2005–06 Phoenix Suns season

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.^[1]

Offseason

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 1.5 !G 10 BRA ! Barbosa, Leandro 7000190500000000000♠6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 176 lb (80 kg) 1982-11-28 Brazil 1.5 !G 19 VIR ! Bell, Raja 7000195580000000000♠6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 204 lb (93 kg) 1976-09-19 Florida International 6.0 !C 11 IRE ! Burke, Pat 7000210820000000000♠6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) 250 lb (113 kg) 1973-12-14 Auburn 5.5 !F/C 3 FRA ! Diaw, Boris 7000203200000000000♠6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 215 lb (98 kg) 1982-04-16 France 4.0 !F 55 USA ! Grant, Brian 7000205740000000000♠6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 254 lb (115 kg) 1972-03-05 Xavier 1.5 !G 50 USA ! House, Eddie 7000185420000000000♠6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 180 lb (82 kg) 1978-05-14 Arizona State 4.0 !F 22 USA ! Jones, James 7000203200000000000♠6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 225 lb (102 kg) 1980-10-04 Miami 4.0 !F 31 USA ! Marion, Shawn 7000200659999999999♠6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 220 lb (100 kg) 1978-05-07 UNLV 1.5 !G 13 CAN ! Nash, Steve (C) 7000190500000000000♠6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 195 lb (88 kg) 1974-02-07 Santa Clara 5.5 !F/C 32 USA ! Stoudemire, Amar'e  7000208279999999999♠6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 245 lb (111 kg) 1982-11-16 Cypress Creek HS 5.5 !F/C 40 USA ! Thomas, Kurt  7000205740000000000♠6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 230 lb (104 kg) 1972-10-04 Texas Christian 4.0 !F 2 USA ! Thomas, Tim 7000208279999999999♠6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 230 lb (104 kg) 1977-02-26 Villanova 2.5 !G/F 1 USA ! Thompson, Dijon  7000200659999999999♠6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 195 lb (88 kg) 1982-02-23 UCLA 4.0 !F 15 GEO ! Tskitishvili, Nikoloz 7000213360000000000♠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

Playoffs

Game log

Awards and honors

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

Season

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

Playoffs

^ – Minimum 5 three-pointers made.

References