Record 59–23 (.720) | Arena America West Arena | |
The 1994–95 NBA season was the 27th season for the Phoenix Suns of the National Basketball Association. The Suns were led by Paul Westphal, in his third year as head coach of the Suns. The Suns had finished the regular season with 59 wins, the first time in the franchise's history they had ended the season with 55 or more wins for three consecutive seasons. The Suns swept the Portland Trail Blazers in three shraight games in the first round of the playoffs, but for the second year in a row, had their playoff run stopped in a Western Conference Semifinals' Game 7 loss at the hands of the Houston Rockets. All home games were played at America West Arena.
Contents
The Suns were again led in both scoring and rebounding by All-Star Charles Barkley, averaging 23.0 points 11.1 rebounds for the season. In the offseason, the Suns had acquired free agents Danny Manning and Wayman Tisdale. Manning, who was coming off an All-Star year would average 17.9 points a game, but the oft-injured Manning appeared in just 46 games in his first season in Phoenix and would not be available for the Suns' playoff run. For point guard Kevin Johnson, the injury that had allowed him to start in just 35 of 47 games in the regular season happened earlier enough in the season he would be able to play in the Suns' fourth consecutive Western Conference Semifinals. Johnson would average a team-high 7.7 assists and 15.5 points during the regular season.
Dan Majerle finished the season tied for second in made three-point field goals, 199, and averaged 15.6 points for the Suns. The Suns front court was supplanted by A.C. Green's 11.2 points and 8.2 rebounds and Tisdale's 10 points per game. The Suns' pick in the draft was used to select Wesley Person, a shooting guard out of Auburn, who contributed 10.4 points a game while connecting on a team-high 43.6% of his three-pointers. By season's end, Person was selected to the NBA All-Rookie Second Team.
Barkley was named to his ninth All-Star Game, joined by Majerle, who was selected for his third and final All-Star Game. Barkley repeated as an All-NBA Second Team selection. Following the season, Majerle was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers and Danny Ainge retired.
For the season, the Suns added black alternate road uniforms, which would last until 2000.
NBA draft
The Suns used their first-round pick to select shooting guard Wesley Person from Auburn. Person averaged 19.1 points, 6.5 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game in four years with the Tigers. Person would be named to the NBA All-Rookie Second Team after averaging 10.4 points a game, and shooting .436% from the three-point line. Person would spend three seasons with the Suns before being traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers in 1997.
The Suns received the 29th pick from a trade with the San Antonio Spurs in 1993. With the pick they would select small forward Antonio Lang from Duke. Lang won National Championships with the Blue Devils in 1991 and 1992. Lang spent the majority of the year on the injured list, and was later traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers in 1995.
The Suns used their second-round pick to select center Charles Claxton from Georgia. Claxton would opt to play his final year with the Bulldogs. The Suns also received the 52nd pick from a trade with the New York Knicks in 1991. With the pick they would select point guard Anthony Goldwire from Houston. Goldwire was waived three days before the start of the season. He would later play for nine NBA teams over the course of eight seasons.
Week/Month
All-Star
Season
Injuries/Missed games
Season
† – Minimum 300 field goals made.
^ – Minimum 50 three-pointers made.
# – Minimum 125 free-throws made.
+ – Minimum 50 games played.
Playoffs
^ – Minimum 5 three-pointers made.