2015–16 Phoenix Suns season


The 2015–16 NBA season was the Phoenix Suns' 48th season in the NBA. It was their first season where the Suns played in the Talking Stick Resort Arena with its new name, having played there since the 1992-93 season, when it used to be called the America West Arena and then later, the U.S. Airways Center.

Key dates

Draft picks

RoundPickPlayerPositionNationalityCollege
113Devin BookerShooting guardUnited StatesKentucky
244Andrew HarrisonPoint guardUnited StatesKentucky

was selected by the Suns as their 13th pick during the 2015 NBA draft.
The Phoenix Suns have only one first round pick and one second round pick this season. Their sole first round pick was their own that was also a part of the NBA draft lottery. The Suns initially had two other draft picks as well, but they were both involved with trades the Suns made last season. Minnesota's first round pick was traded to the Boston Celtics, where Phoenix got center Brandan Wright in exchange. The Lakers' pick, however, was moved in the trade deadline extravaganza of 2015, with Phoenix gaining guard Brandon Knight from the Milwaukee Bucks in exchange for Milwaukee gaining the Suns' center Miles Plumlee and then-rookie point guard Tyler Ennis, as well as the Philadelphia 76ers' point guard Michael Carter-Williams, and Philadelphia getting the Lakers' protected first round pick out of it. The lone second round pick they have is also the pick they had on their own accord in spite of having a declining record when compared to two seasons ago in the process.
With the 13th pick, the Suns selected shooting guard Devin Booker from Kentucky University. Booker averaged 10 points off of 47% overall shooting, 2 rebounds, and 1.1 assists during 21.5 minutes of play in Kentucky's near-undefeated season as a bench player. As a result, Booker became the Southeastern Conference's Sixth Man of the Year for, and made it to the All-SEC Second Team and the SEC All-Freshmen Team. Despite coming off the bench during his college season, Booker was the most immediate successful rookie the Suns drafted in over a decade, not only finishing fourth in the NBA Rookie of the Year Award voting, but also being the first Suns rookie to make it to any All-Rookie team since 2003. With the 44th pick, the Suns selected another player from the University of Kentucky, point guard Andrew Harrison. However, the Suns traded Harrison's rights to the Memphis Grizzlies for power forward Jon Leuer. As the starting point guard with the Wildcats for two seasons, Harrison had averaged 10.1 points, 3.8 assists, and 2.7 rebounds, but his output decreasing during his second season, and was considered a likely reason for Harrison's drop from being first-round talent to falling around the middle of the second round. Another player that the Suns got, who had entered the 2015 NBA draft via graduation, but wasn't drafted, was Phoenix native Alan Williams, an undersized center/power forward from the University of California, Santa Barbara. He was well known for his rebounding abilities, to the point where he earned best rebounding numbers in not just college at his junior and senior years, but also was the leading rebounder in China for the Qingdao DoubleStar Eagles.

Free agency

Players Brandan Wright, Gerald Green, and Marcus Thornton; as well as the returning Earl Barron all became unrestricted free agents as of the end of the 2014–15 NBA season. In addition, combo guard Brandon Knight ended up being a restricted free agent. Small forward Danny Granger was also considered a candidate for unrestricted free agency, but he ended up exercising his player option to take on his final year of his contract for the rest of this season on June 17, 2015. Not only that, but one recent trade the Suns made by trading their most recent second round selection to Memphis for power forward Jon Leuer was fully guaranteed for the rest of the season after having his rights remain with the team after June 29, 2015. Point guard Jerel McNeal also had a team option that would make him an unrestricted free agent, but it had to be decided upon and met before July 21, 2015, which was around the time Phoenix's Summer League campaign ended and a good portion of free agency had been completed. However, unlike the other players that had team options with the Suns, McNeal was waived four days before his contract was guaranteed, on July 17, 2015 during the Summer League, due to his less than stellar performance there.
To start their free agency push, the Suns decided to lock down their biggest trade deadline piece last season, Brandon Knight, to a 5-year deal worth $70 million on July 1, 2015. In addition to keeping Brandon Knight, the Suns also signed up 2011 NBA Finals champion center Tyson Chandler on exactly the same day. The signing of Tyson came in conjecture to the Suns' personal meeting with Portland Trail Blazers free agent power forward LaMarcus Aldridge as well for the chance to lure him over to Phoenix. In the meantime, Brandan Wright was lost to the Memphis Grizzlies when he signed a 3-year deal worth $18 million. A day later, the Suns traded small forwards Marcus Morris, Danny Granger, and Reggie Bullock to the Detroit Pistons in exchange for the Pistons' 2020 second round selection. This move was considered a way for Phoenix to sign LaMarcus Aldridge without taking any hits on their salary cap; unfortunately for the Suns, on July 4, Aldridge instead decided to go to the rival San Antonio Spurs.
After failing to sign Aldridge, the Suns decided to sign CSKA Moscow shooting guard Sonny Weems to a two-year deal worth $5.8 million and former 2011–12 Phoenix Suns point guard Ronnie Price on a one-year deal worth $1.5 million on July 8, 2015. A day later, it was announced that the Brooklyn Nets' power forward Mirza Teletović from the nation of Bosnia & Herzegovina would sign a one-year deal worth $5.5 million, while Gerald Green would sign a one-year deal worth $3 million with the Miami Heat. Four days after the July moratorium ended, the Suns' Marcus Thornton, who they got after their trade with Isaiah Thomas signed a one-year, veteran's minimum deal with the Houston Rockets. On July 31, it was revealed that Jerel McNeal would sign to play for Aris Thessaloniki in Greece instead. After that, on September 25, 2015, center Earl Barron signed a training camp deal to play with the Atlanta Hawks Basketball Club after former Suns player Jason Richardson announced his retirement due to an injury that he feared put his health at risk, although Barron played for the Fubon Braves in Taiwan on November 17, 2015 after failing to make their regular season rotation.
On August 20, 2015, the Suns agreed to training camp deals with former Ole Miss and Yenisey Krasnoyarsk shooting guard Terrico White and former Harvard and Helios Suns Domžale small forward Kyle Casey. Five days afterwards, the Suns also decided to add former Philadelphia 76ers center Henry Sims and former Brooklyn Nets power forward Cory Jefferson towards their training camp roster as more likely potential additions to the team, as well as former Nevada Wolf Pack and Ratiopharm Ulm point guard Deonte Burton. However, all of those signings were not official until September 16, 2015. Burton did not train with the team at all and instead became the first player to be cut on October 3, 2015, which was before the team's scrimmage at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum. After that, the Suns waived both Terrico White and Kyle Casey from their roster on October 15, 2015, two days after their overtime loss to the Houston Rockets. Finally, on October 24, 2015, the Suns decided to waive Henry Sims from the roster and sign last year's Mr. Irrelevant Cory Jefferson to a non-guaranteed deal for the season. All waived players except for Henry Sims later joined the Bakersfield Jam. Sims joined the Grand Rapids Drive on November 12, 2015 instead. However, of all the players there that were training camp invites, only Sims found his way back into the NBA again, signing a deal to play with the Brooklyn Nets on March 17, 2016.
On November 25, 2015, the Suns signed Tucson, Arizona native Bryce Cotton to a one-year deal as insurance in the event either Ronnie Price or Eric Bledsoe were out of commission. He made his debut over a month later due to an injury involving Eric Bledsoe. Cotton previously played point guard for the Austin Spurs in the D-League and the Utah Jazz before signing his deal to play for the Suns. On January 6, 2016, after winning at home against the Charlotte Hornets, the Suns decided to waive both Cory Jefferson and Bryce Cotton's non-guaranteed deals. To make up for these moves, they announced that Grand Rapids Drive point guard Lorenzo Brown signed a 10–day contract to determine his future value to the team, especially as a backup point guard since Bledsoe was out for the rest of the season. Brown performed well enough to sign a second 10-day contract, especially with Ronnie Price out around that timeline. On January 21, 2016, the Suns decided to have Jefferson return to the roster for a 10-day contract due to the team's power forwards all being out of commission during the January 19 game against the Indiana Pacers. However, on January 28, 2016, Phoenix decided to sign former Philadelphia 76ers selection Jordan McRae to a 10-day contract in order to replace Lorenzo Brown after his second 10-day contract expired. In the meantime, the Suns decided to not extend Cory Jefferson's deal after most of the team's power forwards returned healthy on January 31, 2016.
During Jordan McRae's first 10-day stint, Phoenix decided to sign another 10-day contract out for former NBA and Austin Spurs player Orlando Johnson on a 10-day contract on February 5, 2016 due to the season-ending injury of T.J. Warren earlier in the month of February. After trading Markieff Morris away to the Washington Wizards, the Suns decided to both waive Orlando Johnson's 10 day contract and let go of Jordan McRae after his second 10-day contract expired in order to replace them with former Philadelphia 76ers and Idaho Stampede point guard Phil Pressey for 10 days, starting on February 20, 2016. Furthermore, after waiving DeJuan Blair from the roster, the Suns decided to sign former Dallas Mavericks shooting guard John Jenkins to a 3-year contract on February 24, 2016. In addition, they waived Kris Humphries and one of their recent free-agent signings in Sonny Weems on February 28 and March 5, 2016 respectively. To replace Weems, though, the Suns decided to sign former Indiana Pacers and Arizona Wildcats forward Chase Budinger for the rest of the season on March 8, 2016. Furthermore, on the same day, the Suns signed former Qingdao DoubleStar Eagles and California–Santa Barbara Gauchos center/power forward Alan Williams to a 10-day contract to replace Humphries in case either Oleksiy "Alex" Len or Tyson Chandler got injured again. While Phil Pressey did not sign with the team for the rest of the season due to the return of Brandon Knight as the starting point guard on March 11, Alan Williams got to sign for not just the rest of this season, but also the next season on March 18, 2016, thus finally ending the Suns' free agency spree that season.

The Morris twins situation

For a majority of the past two seasons, many of the problems the team had there as a whole were projected by many fans as problems relating to that of the Morris twins' behaviors. Before the start of the season, both Markieff and his twin brother Marcus Morris were subject to many problems both on and off the court, from behaving poorly in front of head coach Jeff Hornacek to getting multiple technical fouls to calling out the team's fanbase for not stepping up properly to even having an upcoming court case involving a former mentor of theirs named Eric Hood. In an attempt to help cool down the problem earlier on before this season began, the Suns decided to trade what was considered the lesser-talented twin brother alongside their influx of small forwards in Reggie Bullock and Danny Granger to the Detroit Pistons on July 2, 2015, in exchange for a 2020 second round draft pick in what was seen as an effort to open up cap space to lure LaMarcus Aldridge away from both the Portland Trail Blazers and the San Antonio Spurs. When that failed, Marcus started lambasting the team's front office and fans for not inquiring to them about the oncoming trade when it happened. Furthermore, it was revealed that on August 3, 2015, both of the Morris twins failed to show up for the pretrial conference that was set for them on that date, which forced the judicial system to delay the case until September 16, 2015. The twins' trail continued well beyond this season, and to the next when they requested a new grand jury, and then having the trial be further delayed to gather evidence on the text messages sent between Eric Hood and Thomasine "Angel" Morris, the other victim in question. The twins' trial continued until October 3, 2017, due to their conflicting schedules as NBA players on different teams by that point in time, where the judge deemed the twins not guilty for the attack on Hood due to his story changing from both of the twins being involved in attacking him to just Marcus attacking him, while the other two attackers involved admitted their guilt in the attack earlier on back in September 2017. Nevertheless, the trial's results would not change the fates of the twins after the July trade involving Marcus Morris.
On August 11, 2015, Markieff Morris revealed to The Philadelphia Inquirer that he wanted to be traded out of Phoenix, mainly due to how he and his twin brother were notified of the news of the Detroit Pistons trade on July 2, 2015, where Markieff's brother was traded alongside Reggie Bullock and Danny Granger for the Pistons' 2020 second round selection. He was fined $10,000 for his comments. Four days later, he stated his preference to play for either the Houston Rockets or the Toronto Raptors, but he wouldn't mind any other location like the Washington Wizards as well. However, the Suns decided to counter Markieff's demands by saying they would not trade him due to his importance to the team around that time. Despite that notion, he remained adamant about his decision by posting out on his Twitter account that his future would not be in Phoenix, just a day after the Suns wished Markieff a happy 26th birthday, and continued with the attitude a week later saying he won't accept any apologies from the team. At the end of the offseason, though, Markieff remained on the team throughout most of the season, with Marcus continuing to bash the team and their fanbase along the way as a Detroit Pistons player, even claiming he was never really a Phoenix Suns player. It was later revealed that the Suns had tried to work out a trade involving Markieff for eight months before it was finally completed in February, with general manager Ryan McDonough stating that if a better deal for Markieff had come before the start of the season, it would have been done by then. The problem was stated that Markieff himself didn't do the team any favors throughout the majority of the season between his court case with his brother and worries that the behavior he had at the start of the season there would continue for other teams afterwards.
While Markieff suggested that he had learned from the mistakes he made during the summertime, he continued to have problems with the team and even struggled with his performance after his first ever injury as a player in the middle of November. After his injury, Markieff was relegated to a bench role, with times that he didn't even play at all for various reasons. His performance dropped even further from averaging around 13 points and 5 rebounds in 27 minutes of action in November to 6.4 points and 2.9 rebounds in 17 minutes of action in December, with Jon Leuer replacing Markieff at points. It soon reached a point on December 23, 2015 against the Denver Nuggets where Markieff threw a towel at head coach Jeff Hornacek after being frustrated at a play. The incident drew parallels to when former Suns player Robert Horry threw a towel at former Suns head coach Danny Ainge back in the 1996–97 Phoenix Suns season. Like Horry, Morris was suspended for two games without pay. However, unlike the Horry situation, Markieff remained with the team for not just the rest of December, but also for the entirety of January and halfway through February. Markieff also ended up lasting longer than Hornacek and two of his top assistants, Jerry Sichting and Mike Longabardi. It also caused the Suns to stop playing Markieff altogether for a good amount of time, only relenting with all of their power forwards starting to get injuries during the month of January at certain points.
eventually got traded to the Washington Wizards for young talent in a 2016 first round draft pick named Marquese Chriss on February 18, 2016.
When head coach Jeff Hornacek was fired on February 1, 2016, and assistant coach Earl Watson replaced him as interim head coach for the rest of the season, Watson tried to designate Markieff as the team's newest leader after having injuries decimate their entire roster. During the five games Morris held that designation, he recorded his best averages for the Suns with 20.7 points, 7.6 rebounds, and 4.6 assists in over 30 minutes of action, even though the team did not win any of those games around that period of time. However, the breaking point for Markieff and the Suns came under Morris' last game on February 9, 2016 against the defending champion Golden State Warriors, where during the first timeout of the game in the first quarter, Markieff went after his teammate Archie Goodwin due to Goodwin not performing well at the time. While the Suns lost a relatively close match to the Warriors, they soon realized that enough was enough with Markieff, and then asked to have a first round draft pick and a young player in return for Markieff to go far away from their franchise forever. At the end of the February 18, 2016 trade deadline, despite him wanting to stay with the team by then, the other Morris brother was traded to the Washington Wizards in exchange for power-forward/center combo players DeJuan Blair and Kris Humphries, as well as a top-9 protected 2016 first round draft pick and a $1.56 million traded player exception. Four days after the trade, though, the Suns waived Blair. To replace him, the Suns decided to use their traded player exception to sign John Jenkins to a three-year contract for the league minimum. Furthermore, the Suns also decided to buy out Kris Humphries' contract that he had for two more years on February 28, 2016 in order to help get him to a playoff team in the Atlanta Hawks, while also replacing Humphries with Phoenix, Arizona native Alan Williams to a 10-day contract on March 8, 2016, and then for the rest of the season on March 18, 2016. Both the first round pick from Markieff and the 2020 second round pick from Marcus were later traded to the Sacramento Kings as part of a deal in exchange for Marquese Chriss, who was the 8th pick in the 2016 NBA draft.

Coaching changes

On May 29, 2015, it was announced that assistant coach Kenny Gattison was leaving the team and former Phoenix Mercury coach and Suns player development coach Corey Gaines was to be promoted to full-time assistant coach again. At the same time, it was announced that Bakersfield Jam coach Nate Bjorkgren as Corey replacement as player development coach and Mark West was relegated back into the front office as a director of player relations. Several days later, former NBA player and Austin Spurs assistant coach Earl Watson was announced as assistant coach duties. Joe Smith was also announced as a potential candidate for another player development assistant coach position. However, on June 27, 2015 — two days after the 2015 NBA draft — the Suns hired former Villanova University player and director of student-athlete development, Harlem Globetrotter, and Austin Spurs assistant coach Jason Fraser as the last player development assistant coach, being joined by fellow player development coach Irving Roland from the team's 2013–14 season.
On December 27, 2015, a day after losing to the Philadelphia 76ers, it was announced that both Earl Watson and Nate Bjorkgren were being promoted to full-time assistant coaches, while both long-time assistant coaches Jerry Sichting and Mike Longabardi were fired. A one-month later, the Suns' head coach Jeff Hornacek was fired. Earl Watson became interim coach, replacing Hornacek. Former San Antonio Spurs and Seattle SuperSonics head coach Bob Hill became an assistant coach under Watson as the new head coach. After the season, the Suns designated Watson with the full-time head coach tag for the next three seasons.

Front office changes

On May 29, 2015, it was revealed that former Suns player and assistant coach Mark West was back in the front office role as a director of player relations and John Treloar was fired from his director of player personnel duties, as he decided to take on that same role for the Atlanta Hawks. Former president of basketball operations Lon Babby was relegated to be the team's senior adviser on June 10, 2015 after his initial contract as the team's president of basketball operations expired, although he still took part in the team's free agent decisions for the rest of June and July. As of August, however, that role was taken by general manager Ryan McDonough instead. On July 7, 2015, the Suns announced that the Los Angeles Clippers' Courtney Witte was the team's newest director of scouting. On July 30, 2015, Phoenix announced that the Bakersfield Jam's general manager Bubba Barrage was the new director of player personnel while keeping his role in Bakersfield, and Antonio Williams was the team's newest scout, replacing Ronnie Lester. Finally, on September 30, 2015, the team's strength and conditioning coach Mike Elliott was promoted to the director of performance.

Roster

Salaries

For the first time since the 2009–10 season, the Suns don't have to pay Josh Childress as the amnesty clause for the NBA expires. However, they still owe Michael Beasley $777,778 due to the buyout the Suns did on September 3, 2013. Beasley's contract still affects the Suns' salary for both this season and the next. Furthermore, the Suns also buy out Kris Humphries' contract on February 28, 2016, which removes his payments of around $3,440,000 from Phoenix's books in the current season, as well as payout the rest of Sonny Weems' $2,814,000 that he didn't get earlier on for the rest of the season on March 5, 2016.

Pre-Season

The six pre-season games the Suns played for this season tied the 1975–76 and 1981–82 seasons as the lowest number of pre-season games the Suns had in a season.

Regular season

Season standings

Game log

Player statistics

Injuries/Personal missed games

Awards, records, and milestones

Awards

Trades

Free agents

Re-signed

Additions

Subtractions