb (98 kg) 1959-05-01 Illinois G 7 Johnson, Kevin 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 180 lb (82 kg) 1966-03-04 California G 4 Kerr, Steve 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 175 lb (79 kg) 1965-09-27 Arizona C 28 Lang, Andrew 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) 245 lb (111 kg) 1966-06-28 Arkansas G/F 9 Majerle, Dan 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 215 lb (98 kg) 1965-09-09 Central Michigan F 45 Nealy, Ed 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 238 lb (108 kg) 1960-02-19 Kansas State F 34 Perry, Tim 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 200 lb (91 kg) 1965-06-04 Temple C 41 West, Mark 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 230 lb (104 kg) 1960-11-05 Old Dominion	Head coach Cotton Fitzsimmons (Midwestern St.) Assistant coach(es) Paul Westphal (Southern California) Lionel Hollins (Arizona State) Legend (C) Team captain (DP) Unsigned draft pick (FA) Free agent (S) Suspended Injured

Depth chart

Pos.	Starter	Bench	Reserve	Inactive
C	Mark West	Andrew Lang		Dean Garrett
PF	Tom Chambers	Armon Gilliam	Tim Perry	Kenny Gattison
SF	Tyrone Corbin	Eddie Johnson	Ed Nealy
SG	Jeff Hornacek	Dan Majerle	T. R. Dunn	Steve Kerr
PG	Kevin Johnson

Regular season

Standings

Pacific Division	W	L	PCT	GB	Home	Road	Div
y-Los Angeles Lakers	57	25	.695	–	35–6	22–19	25–9
x-Phoenix Suns	55	27	.671	2	35–6	20–21	23–11
x-Seattle SuperSonics	47	35	.573	10	31–10	16–25	20–14
x-Golden State Warriors	43	39	.524	14	29–12	14–27	15–19
x-Portland Trail Blazers	39	43	.476	18	28–13	11–30	17–17
Sacramento Kings	27	55	.329	30	21–20	6–35	12–22
Los Angeles Clippers	21	61	.256	36	17–24	4–37	7–27

#	Western Conference
	Team	W	L	PCT	GB
1	c-Los Angeles Lakers	57	25	.695	–
2	y-Utah Jazz	51	31	.622	6
3	x-Phoenix Suns	55	27	.671	2
4	x-Seattle SuperSonics	47	35	.573	10
5	x-Houston Rockets	45	37	.549	12
6	x-Denver Nuggets	44	38	.537	13
7	x-Golden State Warriors	43	39	.524	14
8	x-Portland Trail Blazers	39	43	.476	18
9	Dallas Mavericks	38	44	.463	19
10	Sacramento Kings	27	55	.329	30
11	San Antonio Spurs	21	61	.256	36
12	Los Angeles Clippers	21	61	.256	36
13	Miami Heat	15	67	.183	42

Awards and honors

Week/Month

• Tom Chambers was named Player of the Week for games played January 23 through January 29.
• Kevin Johnson was named Player of the Week for games played March 13 through March 19.
• Kevin Johnson was named Player of the Month for February.
• Cotton Fitzsimmons was named Coach of the Month for April.

All-Star

• Tom Chambers was selected as a reserve in the 1989 All-Star Game. It was his second All-Star selection.

Season

• Kevin Johnson received the Most Improved Player Award.
• Eddie Johnson received the Sixth Man of the Year Award.
• Cotton Fitzsimmons received the Coach of the Year Award.
• Jerry Colangelo received the Executive of the Year Award.
• Kevin Johnson was named to the All-NBA Second Team. Johnson also finished 8th in the Most Valuable Player voting.
• Tom Chambers was named to the All-NBA Second Team. Chambers also finished 9th in the Most Valuable Player voting.

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
Tom Chambers	81	81	37.1	.471	.326	.851	8.4	2.9	1.1	0.7	25.7
Tyrone Corbin	77	30	21.5	.540	.000	.788	5.2	1.5	1.1	0.2	8.2
Winston Crite	2	0	3.0	.000	.	.	0.5	0.0	.0	.0	0.0
Mark Davis*	2	0	3.5	.200	.000	1.000^	0.5	0.0	.0	.0	2.0
T. R. Dunn	34	1	9.4	.343	.	.750	1.8	0.7	0.4	.0	1.0
Kenny Gattison	2	0	4.5	.000	.	.500	0.5	0.0	.0	.0	0.5
Armon Gilliam	74	60	28.6	.503	.	.743	7.3	0.7	0.7	0.4	15.9
Craig Hodges*	10	0	9.2	.444	.333	.750	0.5	0.8	0.2	.0	3.9
Jeff Hornacek	78	73	31.9	.495	.333	.826	3.4	6.0	1.7	0.1	13.5
Eddie Johnson	70	7	29.2	.497	.413†	.868	4.4	2.3	0.7	0.1	21.5
Kevin Johnson	81	81	39.2	.505	.091	.882^	4.2	12.2	1.7	0.3	20.4
Steve Kerr	26	0	6.0	.435	.471†	.667	0.7	0.9	0.3	.0	2.1
Andrew Lang	62	25	8.5	.513	.	.650	2.4	0.1	0.3	0.8	2.6
Dan Majerle	54	5	25.1	.419	.329	.614	3.9	2.4	1.2	0.3	8.6
Ed Nealy*	30	0	5.5	.276	.000	.429	1.8	0.3	0.1	.0	0.6
Tim Perry	62	15	9.9	.537	.200	.615	2.1	0.3	0.3	0.5	4.1
Mark West	82	32	24.6	.653	.	.535	6.7	0.5	0.4	2.3	7.2

* - Stats with the Suns.
† - Minimum 55 three-pointers made.
^ - Minimum 125 free throws made.

Playoffs

Player	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3FG%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
Tom Chambers	12	12	41.3	.459	.409	.859	10.9	3.8	1.1	1.3	26.0
Tyrone Corbin	12	12	25.8	.523	.	.760	7.1	2.2	2.0	0.3	9.1
T. R. Dunn	8	0	9.9	.429	.	.500	1.9	0.1	0.6	.0	0.9
Armon Gilliam	9	0	14.0	.529	.	.864	5.0	0.2	0.1	0.2	8.1
Jeff Hornacek	12	12	31.2	.497	.000	.840	5.8	5.2	1.3	0.3	14.1
Eddie Johnson	12	0	32.7	.413	.342	.769	7.3	2.1	1.0	0.2	17.8
Kevin Johnson	12	12	41.2	.495	.300	.927	4.3	12.3	1.6	0.4	23.8
Andrew Lang	4	0	2.0	.000	.	.	1.5	0.3	.0	.0	0.0
Dan Majerle	12	0	29.3	.438	.286	.792	4.8	1.2	1.1	0.3	14.3
Ed Nealy	4	0	1.5	.333	.	.	0.8	0.0	.0	.0	0.5
Tim Perry	4	0	4.3	.500	.	.000	0.5	0.0	0.5	0.3	1.0
Mark West	12	12	18.9	.640	.	.714	4.4	0.5	0.6	1.6	6.2

Transactions

Trades

December 14, 1988

To Chicago Bulls---- Craig Hodges

To Phoenix Suns---- Ed Nealy 1989 second-round draft pick

Free agents

Additions

Date	Player	Contract	Former Team
July 5, 1988	Tom Chambers	Signed 5 year contract for $8.7 million	Seattle SuperSonics
December 30, 1988	Mark Davis	Signed two ten-day contracts	Milwaukee Bucks
January 16, 1989	T. R. Dunn	Signed two ten-day contracts	Denver Nuggets
February 5, 1989	T. R. Dunn	Signed for rest of season	Phoenix Suns

Subtractions

Date	Player	Reason Left	New Team
April 29, 1988	Alvan Adams	Retired	n/a
July 6, 1988	Walter Davis	Free agent	Denver Nuggets
June 23, 1988	Bernard Thompson	Expansion Draft	Charlotte Hornets
June 30, 1988	James Bailey	Released	Glaxo Verona (Italy)
June 30, 1988	Jeff Cook	Released	AS Monaco (France)
August 29, 1988	Ron Moore	Released	n/a
December 27, 1988	Winston Crite	Waived	Brisbane Bullets (Australia)
January 14, 1989	Mark Davis	Waived	Milwaukee Bucks

References

• Standings on Basketball Reference