2012–13 Phoenix Suns season

The 2012–13 Phoenix Suns season was the organization's 45th season in the

• June 28, 2012: The 2012 NBA draft took place at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
• July 1, 2012: The NBA free agency has begun.
• July 4, 2012: The Suns do a
  sign-and-trade with the Los Angeles Lakers to exchange star point guard Steve Nash for two first round Lakers draft picks in 2013 (from the Miami Heat via the L.A. Lakers) and 2018 (due to 2015 having Top–5 protection and both 2016 & 2017 having Top-3 protection), as well as two second round picks in 2013 (from the Denver Nuggets via the L.A. Lakers) and 2014 (which eventually got traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves); Phoenix also signed forward Michael Beasley and re-signed their former back-up point guard Goran Dragić
  .
• July 11, 2012: Teams can officially sign, trade, and even amnesty players to their liking.
• July 15, 2012: The Suns used their
  amnesty clause on Josh Childress; Phoenix also officially sign former Houston Rockets players Goran Dragić & Luis Scola.^[2]
• July 20, 2012: The Suns officially sign Michael Beasley and re-sign Shannon Brown.
• July 24, 2012: The Suns sign Summer League standout P. J. Tucker.
• July 27, 2012: The Suns agree to a three-way trade with the
  New Orleans Hornets and the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Suns would send Robin Lopez and Hakim Warrick to the New Orleans Hornets and the Lakers' 2014 second round pick to the Minnesota Timberwolves, and they receive the contracts of Brad Miller and Jerome Dyson from the Hornets, as well as Wesley Johnson
  and a protected future first round draft pick from the Timberwolves.
• August 15, 2012: The Suns officially sign Jermaine O'Neal for one year, as well as waive the contracts of both Jerome Dyson & Brad Miller; Miller would officially retire a few weeks later.
• September 20, 2012:
  enlargened heart via dilated cardiomyopathy
  .
• October 31, 2012: The regular season for the Suns begins.
• January 18, 2013: Coach Alvin Gentry ended up resigning from head coaching duties.
• January 20, 2013: Lindsey Hunter is announced as the new interim head coach for the Suns; assistant coach Sean Rooks resigns from his coaching duties.
• January 21, 2013: Assistant head coach and Suns fan favorite Dan Majerle resigns from his assistant head coaching duties; Phoenix Mercury head coach Corey Gaines becomes assistant head coach for the rest of the season.
• January 23, 2013: Defensive assistant head coach Elston Turner resigns from his assistant head coaching duties; former Phoenix Suns scout and Shanghai Sharks head coach Dan Panaggio becomes assistant head coach for the rest of the season.
• February 20, 2013: The Suns trade their own
  power forward Markieff Morris. Phoenix also waives forward-center Luke Zeller
  .
• February 21, 2013: The Suns trade Sebastian Telfair to the Toronto Raptors in exchange for Hamed Haddadi and a 2014 second round pick (worst selection between the Raptors and the Sacramento Kings).

Offseason

NBA draft

Round	Pick	Player	Position	Nationality	College
1	13	Kendall Marshall	Point guard	United States	North Carolina

The Suns will once again only have pick 13 as their only first-round draft pick. The Suns used their only pick to select

Veteran players

On July 3, 2012,

On January 18, 2013, head coach Alvin Gentry was fired from head coaching duties. Gentry's firing came right after the Suns' worst opening stint in 28 years. Two days later, the Suns announced that Lindsey Hunter would surprisingly take on the role of interim head coach for the Suns instead of either Dan Majerle or Elston Turner throughout the remainder of the season. It was also announced that Sean Rooks would resign from his developmental coaching duties. A day later, Suns fan favorite Dan Majerle announced that he would resign from his assistant head coaching duties. Two days later, defensive assistant head coach Elston Turner announced his resignation from his duties as well. Because of their resignations, Phoenix Mercury head coach Corey Gaines gained a more permanent assistant coaching role for at least the rest of the season. In addition, former Suns scout and Shanghai Sharks head coach Dan Panaggio from the Chinese Basketball Association ended up becoming a new assistant head coach.

Roster

2012–13 Phoenix Suns roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Name Height Weight DOB From F 0 Beasley, Michael 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 235 lb (107 kg) 1989–01–09 Kansas State G 26 Brown, Shannon 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 210 lb (95 kg) 1985–11–29 Michigan State G 1 Dragić, Goran 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 190 lb (86 kg) 1986–05–06 Slovenia F 3 Dudley, Jared 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 225 lb (102 kg) 1985–07–10 Boston College F 8 Frye, Channing  7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) 255 lb (116 kg) 1983–05–17 Arizona G 10 Garrett, Diante (DL) 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 190 lb (86 kg) 1988–11–03 Iowa State C 4 Gortat, Marcin 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) 240 lb (109 kg) 1984–02–17 Poland C 98 Haddadi, Hamed 7 ft 2 in (2.18 m) 265 lb (120 kg) 1985–05–19 Iran G/F 2 Johnson, Wesley 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 215 lb (98 kg) 1987–07–11 Syracuse G 12 Marshall, Kendall 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 195 lb (88 kg) 1991–08–19 North Carolina F 15 Morris, Marcus 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 235 lb (107 kg) 1989–09–02 Kansas F 11 Morris, Markieff 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 245 lb (111 kg) 1989–09–02 Kansas C 20 O'Neal, Jermaine 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) 255 lb (116 kg) 1978–10–13 Eau Claire HS (SC) F 14 Scola, Luis 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 245 lb (111 kg) 1980–04–30 Argentina F 17 Tucker, P. J. 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 224 lb (102 kg) 1985–05–05 Texas	Head coach Alvin Gentry Lindsey Hunter (interim) Assistant coach(es) Igor Kokoškov Ralph Sampson Corey Gaines Noel Gillespie Dan Panaggio Legend (C) Team captain (DP) Unsigned draft pick (FA) Free agent (S) Suspended (DL) On assignment to D-League affiliate Injured

Salaries

Because the Suns decided to amnesty Josh Childress' contract, he still gets paid the $6,500,000 that he would have been owed had he played for the Suns this season. While he still gets paid money out of being amnestied from the team for two more seasons, his salary does not actually affect the Suns' actual salary cap.^[11] In addition, since Brad Miller's contract guaranteed him around $850,000 this season, he was paid that salary despite being waived by the team and retiring in the process. Also, because Luke Zeller was waived from the team after January 10, 2013, came to fruition, his rookie salary of $473,604 ended up being counted by the Suns' salary cap as well since his contract was guaranteed by that point of the season.

Pre-season

Game log

Regular season

Standings

Game log

Player statistics

Season

* – Stats with the Suns.

Awards and records

Awards

Week/month

All-Star

Records

Team records

Milestones

• During this season,
  list of National Basketball Association career blocks leaders
  , recording 72 blocks throughout the season.

Team milestones

• On January 12, 2013, the Phoenix Suns became the fourth fastest NBA team (tenth team overall) to win 2,000 games with a 97–81 road victory against the Chicago Bulls. The other three fastest 2,000 win teams were the Minneapolis/Los Angeles Lakers, the Boston Celtics, and the Syracuse Nationals/Philadelphia 76ers.^[12]

Injuries/personal missed games

• September 20, 2012:
  enlargened heart via dilated cardiomyopathy
  . He would return to playing for the Suns the following season.
• November 5, 2012:
  L.A. Lakers
  on November 16.
• November 29, 2012:
  Bakersfield Jam for nine games. He returned to the roster on December 22, 2012, against the Portland Trail Blazers
  .
• January 10, 2013: Diante Garrett was assigned to the Suns' NBA D-League team: the Bakersfield Jam for seven games. He returned to the roster on January 28, 2013.
• January 23, 2013: Jermaine O'Neal was confirmed to miss seven games due to having an irregular heartbeat.^[14] He ended up returning on February 5, 2013, against the Memphis Grizzlies.
• March 5, 2013: Jermaine O'Neal would miss four games due to his daughter Asjia having surgery to repair a leaky heart valve.^[15] He ended up returning on March 13, 2013, against the Houston Rockets.
• March 6, 2013:
  Lisfranc sprain occur in his right foot during a home game against the Toronto Raptors
  .
• April 6, 2013: Diante Garrett was once again assigned to the Bakersfield Jam. He returned to the Suns a day later.
• April 11, 2013: Diante Garrett was once more assigned to the Bakersfield Jam.

^ I: The Los Angeles Lakers originally planned for their 2015 first-round pick to be conveyed to Phoenix. Due to the Lakers' poor season records in the following seasons, the selection failed to be conveyed until 2018 when the Lakers did not have any protections on that year's pick.
^ II: The Minnesota Timberwolves' second round pick the Suns were to get was originally projected to be their own second round pick at the time of the trade. However, due to stipulations between New Orleans and a future trade involving the Timberwolves, the pick that was sent to Phoenix was New Orleans' second round pick in 2016 instead of Minnesota's 2016 second round pick.
^ III: The Minnesota Timberwolves had initially planned to send their own first-round pick (top-13 protected from 2013–14; top-12 protected from 2015–16) to the Suns before they traded it away to the Boston Celtics on January 9, 2015, for Brandan Wright. However, because Minnesota could not convey a first round selection for the Celtics due to their selections in those years being protected by 2016 due to them being eliminated from playoff contention in late March 2016, the Timberwolves would convey their 2016 and 2017 second round draft picks to Boston instead.^[16]
^ IV: The Toronto Raptors sent the least favorable of their own 2014 second round pick (top-36 protected) and the Sacramento Kings' 2014 second round pick (top-55 protected) that season.

Free agents

Additions

in Germany. P. J. was also using his birth name of Anthony Tucker at that time as well.

Marcus Morris

, while Garrett was the only player to have stayed with the team at the end of the season.

Subtractions

Player	Reason Left	New Team
Steve Nash	Sign-and-traded as an unrestricted free agent	Los Angeles Lakers
Josh Childress	Amnestied[c]	Brooklyn Nets[d]
Aaron Brooks	Free Agent[e]	Sacramento Kings / Houston Rockets[f]
Grant Hill	Free Agent	Los Angeles Clippers
Ronnie Price	Free Agent	Portland Trail Blazers[g]
Robin Lopez	Sign-and-traded as a restricted free agent	New Orleans Hornets
Hakim Warrick	Traded	Charlotte Bobcats / Orlando Magic[h]
Jerome Dyson	Waived	Hapoel Holon
Brad Miller	Waived	— (Retired)[i]
Michael Redd	Free Agent / Waived	— (Retired)[i]
Luke Zeller	Waived	Austin Toros[j]
Sebastian Telfair	Traded	Toronto Raptors

^ c: Because Josh Childress was amnestied from the Suns, he still got paid the remainder of his contract with the Suns (3 Years, $21 Million), but his salary away from the team did not affect the team's overall salary cap during that time period.
^ d: Childress would get waived by the Brooklyn Nets on December 29, 2012, and would not play for the rest of the season.

his season with Guangdong officially ended

, the Suns decided not to re-sign him for a new contract that year. He was initially given a qualifying offer as a restricted free agent with restricted benefits, but he was eventually rescinded of his restricted rights and became an unrestricted free agent.
^ f: Brooks originally signed with the Sacramento Kings after the Suns decided to not use his restricted free agent rights that they initially had. Brooks continued to play for the Kings until March 1, 2013, which would be when the Kings decided to waive his contract. Four days later, Brooks decided to return to his original team, the Houston Rockets, for the rest of the season. As a result, the 2011 trade of having Goran Dragić being sent to the Houston Rockets and Aaron Brooks being sent to the Suns more or less ended up being reversed around two years later.
^ g: Ronnie Price would be waived by the Portland Trail Blazers on February 21, 2013.

power forward Josh McRoberts

. Warrick would then be waived from the Orlando Magic two days after the trade deadline; he would never play a single game for the Magic.
^ i: Even though Brad Miller announced that after last season he would retire from playing basketball, he still had obligations in his contract that allowed him to come over with the Suns. Once the Suns decided to let him go (alongside Jerome Dyson), Miller would officially announce his retirement from playing basketball. In addition, even though Michael Redd was considered a free agent after his season with the Suns was over with, he never did find a new team for him to sign up with. As a result, Redd would announce his retirement from the NBA on November 6, 2013, well over a year after being an unrestricted free agent.

Austin Toros

(which was also the last team Zeller played for before signing up with the Suns) nearly an entire year after being waived by the Suns on December 27, 2013.

See also

• 2012–13 NBA season

References

1. ^ 2012–13 Phoenix Suns
2. ^ Suns Win Waiver Auction For Luis Scola
3. ^ "South".
4. ^ "UNC Now - Kendall Marshall on setting UNC single-season assist record, Ed Cota | newsobserver.com blogs". Archived from the original on April 28, 2012. Retrieved July 6, 2012.
5. ^ Suns Acquire Josh Childress
6. ^ "Help Center - the Arizona Republic".
7. ^ "Help Center - the Arizona Republic".
8. ^ "Report: Terry Stotts, Kaleb Canales finalists for Blazers' head coaching job | SI Tracking Blog – Tracking MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL, and NCAA on Twitter". Archived from the original on August 4, 2012. Retrieved August 2, 2012.
9. ^ "Help Center - the Arizona Republic".
10. ^ "- YouTube". YouTube.
11. ^ "HoopsHype – NBA Salaries – Phoenix Suns". hoopshype.com. September 22, 2012. Retrieved September 22, 2012.
12. ^ Coro, Paul (January 12, 2013). "Suns finally get their 2,000th win with upset of Bulls". USA Today.
13. ^ "Help Center - the Arizona Republic".
14. ^ ""The main responsibility is to stay alive."". January 25, 2013.
15. ^ "Help Center - the Arizona Republic".
16. ^ "Phoenix Suns Roster - RealGM".