2005–06 Phoenix Suns season

2005–06 Phoenix Suns season
Division Champions
Head coach	Mike D'Antoni
General manager	Bryan Colangelo, Mike D'Antoni
Owner(s)	Robert Sarver
Arena	America West Arena, US Airways Center
Results
Record	54–28 (.659)
Place	Division: 1st Conference: 2nd
Playoff finish	Lost in Conference Finals to Dallas (2–4)
Local media
Television	FSN Arizona, KUTP
Radio	KTAR

The 2005–06 Phoenix Suns season was the 38th season of the franchise in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Suns were led by head coach Mike D'Antoni, posting a 54–28 record, second best in the Western Conference. All home games were played at the former America West Arena, which changed its name to US Airways Center in January 2006.

The Suns looked to improve on their league best 62–20 record and a trip to the Western Conference Finals in the 2004–05 season. The Suns suffered a major setback before the season, when All-Star Amar'e Stoudemire underwent microfracture surgery on his left knee. Stoudemire would return for just 3 games, before undergoing another surgery on his right knee. The team was led by defending MVP Steve Nash and All-Star Shawn Marion. Marion would lead the team in points (21.8), rebounds (11.8), steals (2.0) and blocks (1.7) per game. Nash would lead the league in assists with 10.5 a game, while posting a career high 18.8 points a game, earning his second consecutive MVP award.

With injuries to Stoudemire and backup forward/center Kurt Thomas, the Suns looked to second year forward Boris Diaw to fill in the middle. Listed in the Suns media guide as a guard before the season, the 6'8" Diaw would start at small forward, power forward and center throughout the season, posting 13 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists and a block a game, earning Most Improved Player honors.

In the first round of the playoffs, the Suns fell into a 1–3 hole against their longtime rivals, the Los Angeles Lakers. They would become just the at the time eighth team in NBA history to recover from a 3–1 deficit, winning the final three games of the series to advance to the Semifinals. They would defeat the Lakers' Staples Center co-tenants, the Los Angeles Clippers, in another hard-fought seven-game series. The Suns eventually fell in the Conference Finals to the Dallas Mavericks in six games.

Offseason

NBA Draft

Main article: 2005 NBA Draft

Round	Pick	Player	Position	Nationality	College
1	21	Nate Robinson	Guard	United States	Washington
2	57	Marcin Gortat	Center	Poland

Roster

Phoenix Suns roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Nat. Name Height Weight DOB (Y-M-D) From G 10 Barbosa, Leandro 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 176 lb (80 kg) 1982-11-28 Brazil G 19 Bell, Raja 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 204 lb (93 kg) 1976-09-19 Florida International C 11 Burke, Pat 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) 250 lb (113 kg) 1973-12-14 Auburn F/C 3 Diaw, Boris 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 215 lb (98 kg) 1982-04-16 France F 55 Grant, Brian 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 254 lb (115 kg) 1972-03-05 Xavier G 50 House, Eddie 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 180 lb (82 kg) 1978-05-14 Arizona State F 22 Jones, James 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 225 lb (102 kg) 1980-10-04 Miami F 31 Marion, Shawn 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 220 lb (100 kg) 1978-05-07 UNLV G 13 Nash, Steve (C) 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 195 lb (88 kg) 1974-02-07 Santa Clara F/C 32 Stoudemire, Amar'e  6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 245 lb (111 kg) 1982-11-16 Cypress Creek HS F/C 40 Thomas, Kurt  6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 230 lb (104 kg) 1972-10-04 Texas Christian F 2 Thomas, Tim 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 230 lb (104 kg) 1977-02-26 Villanova G/F 1 Thompson, Dijon  6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 195 lb (88 kg) 1982-02-23 UCLA F 15 Tskitishvili, Nikoloz 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) 225 lb (102 kg) 1983-04-14 Georgia (country)	Head coach Mike D'Antoni (Marshall) Assistant coach(es) Dan D'Antoni (Marshall) Alvin Gentry (Appalachian State) Marc Iavaroni (Virginia) Todd Quinter (Lebanon Valley) Phil Weber (North Carolina State) Legend (C) Team captain (DP) Unsigned draft pick (FA) Free agent (S) Suspended Injured

Depth chart

Pos.	Starter	Bench	Reserve	Inactive
C	Boris Diaw	Pat Burke	Kurt Thomas	Amar'e Stoudemire
PF	Shawn Marion	Brian Grant	Nikoloz Tskitishvili
SF	Tim Thomas	James Jones
SG	Raja Bell	Leandro Barbosa		Dijon Thompson
PG	Steve Nash	Eddie House

Regular season

Standings

Pacific Division	W	L	PCT	GB	Home	Road	Div
y-Phoenix Suns	54	28	.659	-	31–10	23–18	10–6
x-Los Angeles Clippers	47	35	.573	7	27–14	20–21	7–9
x-Los Angeles Lakers	45	37	.549	9	27–14	18–23	9–7
x-Sacramento Kings	44	38	.537	10	27–14	17–24	10–6
Golden State Warriors	34	48	.415	20	21–20	13–28	4–12

Awards and honors

100px

Steve Nash

Shawn Marion

Boris Diaw

Week/Month

• Shawn Marion was named Western Conference Player of the Month for February.
• Steve Nash was named Western Conference Player of the Week for games played November 21 through November 27.
• Shawn Marion was named Western Conference Player of the Week for games played December 26 through January 1.
• Steve Nash was named Western Conference Player of the Week for games played January 2 through January 8.

All-Star

• Steve Nash was voted as a starter for the Western Conference in the All-Star Game. It was his fourth All-Star selection. Nash finished second in voting among Western Conference guards with 1,818,230 votes.
• Shawn Marion was selected as a reserve for the Western Conference in the All-Star Game. It was his third All-Star selection. Marion finished ninth in voting among Western Conference forwards with 285,505 votes.
• Raja Bell was selected to compete in the Three-Point Shootout. Bell did not participate due to personal issues and was replaced by Gilbert Arenas.
• Steve Nash was selected to compete in the Skills Challenge. Nash lost the competition to Dwyane Wade.
• Team Phoenix, consisting of Shawn Marion, Kelly Miller and Dan Majerle, competed in the Shooting Stars Competition, losing to Team San Antonio.

Season

• Steve Nash received the Most Valuable Player Award.
• Boris Diaw received the Most Improved Player Award.
• Steve Nash was named to the All-NBA First Team.
• Shawn Marion was named to the All-NBA Third Team. Marion also finished seventh in Defensive Player of the Year voting.
• Steve Nash led the league in assists per game with a 10.5 average, and total assists with 826.
• Steve Nash led the league in free throw percentage, making 92.1% of his attempts.
• Raja Bell finished 13th in Defensive Player of the Year voting, and 23rd in Most Improved Player voting.
• Leandro Barbosa finished seventh in Sixth Man of the Year voting.
• Eddie House finished 13th in Sixth Man of the Year voting.

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
Leandro Barbosa	57	11	27.9	.481	.444	.755	2.6	2.8	.8	.1	13.1
Andre Barrett*	2	0	10.5	.429	.000	1.000^	1.5	1.0	.0	.0	4.5
Raja Bell	79	79	37.5	.457	.442	.788	3.2	2.6	1.0	.3	14.7
Pat Burke	42	0	8.2	.496	.286	.619	1.7	0.4	.1	.3	3.4
Josh Davis*	1	0	5.0	.333	.000	.667	1.0	0.0	1.0	.0	4.0
Boris Diaw	81	70	35.5	.526†	.267	.731	6.9	6.2	.7	1.0	13.3
Sharrod Ford	3	0	4.3	.667†	.	.	1.0	0.0	.0	.3	1.3
Brian Grant	21	2	11.8	.415	.	.875	2.7	0.3	.2	.1	2.9
Eddie House	81	0	17.5	.422	.389	.805	1.6	1.8	.5	.1	9.8
Jim Jackson*	27	1	15.6	.295	.222	.692	2.4	1.1	.4	.2	3.7
James Jones	75	24	23.6	.418	.386	.851	3.4	0.8	.5	.7	9.3
Shawn Marion	81	81	40.3	.525	.331	.809	11.8	1.8	2.0	1.7	21.8
Steve Nash	79	79	35.4	.512	.439	.921^	4.2	10.5	.8	.2	18.8
Amar'e Stoudemire	3	3	16.7	.333	.000	.889	5.3	0.7	.3	1.0	8.7
Kurt Thomas	53	50	26.6	.486	.	.815	7.8	1.1	.4	1.0	8.6
Tim Thomas*	26	10	24.4	.435	.429	.667	4.9	0.7	.6	.2	11.0
Dijon Thompson	10	0	4.3	.440	.364	1.000^	1.1	0.1	.3	.1	2.8
Nikoloz Tskitishvili*	12	0	7.2	.364	.333	.667	1.7	0.3	.1	.2	2.8

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

Playoffs

Player	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3FG%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
Leandro Barbosa	20	3	31.6	.470	.391	.862	1.6	2.7	.8	.2	14.2
Raja Bell	17	17	39.6	.479	.465^	.829	2.8	2.2	.6	.2	13.6
Pat Burke	3	0	2.3	.500	.500^	.000	1.0	0.0	.0	.3	1.7
Boris Diaw	20	20	39.8	.526	.429	.761	6.7	5.2	.9	1.1	18.7
Brian Grant	5	0	2.4	.333	.	.000	0.4	0.0	.0	.0	0.4
Eddie House	14	0	9.3	.365	.214	.750	0.6	0.4	.1	.1	3.1
James Jones	20	6	17.7	.341	.308	.846	3.6	0.3	.3	.9	4.3
Shawn Marion	20	20	42.5	.489	.314	.881	11.7	1.6	1.9	1.2	20.4
Steve Nash	20	20	39.9	.502	.368	.912	3.7	10.2	.4	.3	20.4
Kurt Thomas	1	0	6.0	.	.	.500	1.0	0.0	.0	.0	1.0
Tim Thomas	20	14	31.8	.491	.444	.776	6.3	1.3	.9	.4	15.1
Nikoloz Tskitishvili	4	0	2.0	.000	.000	.500	0.3	0.5	.0	.0	0.3

^ - Minimum 5 three-pointers made.