2000–01 Phoenix Suns season

The 2000–01 Phoenix Suns season was the 33rd season for the Phoenix Suns in the National Basketball Association.

Season summary

Off-season During the off-season, the Suns signed free agents Mario Elie, and Tony Delk, and acquired Chris Dudley from the New York Knicks in a four-team trade.

For the season, the Suns redesigned their primary logo, adding gray to their color scheme of purple and orange. The team also redesigned their home and road uniforms, adding side panels to their jerseys and shorts. The team's new primary logo, and new uniforms would both remain in use until 2013.

Regular season In their first full season with Scott Skiles as head coach, along with the addition of Delk and Elie, the Suns posted a seven-game winning streak early into the regular season, and held a 28–20 record at the All-Star break. The team posted another seven-game winning streak between March and April, and finished in third place in the Pacific Division with a 51–31 record, which earned them the sixth seed in the Western Conference; the Suns qualified for the NBA playoffs for the 13th consecutive year, which was a franchise record.

Second-year forward Shawn Marion showed improvement averaging 17.3 points, 10.7 rebounds, 1.7 steals and 1.4 blocks per game, while Jason Kidd averaged 16.9 points, 6.4 rebounds, 9.8 assists and 2.2 steals per game, and was named to the All-NBA First Team, and to the NBA All-Defensive First Team, and Clifford Robinson provided the team with 16.4 points and 4.1 rebounds per game. In addition, Delk and last season's Sixth Man of the Year, Rodney Rogers, both played sixth man roles off the bench, as Delk contributed 12.3 points per game, while Rogers provided with 12.2 points, 4.4 rebounds and 1.2 steals per game. Meanwhile, Penny Hardaway was the team's highest-paid player, but only played in just four games due to a knee injury, averaging 9.8 points, 3.8 assists and 1.5 steals per game, while Tom Gugliotta averaged 6.4 points and 4.5 rebounds per game, but only played 57 games also due to injury, rookie center, and second-round draft pick Jake Tsakalidis provided with 4.5 points and 4.2 rebounds per game, and Elie contributed 4.4 points per game.

During the NBA All-Star weekend at the MCI Center in Washington, D.C., Kidd was selected for the 2001 NBA All-Star Game, as a member of the Western Conference All-Star team. In addition, Kidd also participated in the NBA 2Ball Competition for the second consecutive year, along with Brandy Reed of the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury, while Marion was selected for the NBA Rookie Challenge Game, as a member of the Sophomores team. Kidd finished in eighth place in Most Valuable Player voting, while Marion finished in fourth place in Most Improved Player voting; Kidd and Marion both finished tied in eleventh place in Defensive Player of the Year voting, while Rogers finished tied in sixth place in Sixth Man of the Year voting, and with Delk finishing tied in tenth place.

The Suns finished ninth in the NBA in home-game attendance, with an attendance of 737,586 at the America West Arena during the regular season.

NBA playoffs In the Western Conference First Round of the 2001 NBA playoffs, the Suns faced off against the 3rd–seeded Sacramento Kings, who were led by All-Star forward Chris Webber, Peja Stojaković, and All-Star center Vlade Divac. The Suns won Game 1 over the Kings on the road, 86–83 at the ARCO Arena II, but then lost the next three games, which included a Game 4 home loss to the Kings at the America West Arena, 89–82, thus losing the series in four games.

Aftermath Following the season, Kidd was traded to the New Jersey Nets after four in a half seasons with the Suns, while Robinson was traded to the Detroit Pistons, Dudley re-signed as a free agent with his former team, the Portland Trail Blazers, and Elie retired.

Offseason

NBA draft

Round Pick Player Position Nationality College / Club Team 1 25 Iakovos "Jake" Tsakalidis Center AEK (Greece)

Roster

Regular season

Standings

Playoffs

Awards and honors

All-Star Jason Kidd was voted as a starter for the Western Conference in the All-Star Game. It was his fourth All-Star selection. Kidd finished second in voting among Western Conference guards with 1,062,837 votes.

Season Jason Kidd was named to the All-NBA First Team. Kidd also finished eighth in MVP voting. Jason Kidd was named to the NBA All-Defensive First Team. Kidd also finished 11th in Defensive Player of the Year voting. Jason Kidd led the league in assists per game, with a 9.8 average, and total assists with 753. Shawn Marion finished 11th in Defensive Player of the Year voting, and fourth in Most Improved Player voting. Rodney Rogers finished sixth in Sixth Man of the Year voting. Rogers won the award the previous year in 2000. Tony Delk finished tenth in Sixth Man of the Year voting.

Player statistics

Season PlayerGPGSMPGFG%3P%FT%RPGAPGSPGBPGPPG * 30 6 12.9 .489† . .533 2.8 0.3 .4 .2 1.8 * 36 0 14.6 .528† .000 .893^ 1.4 1.8 .6 .1 4.9 82 11 27.9 .415 .321 .787 3.2 2.0 .9 .2 12.3 53 33 11.6 .397 . .389 3.5 0.3 .3 .5 1.4 68 67 22.1 .423 .360 .797 2.3 1.9 .9 .2 4.4 * 10 0 6.2 .467 . .250 2.2 0.4 .2 .1 1.6 57 2 20.3 .392 .250 .792 4.5 1.0 .8 .4 6.4 4 4 28.0 .417 .250 .636 4.5 3.8 1.5 .3 9.8 77 76 39.8 .411 .297 .814^ 6.4 9.8 2.2 .3 16.9 79 79 36.2 .480† .256 .810 10.7 2.0 1.7 1.4 17.3 * 33 0 9.3 .490† .000 .750 1.5 0.5 .4 .1 3.4 * 43 6 10.7 .465 .250 .727 1.0 1.7 .4 .0 3.2 82 82 33.5 .422 .361 .709 4.1 2.9 1.1 1.0 16.4 82 3 26.6 .430 .296 .761 4.4 2.2 1.2 .6 12.2 54 2 10.8 .478 . .689 1.9 0.2 .3 .4 3.1 57 39 16.6 .470 . .593 4.2 0.3 .2 1.0 4.5

* – Stats with the Suns. † – Minimum 300 field goals made. ^ – Minimum 125 free throws made.

Playoffs PlayerGPGSMPGFG%3P%FT%RPGAPGSPGBPGPPG 3 0 8.7 .571 . . 0.7 1.7 .0 .0 2.7 4 0 28.5 .419 .400 .636 4.0 1.0 .8 .0 11.8 3 0 8.7 .500 . . 2.3 0.0 .3 .3 0.7 4 4 25.8 .452 .154 .750 3.3 1.8 .8 .3 9.0 4 0 21.5 .308 . .778 3.8 0.8 2.0 .3 5.8 4 4 41.5 .319 .235 .750 6.0 13.3 2.0 .0 14.3 4 4 34.8 .371 1.000 .857 8.3 0.8 1.5 1.5 14.8 2 0 8.5 .600 .000 1.000 2.0 2.0 1.0 .0 6.5 4 4 28.5 .420 .250 .636 4.0 1.0 1.5 .5 15.0 4 0 20.5 .300 .200 .643 3.5 0.5 .5 .8 8.8 1 0 12.0 .500 . . 5.0 0.0 .0 2.0 2.0 4 4 18.8 .375 . . 7.0 0.0 .0 1.8 3.0

Player statistics citation:

Transactions

Trades September 20, 2000 To New York Knicks Lazaro Borrell Travis Knight Luc Longley Vernon Maxwell Glen Rice Vladimir Stepania 2001 first-round draft pick ( Jamaal Tinsley) 2001 second-round draft pick ( Eric Chenowith) 2001 second-round draft pick ( Michael Wright 2002 first-round draft pick ( Kareem Rush) To Los Angeles Lakers Emanual Davis Greg Foster Horace Grant Chuck Person To Seattle SuperSonics Patrick Ewing To Phoenix Suns Chris Dudley 2001 first-round draft pick ( Jason Collins) Cash considerations January 26, 2001 To Golden State Warriors Corie Blount Rubén Garcés Paul McPherson To Phoenix Suns Vinny Del Negro

Free agents

Additions Date Player Contract Former Team August 1, 2000 Tony Delk Signed to 6-year contract for $19 million Sacramento Kings August 2, 2000 Daniel Santiago Signed to 1-year contract for $317,000 Pallacanestro Varese (Italy) August 3, 2000 Corie Blount Re-signed to 2-year contract for $3.2 million Phoenix Suns August 3, 2000 Justin Love Undisclosed August 3, 2000 Rubén Garcés Signed to 1-year contract for $317,000 La Crosse Bobcats (CBA) August 22, 2000 Paul McPherson Signed to 1-year contract for $317,000 September 15, 2000 Mario Elie Signed to 1-year contract for $1 million San Antonio Spurs September 29, 2000 Carlos Daniel Undisclosed Yakima Sun Kings (CBA) September 29, 2000 DeJuan Wheat Undisclosed Idaho Stampede (CBA) September 29, 2000 Lelan McDougal Undisclosed Billings RimRockers (IBA) September 29, 2000 Tim Kempton Undisclosed Toronto Raptors October 1, 2000 J. R. Koch Undisclosed Athlon Ieper (Belgium) October 1, 2000 Reed Rawlings Undisclosed December 8, 2000 Elliot Perry Undisclosed Orlando Magic January 17, 2001 Elliot Perry Signed two 10-day contracts Phoenix Suns February 6, 2001 Elliot Perry Signed for rest of season Phoenix Suns

Subtractions Date Player Reason left New team June 30, 2000 Toby Bailey Free agent Los Angeles Stars (ABA) August 8, 2000 Kevin Johnson Retired August 31, 2000 Randy Livingston Waived Golden State Warriors September 13, 2000 Don MacLean Free agent Miami Heat October 6, 2000 J. R. Koch Waived Las Vegas Silver Bandits (IBL) October 6, 2000 Lelan McDougal Waived San Diego Wildfire (ABA) October 16, 2000 Carlos Daniel Waived Sioux Falls Skyforce (IBL) October 16, 2000 Reed Rawlings Waived Detroit Dogs (ABA) October 25, 2000 DeJuan Wheat Waived Panteras de Miranda (Venezuela) October 25, 2000 Justin Love Waived Kansas City Knights (ABA) October 25, 2000 Tim Kempton Waived November 20, 2000 Rex Chapman Retired January 5, 2001 Elliot Perry Waived Phoenix Suns

Player Transactions Citation:

References

External links Standings on Basketball Reference

2000–01 Phoenix Suns season

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