1998–99 Phoenix Suns season

1998–99 Phoenix Suns season
Head coach	Danny Ainge
General manager	Bryan Colangelo
Owner(s)	Jerry Colangelo
Arena	America West Arena
Results
Record	27–23 (.540)
Place	Division: 4th (Pacific) Conference: 6th (Western)
Playoff finish	Lost in first round to Portland (0–3)
Stats @ Basketball-Reference.com
Radio	KTAR

The 1998–99 Phoenix Suns season was the 31st season for the National Basketball Association's Phoenix Suns. The team finished tied for third in the Pacific division with a record of 27–23 in the shortened lockout season. Head coach Danny Ainge returned for his third season. The sixth-seeded Suns made the playoffs for the 11th consecutive season before being swept in the first round to the third-seeded and Pacific winner-Portland Trail Blazers, three games to zero. All home games were played in America West Arena.

Starting point guard Jason Kidd finished the regular season leading the league in assists per game at 10.8. Three Suns would average 16 points or more per game, with Tom Gugliotta notching 17, Kidd 16.9 and Clifford Robinson at 16.4 per game. Kidd led the league in total minutes played and was third in total steals, before being selected to both the All-NBA and All-Defensive First Teams.

Offseason

NBA Draft

Main article: 1998 NBA Draft

This was the first year in franchise history that the Suns had no draft picks. Their first-round pick (which turned into Tyronn Lue) was traded to the Denver Nuggets the previous year in the Antonio McDyess deal,^[1] and their second-round pick (which turned into Greg Buckner) was traded to the Dallas Mavericks in 1996 in the Jason Kidd deal.^[2]

Roster

Phoenix Suns roster

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Nat.	Name	Height	Weight	DOB (Y-M-D)	From
2.0 !SG	12	USA !	Bailey, Toby	7000198120000000000♠6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	213 lb (97 kg)	1975–11–19	UCLA
2.0 !SG	4	USA !	Brown, Gerald	7000193040000000000♠6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	210 lb (95 kg)	1975–07–28	Pepperdine
2.0 !SG	3	USA !	Chapman, Rex	7000193040000000000♠6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	1967–10–05	Kentucky
4.5 !PF	8	USA !	Garrity, Pat	7000205740000000000♠6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)	238 lb (108 kg)	1976–08–23	Notre Dame
4.5 !PF	24	USA !	Gugliotta, Tom	7000208279999999999♠6 ft 10 in (2.08 m)	240 lb (109 kg)	1969–12–19	North Carolina State
1.0 !PG	32	USA !	Kidd, Jason	7000193040000000000♠6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	205 lb (93 kg)	1973–03–23	California
1.0 !PG	2	USA !	Livingston, Randy	7000193040000000000♠6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	209 lb (95 kg)	1975–04–02	LSU
6.0 !C	13	AUS !	Longley, Luc	7000218440000000000♠7 ft 2 in (2.18 m)	265 lb (120 kg)	1969–01–19	New Mexico
6.0 !C	15	USA !	Manning, Danny	7000208279999999999♠6 ft 10 in (2.08 m)	230 lb (104 kg)	1966–05–17	Kansas
2.0 !SG	21	USA !	McCloud, George	7000198120000000000♠6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	205 lb (93 kg)	1967–05–27	Florida State
3.0 !SF	20	SLO !	Milič, Marko	7000198120000000000♠6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	235 lb (107 kg)	1977–05–07	Slovenia
3.0 !SF	34	USA !	Morris, Chris	7000203200000000000♠6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)	210 lb (95 kg)	1966–01–20	Auburn
3.0 !SF	30	USA !	Robinson, Clifford	7000208279999999999♠6 ft 10 in (2.08 m)	225 lb (102 kg)	1966–12–16	Connecticut

Head coach

Danny Ainge (Brigham Young)

Assistant coach(es)

Legend

(C) Team captain
(DP) Unsigned draft pick
(FA) Free agent
(S) Suspended
Injured

Depth chart

Pos.	Starter	Bench	Reserve	Inactive
C	Luc Longley	Danny Manning	Joe Kleine
PF	Tom Gugliotta	Pat Garrity
SF	Clifford Robinson	Chris Morris		Marko Milič
SG	Rex Chapman	George McCloud		Toby Bailey
PG	Jason Kidd	Randy Livingston	Gerald Brown

Regular season

Standings

Pacific Division	W	L	PCT	GB	Home	Road	Div
y-Portland Trail Blazers	35	15	.700	–	22–3	13–12	15–7
x-Los Angeles Lakers	31	19	.620	4	18–7	13–12	14–8
x-Sacramento Kings	27	23	.540	8	16–9	11–14	11–9
x-Phoenix Suns	27	23	.540	8	15–10	12–13	9–10
Seattle SuperSonics	25	25	.500	10	17–8	8–17	11–10
Golden State Warriors	21	29	.420	14	13–12	8–17	8–11
Los Angeles Clippers	9	41	.180	26	6–19	3–22	3–16

#	Western Conference
#	Team	W	L	PCT	GB
1	z-San Antonio Spurs	37	13	.740	–
2	y-Portland Trail Blazers	35	15	.700	2
3	x-Utah Jazz	37	13	.740	–
4	x-Los Angeles Lakers	31	19	.620	6
5	x-Houston Rockets	31	19	.620	6
6	x-Sacramento Kings	27	23	.540	10
7	x-Phoenix Suns	27	23	.540	10
8	x-Minnesota Timberwolves	25	25	.500	12

9	Seattle SuperSonics	25	25	.500	12
10	Golden State Warriors	21	29	.420	16
11	Dallas Mavericks	19	31	.380	18
12	Denver Nuggets	14	36	.280	23
13	Los Angeles Clippers	9	41	.180	28
14	Vancouver Grizzlies	8	42	.160	29

Playoffs

Game log

1999 playoff game log

First Round: 0–3 (Home: 0–1; Road: 0–2)

Game	Date Time	Team	Score	High points	High rebounds	High assists	Location Attendance	Series
1	May 8	@ Portland	L 85–95	Jason Kidd (17)	Tom Gugliotta (9)	Jason Kidd (7)	Rose Garden 20,040	0–1
2	May 10	@ Portland	L 99–110	Pat Garrity, George McCloud (15)	Tom Gugliotta (9)	Jason Kidd (12)	Rose Garden 20,588	0–2
3	May 12	Portland	L 93–103	Clifford Robinson (24)	Tom Gugliotta, Clifford Robinson (7)	Jason Kidd (12)	America West Arena 17,306	0–3

1999 playoff schedule

Awards and honors

Week/Month

Jason Kidd was named Player of the Month for April.
Jason Kidd was named Player of the Week for games played April 12 through April 18.

All-Star

All-Star weekend was cancelled due to the 1998–99 NBA lockout.

Season

Jason Kidd was named to the All-NBA First Team. Kidd also finished fifth in MVP voting.
Jason Kidd was named to the All-Defensive First Team.
Clifford Robinson finished seventh in Defensive Player of the Year voting, and finished tenth in Most Improved Player voting.
Jason Kidd led the league in assists per game with a 10.8 average, and total assists with 539.
Jason Kidd led the league in minutes played with 2060.

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
Bailey, Toby !Toby Bailey	27	10	9.2	.395	.200	.692	2.0	0.5	.3	.1	2.9
Brown, Gerald !Gerald Brown	33	0	7.2	.371	.300	.786	0.7	0.9	.2	.0	2.4
Chapman, Rex !Rex Chapman	38	35	31.1	.359	.351	.835#	2.7	2.9	.9	.2	12.1
Garrity, Pat !Pat Garrity	39	9	13.8	.500†	.389	.714	1.9	0.5	.2	.1	5.6
Gugliotta, Tom !Tom Gugliotta	43	43	36.3	.483	.286	.794	8.9	2.8	1.4	.5	17.0
Kidd, Jason !Jason Kidd	50	50	41.2	.444	.366	.757	6.8	10.8	2.3	.4	16.9
Kleine, Joe !Joe Kleine	31	5	12.1	.405	.000	.667	2.2	0.4	.3	.0	2.2
Livingston, Randy !Randy Livingston	1	0	22.0	.625†	.	1.000#	2.0	3.0	2.0	.0	12.0
Longley, Luc !Luc Longley	39	39	23.9	.483	.	.776	5.7	1.2	.6	.5	8.7
Manning, Danny !Danny Manning	50	5	23.7	.484†	.111	.696	4.4	2.3	.7	.8	9.1
McCloud, George !George McCloud	48	16	25.9	.438	.416	.862#	3.4	1.6	.9	.3	8.9
Milič, Marko !Marko Milič	11	0	4.8	.400	.000	.	0.5	0.2	.3	.1	1.5
Morris, Chris !Chris Morris	44	2	12.2	.430	.286	.870#	2.8	0.5	.4	.3	4.2
Oliver, Jimmy !Jimmy Oliver	2	0	5.5	.333	1.000^	.	0.0	0.0	.0	.0	1.5
Respert, Shawn !Shawn Respert	12	1	8.3	.361	.308	.700	1.1	0.7	.4	.0	3.1
Robinson, Clifford !Clifford Robinson	50	35	34.8	.475	.417^	.697	4.5	2.6	1.5	1.2	16.4
Sims, Alvin !Alvin Sims	4	0	6.3	.400	1.000^	.400	1.0	1.3	.5	.0	2.8

† - Minimum 183 field goals made.
^ - Minimum 34 three-pointers made.
# - Minimum 76 free throws made.

Playoffs

Player	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3FG%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
Brown, Gerald !Gerald Brown	1	0	1.0	1.000	.	.	0.0	0.0	.0	.0	2.0
Chapman, Rex !Rex Chapman	3	3	19.0	.286	.333	.750	2.0	2.0	.3	.0	5.7
Garrity, Pat !Pat Garrity	3	0	17.3	.529	1.000^	1.000#	3.0	0.3	.3	.3	9.0
Gugliotta, Tom !Tom Gugliotta	3	3	39.3	.371	.	.750	8.3	3.3	1.3	1.0	10.7
Kidd, Jason !Jason Kidd	3	3	42.0	.419	.250	.714	2.3	10.3	1.7	.3	15.0
Kleine, Joe !Joe Kleine	1	0	5.0	.500	.	.	1.0	0.0	1.0	1.0	2.0
Livingston, Randy !Randy Livingston	3	0	8.0	.400	.000	1.000#	2.3	0.7	.3	.0	5.3
Longley, Luc !Luc Longley	3	2	17.0	.167	.	.	3.0	0.3	1.0	.0	1.3
Manning, Danny !Danny Manning	3	1	26.3	.583	.	.769#	1.7	2.0	1.3	.0	12.7
McCloud, George !George McCloud	3	0	26.7	.433	.450^	.700	4.3	0.7	1.7	.0	14.0
Morris, Chris !Chris Morris	1	0	10.0	1.000	1.000^	.000	1.0	0.0	.0	.0	5.0
Robinson, Clifford !Clifford Robinson	3	3	39.0	.475	.222	.636	5.3	2.7	2.0	.3	15.7

^ - Minimum 5 three-pointers made.
# - Minimum 10 free throws made.

Transactions

Trades

June 24, 1998	To Los Angeles Lakers---- Future considerations	To Phoenix Suns---- Rights to Toby Bailey
June 24, 1998	To Dallas Mavericks---- Steve Nash	To Phoenix Suns---- Martin Müürsepp Bubba Wells Rights to Pat Garrity 1999 first-round draft pick ( Shawn Marion)
January 23, 1999	To Chicago Bulls---- Mark Bryant Martin Müürsepp Bubba Wells 1999 first-round draft pick ( Ron Artest)	To Phoenix Suns---- Luc Longley

Free agents

Additions

Date	Player	Contract	Former Team
January 22, 1999	George McCloud	Re-signed to 1-year contract for $750,000	Phoenix Suns
January 22, 1999	Horacio Llamas	Re-signed to 1-year contract for $425,000	Phoenix Suns
January 22, 1999	James Collins	Undisclosed	Jacksonville Barracudas (USBL)
January 22, 1999	Joe Kleine	Signed to 1-year contract for $1 million	Phoenix Suns
January 22, 1999	Marko Milič	Re-signed to 1-year contract for $350,000	Phoenix Suns
January 22, 1999	Tom Gugliotta	Signed to 6-year contract for $58.5 million	Minnesota Timberwolves
January 24, 1999	Jamie Feick	Undisclosed	Milwaukee Bucks
January 25, 1999	Clifford Robinson	Re-signed to 1-year contract for $3.5 million	Portland Trail Blazers
January 25, 1999	Gerald Brown	Signed to 1-year contract for $287,500
January 25, 1999	Rex Chapman	Re-signed to 6-year contract for $22.1 million	Phoenix Suns
January 29, 1999	Shawn Respert	Signed to 1-year contract	Phoenix Suns
February 3, 1999	Chris Morris	Signed to 1-year contract for $1 million	Utah Jazz
March 3, 1999	Jimmy Oliver	Signed 10-day contract	Ducato Siena (Italy)
April 28, 1999	Alvin Sims	Signed for rest of season
May 4, 1999	Randy Livingston	Signed for rest of season	Atlanta Hawks

Subtractions

Date	Player	Reason Left	New Team
May 18, 1998	Kevin Johnson	Renounced rights	Phoenix Suns
January 21, 1999	Mike Brown	Free agent	Olympiacos (Greece)
January 22, 1999	Antonio McDyess	Free agent	Denver Nuggets
January 22, 1999	Loren Meyer	Free agent	Denver Nuggets
January 22, 1999	John "Hot Rod" Williams	Free agent	Dallas Mavericks
January 24, 1999	Dennis Scott	Free agent	New York Knicks
January 29, 1999	Jamie Feick	Waived	Milwaukee Bucks
February 2, 1999	James Collins	Waived	La Crosse Bobcats (CBA)
March 2, 1999	Shawn Respert	Waived	Adecco Milano (Italy)
April 7, 1999	Jimmy Oliver	Waived	Iraklio (Greece)
May 4, 1999	Alvin Sims	Waived

References

↑ "Tyronn Lue NBA & ABA Statistics". basketball-reference.com.
↑ "Greg Buckner NBA & ABA Statistics". basketball-reference.com.

Standings on Basketball Reference

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

2010s

1998–99 NBA season by team

Eastern

Atlantic	Boston Miami New Jersey New York Orlando Philadelphia Washington

Central	Atlanta Charlotte Chicago Cleveland Detroit Indiana Milwaukee Toronto

Western

Midwest	Dallas Denver Houston Minnesota San Antonio Utah Vancouver

Pacific	Golden State L.A. Clippers L.A. Lakers Phoenix Portland Sacramento Seattle

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