2014–15 Phoenix Suns season

Offseason

Draft picks

Round	Pick	Player	Position	Nationality	College / Club
1	14	T. J. Warren	Small forward	United States	North Carolina State
1	18	Tyler Ennis	Point guard	Canada	Syracuse
1	27	Bogdan Bogdanović	Shooting guard	Serbia	Partizan Belgrade
2	50	Alec Brown	Center	United States	Wisconsin–Green Bay

The Phoenix Suns had three first round picks and one second round pick this season. Their highest first round pick (the 14th pick) was their own that was also a part of the NBA draft lottery. Both of the extra draft picks the Suns had this season involved trades the Suns made last season. The 18th pick came from the

Veteran players

after this season ended, while Salmons still had before unofficially announcing his NBA retirement on September 23, 2018.

Roster

2014–15 Phoenix Suns roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Name Height Weight DOB From C 30 Barron, Earl 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) 250 lb (113 kg) 1981–08–14 Memphis PG 2 Bledsoe, Eric (C) 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 195 lb (88 kg) 1989–12–09 Kentucky SG 25 Bullock, Reggie 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 205 lb (93 kg) 1991–03–16 North Carolina SG 20 Goodwin, Archie 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 198 lb (90 kg) 1994–08–17 Kentucky SF 22 Granger, Danny 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 222 lb (101 kg) 1983–04–20 New Mexico SG 14 Green, Gerald 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 210 lb (95 kg) 1986–01–26 Gulf Shores Academy (TX) PG 3 Knight, Brandon  6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 189 lb (86 kg) 1991–12–02 Kentucky C 21 Len, Alex  7 ft 1 in (2.16 m) 265 lb (120 kg) 1993–06–16 Maryland PG 8 McNeal, Jerel 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 200 lb (91 kg) 1986–06–01 Marquette SF 15 Morris, Marcus 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 235 lb (107 kg) 1989–09–02 Kansas PF 11 Morris, Markieff 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 245 lb (111 kg) 1989–09–02 Kansas SG 23 Thornton, Marcus 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 205 lb (93 kg) 1987–06–05 LSU SF 17 Tucker, P. J. 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 224 lb (102 kg) 1985–05–05 Texas SF 12 Warren, T. J. (R) 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 220 lb (100 kg) 1993–09–05 NC State PF 32 Wright, Brandan 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 220 lb (100 kg) 1987–10–05 North Carolina	Head coach Jeff Hornacek (Iowa State) Assistant coach(es) Kenny Gattison (Old Dominion) Mike Longabardi (Frostburg State) Jerry Sichting (Purdue) Mark West (Old Dominion) Corey Gaines (Loyola Marymount) Irving Roland Legend (C) Team captain (DP) Unsigned draft pick (FA) Free agent (S) Suspended (DL) On assignment to D-League affiliate Injured Roster Last transaction: {{{access-date}}}

Salaries

Player	2014–15 Salary
Eric Bledsoe	$13,000,000
Marcus Thornton	$8,697,500
P. J. Tucker	$5,700,000
Brandan Wright	$5,000,000
Oleksiy "Alex" Len	$3,649,920
Brandon Knight	$3,553,917
Gerald Green	$3,500,000
Markieff Morris	$3,153,860
Marcus Morris	$3,105,301
Danny Granger	$2,100,000
T. J. Warren	$1,953,120
Reggie Bullock	$1,200,720
Archie Goodwin	$1,112,200
Earl Barron	$390,063
Jerel McNeal	$59,686
TOTAL	$56,176,287

Because of a few past transactions made from

• T. J. Warren earned All-NBA Second Team Las Vegas Summer League Honors due to his performance in the 2014 NBA Summer League.
• Isaiah Thomas was the runner-up for the NBA Sixth Man of the Year Award for his performances with both the Suns and the Boston Celtics.
• NBA Most Improved Player Award for his performances with the Milwaukee Bucks
  and the Suns.

• Taco Bell Skills Challenge during All-Star Weekend. His first opponent in the revamped competition was John Wall of the Washington Wizards. He'd end up being the shortest player to ever participate in the Taco Bell Skills Challenge. Thomas end up losing to the eventual champion Patrick Beverley
  (who replaced his initial first round opponent John Wall) in the first round.
  • Eventual Suns player Brandon Knight also lost to Beverley in the competition, only as the final opponent in the championship round.

Records

• When the Suns traded
  Bakersfield Jam
  (which was the first time the Suns called someone who initially came from the Jam D-League team to the Suns) to two 10 day contracts before signing back on for the rest of the season.
• On the Suns' 117–113 overtime victory over Russell Westbrook and the Oklahoma City Thunder, Eric Bledsoe recorded 28 points on 11/16 shooting, 13 rebounds, 9 assists, 4 blocks, and 1 steal. Eric was the 9th player in NBA history to record similar kinds of statistics during the regular season, as well as the first point guard to record 50% shooting for 28 or more points while grabbing 13 or more rebounds, getting 9 or more assists, 4 or more blocks, and at least one steal in a game.^[9]
• The Suns became the first (and so far, only) team in the history of the NBA to host a +43 and a -43 point differential in-between games this season, with them getting a -43 from their 117–113 overtime victory against the Oklahoma City Thunder to their brutal 101–74 loss to the defending champion San Antonio Spurs late in February, and then getting a +43 from going off of a close 74–72 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans at home to having a blowout 117–102 victory over the Houston Rockets on the road in March.

Team records

• The Suns broke their season-opening record of three-point shots made in their opening game with 16 made three-pointers in their 119–99 victory against the Los Angeles Lakers on October 29, 2014. (Their previous record was 13 on Halloween day in 2006, which coincidentally was also against the Lakers.)^[10]
• Isaiah Thomas' 23 points against the Lakers on October 29 was the most points a Suns player scored off the bench under their debut appearance with the team.^[11]
• Isaiah Thomas' 200 points in 13 games was the most scored by a bench player since Tom Chambers during the 1992–93 season.
• The two blowout road victories against the Philadelphia 76ers and Indiana Pacers on November 21 & 22, 2014 was the first time the Suns won back-to-back games on the road by 20 or more points since 2004.
• Gerald Green's 24 games where he'd make at least one three-pointer (starting with that November 21, 2014 victory against the Philadelphia 76ers and ending on their January 6, 2015 victory against the Milwaukee Bucks) tied the Suns' highest mark with his former teammate Channing Frye getting at least one three-pointer going in for 24 straight games in the 2010–11 NBA season.
• Starting on January 13, 2015 against the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Suns begin an 8-game homestand that was also the longest homestand in franchise history. With their victory over the Washington Wizards on January 28, the Suns were guaranteed to end their homestand with a winning record; they ended it with a 6–2 record.
• With the Suns getting Seth Curry on March 11, 2015, they have officially had over 10% of their all-time roster representing relatives (fathers, sons, brothers, cousins, nephews, etc.) that had also played in either the NBA and/or the ABA at one point.^[12]
• The 24 points the Suns scored in the first half of their 101–74 loss to the defending champion San Antonio Spurs on February 28, 2015 was the franchise's lowest scoring half ever. That record was broken a year later on January 3, 2016 against the Los Angeles Lakers with 22 points scored in the first half.
• The Suns' 74–72 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans on March 19, 2015 tied the fewest points scored by the Suns in a victory (tying the record set on January 30, 1998 against the Miami Heat on the road with a 74–71 victory there), as well as set the fewest points scored in a victory for the team at a home game.
• With the Suns having 23 different players getting playing time with the team at one point or another in the season, it tied the 1996–97 Phoenix Suns season for the most players to play at least one game with the Suns in a single season. That mark was matched once again next season, although for different reasons.

Milestones

• With the Suns signing
  Marcus Morris on September 29, 2014, this team marked the first time ever that different pairs of siblings/brothers played for the same team. All four players appeared for the first time in the same game under a November loss against the Los Angeles Clippers. Both pairs of brothers later made their first (and only) appearances together at the same time late in the fourth quarter and each produced numbers throughout the game in their January 2, 2015 112–96 victory against the Philadelphia 76ers
  .
• When the Suns traded
  Bakersfield Jam
  (back) on the team in the process.

• Goran Dragić surpassed forward Cedric Ceballos as the Suns' 28th best scorer of all time on the team near the start of the third quarter of the October 29, 2014 game against the Los Angeles Lakers. Goran scored 18 points as the Suns blew out the Lakers by the final score of 119–99.
• Goran surpassed center James Edwards to become the Suns' 27th best all-time scorer near the start of the third quarter by making two free throws in the Halloween game against the defending champion San Antonio Spurs. Goran scored 10 points as the Suns kept it close and won by the score of 94–89.
• Goran surpassed former
  Sixth Man of the Year small forward and current Suns broadcaster Eddie Johnson to become the Suns' 26th best all-time scorer near the end of the fourth quarter by scoring a critical layup during the last minute of the game. He scored 22 points in the November 17, 2014 game against the Boston Celtics
  as the Suns won a close one by the score of 118–114.
• Goran Dragić surpassed Hall of Fame guard Dennis Johnson to become the Suns' 25th best all-time scorer with 7.6 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter by scoring a quick layup to end the 120–112 victory on the November 26, 2014 home game against the Denver Nuggets.
• The Suns' 10–6 record was their best start to the season since the 2009–10 NBA season.
• Goran surpassed point guard
  US Airways Center
  .
• Eric Bledsoe's first ever triple-double against his former team, the Los Angeles Clippers, in overtime on December 8, 2014 was the first time a Suns player recorded a triple-double since Boris Diaw back in April 14, 2006 against the Golden State Warriors.
• Eric's second triple-double of his career on December 23, 2014 against the Dallas Mavericks was also the first time a Suns player had multiple triple-doubles in a season since Boris Diaw when he had four different triple-doubles in the 2005–06 NBA season.
• Goran Dragić tied his former teammate Grant Hill with a two-point shot near the middle of the second quarter and then surpass him with a running lay-up in the middle of the second quarter to become the Suns' 22nd best all-time scorer on December 26, 2014 against the Sacramento Kings. He recorded 16 points as the Suns beat the short-handed Kings 115–106.
• Goran tied point guard and former basketball coach
  Staples Center on December 28, 2014. He'd then surpass that total on December 30, 2014 with 8 minutes left in the first quarter against the New Orleans Pelicans at the Smoothie King Center
  in a close loss to them.
• Goran surpassed future Hall of Famer point guard and current Milwaukee Bucks head coach Jason Kidd to become the Suns' 20th best all-time scorer near the beginning of the third quarter with a fast-break layup after a winning jump-ball in the Thunder's side of the field on New Year's Eve. He'd record 21 points in a close overtime loss against the Thunder.
• When Eric Bledsoe had over 1,200 points, 400 rebounds, and 400 assists throughout this season, it made Eric the fifth Suns player to record such totals in a single season, with Jason Kidd (back in the 2000–01 NBA season), Jeff Hornacek (back in the 1991–92 NBA season), Alvan Adams (in his rookie season), and Gail Goodrich (back in the team's inaugural season) being the first to do so earlier.

Transactions

Trades

^ I: The Minnesota Timberwolves were initially going to send their own first round pick (top–12 protected from 2015–2016) to Boston moving forward. However, because Minnesota could not go over their threshold they set themselves up for the Celtics by 2016 (even with two #1 draft picks at their disposal and them both being Rookie of the Year winners), the Timberwolves conveyed their 2016 and 2017 second round draft picks to Boston instead.^[13]
^ II: Even though the Suns initially had the Miami Heat's 2017 (top–7 protected) pick as consideration for what transpired in the trade with the Dragić brothers, Philadelphia wound up with the Heat's 2016 first round pick due to an earlier trade the Heat made with the 76ers during their brief Big Trio era. As a result of the Ted Stepien Rule, the Suns were forbidden from having the Heat's 2017 protected first round pick in the event it fell outside of protection due to the fact that the Heat would be trading two first round draft picks of their own accord in a row to different teams. Because of this fact, Phoenix had to wait until 2018 (where Miami's pick was at #16 that year) before acquiring the first of Miami's two first round selections in exchange.
^ III: The Los Angeles Lakers initially sent their 2015 first round selection through an earlier trade involving the (at the time) soon-to-be-retired Steve Nash. However, their selection found itself in the top 5 that year and their 2016 and 2017 selections went into the top 3 as the second pick in each draft, so the Lakers sent their own first round pick to Philadelphia completely unprotected in 2018 instead. The selection was ultimately conveyed as a top 10 pick at #10, which resulted in it not being sent down to the Boston Celtics that year via another trade. However, the 76ers traded that selection they acquired from the Suns back to them in exchange for the two Miami Heat selections for 2018 instead of keeping that selection.

Free agents

Additions

. Even though Tolliver was on the team when they renamed the Bobcats to the Hornets, he never played for the Hornets and instead played under the old Bobcats moniker.
^ b: Both Markieff and Marcus Morris noted that they were willing to take discounts on their contracts in order to stay with each other in the future. On September 29, the Morris Twins split the total value among each other in order to sign contracts that allowed themselves to stay in Phoenix together for the long term.

Shanxi Zhongyu Brave Dragons in China

for the rest of their season. Unfortunately for Earl, Shanxi ended their season before he even got a chance to play with that team, so he ended up going back to Bakersfield on February 18, 2015. He played one more game with the Jam before signing his (first) 10-day contract with the Suns on February and later on sign for the rest of the season on March.

Erie BayHawks instead. The last official NBA team Seth played for was the Cleveland Cavaliers, but he also spent time with the Santa Cruz Warriors before the end of the 2013–14 NBA season

instead. He also played for the Suns during this season's Summer League squad in Las Vegas.
^ e: A.J. Price had initially started the season playing for the Cleveland Cavaliers around the pre-season, but like Seth Curry with the Orlando Magic, he was waived before the beginning of the season. Price then played for an injury-depleted Indiana Pacers team that was at the time without Paul George and some of their other star players on November 6, 2014 before being waived near the end of the month before returning to Cleveland on November 30, 2014 and remained on their roster until January 7, 2015.

A.J. Price off of his own 10-day contract. After making his professional debut in the league during that time, the Suns decided to sign him for the rest of the season and potentially go into the 2015–16 season

on April 11, 2015. For the remainder of this season, Jerel gained an addition $29,843 (thus giving him a total amount of $59,686 for his time with the Suns this season), while he would have maintained an additional $845,059 for the next season in his contract if he remained on the team before July 21, 2015.

Subtractions

Player	Reason left	New team
Bogdan Bogdanović	Signed a new contract	Fenerbahçe Ülker[g]
Channing Frye	Unrestricted free agent	Orlando Magic
Alex Oriakhi	Traded under a restricted free agent sign-and-trade	Sacramento Kings / Pieno Žvaigždės[h]
Ishmael "Ish" Smith	Waived / Free Agent	Houston Rockets / Oklahoma City Thunder / New Orleans Pelicans / Philadelphia 76ers[i]
Dionte Christmas	Waived / Free Agent	Paris-Levallois Basket[i]
Leandro Barbosa	Unrestricted free agent	Golden State Warriors
Alec Brown	Signed a new contract	Bakersfield Jam[g]
Chukwuemeka "Emeka" Okafor	Free Agent / Waived	Delaware 87ers / New Orleans Pelicans[j]
Anthony Tolliver	Traded	Detroit Pistons
Tony Mitchell	Waived	Atléticos de San Germán[k]
Ronald Shavlik Randolph Isaiah Thomas	Traded[l]	Boston Celtics[m]
Goran Dragić Zoran Dragić	Traded	Miami Heat[n]
Miles Plumlee Tyler Ennis	Traded	Milwaukee Bucks
Kendall Marshall	Waived	Philadelphia 76ers[o]
John Salmons	Waived	— (Retired)[o]
Seth Curry	10 Day Contract Expired	Erie BayHawks
A.J. Price	10 Day Contract Expired	Shanghai Dongfang Sharks[p]

Bakersfield Jam, for the rest of the season starting on February 11, 2015. However, Brown decided to have a second chance to play for the Obradoiro Clube de Amigos do Baloncesto

a year later on July 31, 2015.
^ h: Despite the fact that Alex Oriakhi never played for the Suns, his draft rights were still retained to the point where he even would have played for the Suns' Summer League team this season had he not been traded a day before the Las Vegas Summer League competition began. However, because the Kings had no room to offer him a spot on the team, Oriakhi sign a one-year contract to play with the Pieno Žvaigždės in Lithuania.

France on November 12, 2014, while Ishmeal signed with the Oklahoma City Thunder on November 8, 2014 thanks to their roster being depleted with many injuries around that time (especially with both star players Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook) before being traded to the New Orleans Pelicans and waived on February 19, 2015 and signing with the Philadelphia 76ers three days later after they waived Malcolm Thomas

from their roster.

Delaware 87ers officially that same year in an attempt to get back to an NBA team, which he did on February 3, 2018 with a 10-day contract signed with the New Orleans Pelicans

; Okafor signed another 10-day contract on February 13 before signing a one-year deal to remain in New Orleans on February 23, 2018.

Puerto Rico

for the rest of the 2014–15 season.
^ l: While both Shavlik Randolph and Isaiah Thomas were traded to the Celtics, they were traded for different reasons. Shavlik was traded as a part of a three-way deal involving the Los Angeles Clippers for the purpose of getting the Clippers' Reggie Bullock, while Isaiah was traded in a seven-way deal involving the Milwaukee Bucks, Miami Heat, New Orleans Pelicans, Philadelphia 76ers, and Detroit Pistons that also involved trading the Dragić brothers, Miles Plumlee, rookie guard Tyler Ennis, and the Los Angeles Lakers' Top-5 protected draft pick this year (Top-3 protected the next two years later) in exchange for Brandon Knight, Marcus Thornton, Danny Granger, Kendall Marshall, John Salmons, the 2016 first round pick Boston got from the Cleveland Cavaliers earlier (which turned out to be Skal Labissière), and two future first-round draft picks from the Miami Heat (one of which was completely unprotected).
^ m: Initially, both Randolph and Thomas stayed with the team throughout most of the season after their respective trades came up. However, Shavlik Randolph was waived on April 6, 2015, and signed with the Denver Nuggets two days later, but never played any games with them and was waived on April 9, 2015, one day after he signed the contract with Denver.
^ n: While both of the Dragić brothers played out the rest of this season with the Miami Heat, Zoran played some of his games with the Heat's D-League affiliate team, the Sioux Falls Skyforce, instead of with his older brother, Goran, at Miami.
^ o: Even though both Kendall Marshall and John Salmons were traded (back) to the Suns on the February 19, 2015 trade deadline alongside Kendall's former Bucks teammate Brandon Knight, Marcus Thornton from the Boston Celtics, and Danny Granger from the Miami Heat (and three future first round draft picks), Marshall never suited up under his second chance with the Suns in his career (as did Salmons), as they were both waived from the team on the same day, thanks (in part) due to Marshall's anterior cruciate ligament injury he sustained with the Bucks earlier in his career. Marshall signed a multi-year deal for the Philadelphia 76ers on September 13, 2015, while Salmons ultimately retired before the start of the 2018–19 season due to him being of older age than where he was at during this season.

A.J. Price did not find a new team to play under until September 11, 2015, when he signed a one-year deal to play for the Shanghai Dongfang Sharks of the Chinese Basketball Association

.

References

1. ^ 2014-15 Phoenix Suns
2. ^ Suns player P. J. Tucker accused of 'super-extreme' DUI
3. ^ Suns sign first-round picks T. J. Warren, Tyler Ennis
4. ^ Suns Recap: Phoenix Sweeps L.A. Lakers For First Time Since 2005
5. ^ Zoran Dragic informs Unicaja Malaga he'll sign with the Suns
6. ^ Zoran Dragic pone rumbo a los Suns y el Unicaja ya le busca un subsituto
7. ^ Phoenix Suns sign Eric Bledsoe to 5 year, $70 Million Deal
8. ^ "HoopsHype – NBA Salaries – Phoenix Suns". hoopshype.com. September 22, 2012. Retrieved September 22, 2012.
9. ^ "Putting Eric Bledsoe's Stat Line from Last Night in Historical Context". February 27, 2015.
10. ^ 4 Crazy Amazing Suns Stats from #SunsVsLakers
11. ^ Gamethread: Suns and Spurs play game of chicken
12. ^ "Phoenix Suns: A Family Affair". March 12, 2015.
13. ^ "Phoenix Suns Roster - RealGM".

External links

• 2014–15 Phoenix Suns preseason at ESPN
• 2014–15 Phoenix Suns regular season at ESPN