1987–88 Phoenix Suns season

1987–88 Phoenix Suns season
Head coach John Wetzel
Arena Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum
Results
Record 28–54 (.341)
Place Division: 4th (Pacific)
Conference: 9th (Western)
Playoff finish Did not qualify
Stats @ Basketball-Reference.com
Radio KTAR
Phoenix Suns seasons
< 1986–87 1988–89 >

The 1987–88 Phoenix Suns season was the 19th season for the Phoenix Suns of the National Basketball Association. The team was led by new head coach John Wetzel. Having missed the playoffs in each of the last two seasons, Suns management made a midseason trade with Cleveland in attempt to return the Suns to postseason play. The trade would in part send All-Star Larry Nance in exchange for rookie Kevin Johnson. All home games were played at Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

Despite Nance's quality play (he was leading the Suns in scoring with 21 points and 10 rebounds per game), Suns director of personnel, Cotton Fitzsimmons, stated the reason for the trade. "It's obvious we are not happy with our current record and we are not happy with our record over the last few seasons. We talked to a lot of teams about Nance. We felt it (the trade with Cleveland) was the best deal for us in regard to the youth of the players and draft choices involved."[1] On February 25, the 29-year-old Nance, along with Mike Sanders and a 1988 draft first round pick, were sent to Cleveland in exchange for Johnson, Tyrone Corbin, Mark West, 1988 draft first and second round picks, and a 1989 second round pick. (The 1988 draft first rounder would turn out to be Dan Majerle.)[2] On the day of the trade, the Suns beat Cleveland (none of the players involved in the trade recorded any minutes). The Suns would, however, lose their next nine games in a row.

Contents

Roster

Depth chart

Pos. Starter Bench Reserve Inactive
C Mark West Alvan Adams Ron Moore
PF Armen Gilliam James Bailey Winston Crite Jeff Cook
SF Eddie Johnson Tyrone Corbin Bernard Thompson
SG Jeff Hornacek Walter Davis
PG Kevin Johnson Craig Hodges

Standings

Pacific Division
Team W L PCT. GB
Los Angeles Lakers 62 20 .756 -
Portland Trail Blazers 53 29 .646 9
Seattle SuperSonics 44 38 .537 18
Phoenix Suns 28 54 .351 34
Golden State Warriors 20 62 .244 42
Los Angeles Clippers 17 65 .207 45

References

  1. ^ "Suns Trade Nance To the Cavaliers - New York Times". Nytimes.com. 1988-02-26. http://www.nytimes.com/1988/02/26/sports/suns-trade-nance-to-the-cavaliers.html. Retrieved 2010-12-16. 
  2. ^ "Larry Nance NBA & ABA Statistics". Basketball-Reference.com. http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/n/nancela01.html. Retrieved December 16, 2010. 
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