1972–73 Phoenix Suns season

The 1972–73 Phoenix Suns season was the fifth for the Phoenix Suns of the National Basketball Association. The season began under head coach Butch Van Breda Kolff for the first seven games, before Jerry Colangelo finished coaching duties for the team. All home games were played at Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

1972–73 Phoenix Suns season
Head coachButch Van Breda Kolff,
Jerry Colangelo
General managerJerry Colangelo
OwnersRichard Bloch
ArenaArizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum
Results
Record38–44 (.463)
PlaceDivision: 3rd (Pacific)
Conference: 6th (Western)
Playoff finishDid not qualify
Stats @ Basketball-Reference.com
RadioKTAR

Charlie Scott had played in six games for the Suns one season ago, after a late-season switch to the NBA from the ABA, and his first full season with the Suns was arguably his best. Scott was named to his first NBA All-Star Team, joining teammate Connie Hawkins, who was selected to his fourth and final All-Star Game of his NBA career. In addition to Scott leading the Suns with his 6.1 assist per game average, his 2,048-season-point total was fifth in the league (and the only 2,000+-point season of his career). His average of 25.3 points per contest was sixth-best in the NBA. Center Neal Walk averaged career-bests in both points and rebounds, averaging 20.2 and 12.5 on the season. Walk's rebounding average was just shy of Paul Silas's franchise record of 12.5. Dick Van Arsdale averaged 18.4 points on the season, while Connie Hawkins contributed 16.1 per contest.

Offseason

NBA Draft
Main article: 1972 NBA Draft
Round Pick Player Position Nationality College
1 4 David "Corky" Calhoun Forward  United States Pennsylvania
3 33 Scott English Forward  United States Texas El-Paso
3 34 Don Buse Guard  United States Evansville
3 42 Claude Terry Guard  United States Stanford
4 59 Matt Gantt Forward  United States St. Bonaventure
5 75 Wardell Dyson Center  United States Shaw
6 92 Charles Edge Forward  United States LeMoyne-Owen
7 109 Bernie Fryer Guard  United States Brigham Young
8 125 Russell Golden Forward  United States Jackson State
9 140 Bill Kennedy Guard  United States Arizona State
10 153 Al Vilcheck Center  United States Louisville
11 164 John Belcher Center  United States Arkansas State
12 172 Mark Soderberg Center  United States Utah
13 179 Kelly Utley Guard  United States Shaw
14 186 Ray Golson Forward  United States West Texas State

Roster
Phoenix Suns roster
PlayersCoaches
Pos.#Nat.NameHeightWeightDOB (Y-M-D)From
F 20 Calhoun, Corky 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 210 lb (95 kg) 1950-11-01 Pennsylvania
F 14 English, Scott 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 205 lb (93 kg) 1947-01-13 Stanford
F 16 Green, Lamar 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 210 lb (95 kg) 1947-03-22 Morehead State
G 11 Haskins, Clem 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 195 lb (88 kg) 1943-07-11 Western Kentucky
F/C 42 Hawkins, Connie 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 210 lb (95 kg) 1942-07-17 Iowa
G 1 Layton, Dennis 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 180 lb (82 kg) 1948-12-24 Southern California
G 33 Scott, Charlie 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 175 lb (79 kg) 1948-12-15 North Carolina
G/F 23 Stovall, Paul 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 215 lb (98 kg) 1948-08-16 Arizona State
G/F 5 Van Arsdale, Dick 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 210 lb (95 kg) 1943-02-22 Indiana
C 41 Walk, Neal 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 220 lb (100 kg) 1948-07-29 Florida
C 31 Wesley, Walt 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) 220 lb (100 kg) 1945-01-25 Kansas
Head coach
Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (DP) Unsigned draft pick
  • (FA) Free agent
  • (S) Suspended
  • Injured

Regular season

Standings
Pacific Division W L PCT GB Home Road Neutral Div
y-Los Angeles Lakers 6022.732–30–1128–112–022–4
x-Golden State Warriors 4735.5731327–1418–202–114–12
Phoenix Suns 3844.4632222–1915–251–014–12
Seattle SuperSonics 2656.3173416–2510–290–29–17
Portland Trail Blazers 2161.2563913–288–320–16–20
# Western Conference
Team W L PCT
1 z-Milwaukee Bucks6022.732
2 y-Los Angeles Lakers6022.732
3 x-Chicago Bulls5131.622
4 x-Golden State Warriors4735.573
5 Detroit Pistons4042.488
6 Phoenix Suns3844.463
7 Kansas City–Omaha Kings3646.439
8 Seattle SuperSonics2656.317
9 Portland Trail Blazers2161.256

Record vs. opponents
1972–73 NBA Records
Team ATL BAL BOS BUF CHI CLE DET GSW HOU KCO LAL MIL NYK PHI PHO POR SEA
Atlanta —3–41–55–12–23–42–21–34–42–23–11–33–36–03–14–03–1
Baltimore 4–3—1–55–10–48–02–23–15–23–11–32–23–35–12–24–04–0
Boston 5–15–1—7–03–15–13–13–15–13–14–02–24–47–04–04–04–0
Buffalo 1–51–50–7—2–21–51–30–41–51–30–40–41–67–11–32–22–2
Chicago 2–24–01–32–2—3–13–43–34–05–21–52–43–14–04–25–15–1
Cleveland 4–30–81–55–11–3—1–31–34–32–21–31–30–66–01–31–33–1
Detroit 2–22–21–33–14–33–1—2–41–33–31–52–51–33–14–26–02–4
Golden State 3–11–31–34–03–33–14–2—3–14–23–41–52–24–02–45–14–3
Houston 4–42–51–55–10–43–43–11–3—0–41–31–31–55–12–22–22–2
Kansas City-Omaha 2–21–31–33–12–52–23–32–44–0—1–51–60–43–13–34–24–2
Los Angeles 1–33–10–44–05–13–15–14–33–15–1—3–32–24–06–16–06–0
Milwaukee 3–12–22–24–04–23–15–25–13–16–13–3—2–23–15–15–15–1
New York 3–33–34–46–11–36–03–12–25–14–02–22–2—6–13–13–14–0
Philadelphia 0–61–50–71–70–40–61–30–41–51–30–41–31–6—0–41–31–3
Phoenix 1–32–20–43–12–43–12–44–22–23–31–61–51–34–0—5–24–2
Portland 0–40–40–42–21–53–10–61–52–22–40–61–51–33–12–5—3–4
Seattle 1–30–40–42–21–51–34–23–42–22–40–61–50–43–12–44–3—

Game log
1972–73 game log
Total: 38–44 (Home: 22–19; Road: 16–25)
October: 3–4 (Home: 2–2; Road: 1–2)
November: 7–9 (Home: 5–1; Road: 2–8)
December: 9–6 (Home: 6–2; Road: 3–4)
January: 6–8 (Home: 2–6; Road: 4–2)
February: 7–9 (Home: 4–4; Road: 3–5)
March: 6–8 (Home: 3–4; Road: 3–4)
1972–73 schedule

Awards and honors

All-Star

Player statistics
Legend
  GP Games played  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field-goal percentage  FT%  Free-throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game
 PPG  Points per game

Season
Player GP MPG FG% FT% RPG APG PPG
Corky Calhoun8224.7.469.7404.10.96.0
Scott English296.8.387.7241.50.53.2
Lamar Green8025.6.431.7549.31.16.7
Clem Haskins7720.5.464.8332.22.610.5
Connie Hawkins7536.9.479.7978.54.116.1
Gus Johnson*2119.9.381.6946.51.57.8
Mo Layton6515.2.431.7561.22.17.1
Charlie Scott8137.8.446.7844.26.125.3
Paul Stovall258.4.342.6322.40.53.0
Dick Van Arsdale8136.8.476.8594.03.318.4
Neal Walk8138.4.466.78612.43.520.2
Walt Wesley*458.1.406.5292.50.53.2

Transactions

Trades
April 7, 1972
 To Houston Rockets---- To Phoenix Suns----
April 10, 1972
 To Baltimore Bullets---- To Phoenix Suns----
September 19, 1972
 To Los Angeles Lakers---- To Phoenix Suns----
October 10, 1972
 To Philadelphia 76ers---- To Phoenix Suns----
November 22, 1972
 To Cleveland Cavaliers---- To Phoenix Suns----

Free agents
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.