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More on trades: Knight Brings Star Power | Suns Get Picks From Miami

The Phoenix Suns today completed a deal to acquire guard Brandon Knight from the Milwaukee Bucks in a three-team trade also involving the Philadelphia 76ers. The Suns also acquired guard Kendall Marshall,who will be waived. As part of the deal, the Suns send guard Tyler Ennis and center Miles Plumlee to the Bucks and the Los Angeles Lakers’ protected 2015 first-round pick to the 76ers; the Bucks also receive guard Michael Carter-Williams from Philadelphia.

The 23-year-old Knight is a fourth-year pro who joins the Suns in the midst of a career year, averaging 17.8 points, a career-high 5.4 assists, career-high 4.3 rebounds and career-high 1.6 steals, while shooting career-highs of 43.5 percent from the field and 40.9 percent from three-point range as he has started all 52 games with the Bucks in 2014-15. Knight departs Milwaukee as the leader in scoring and assists for a team that entered the All-Star break seven games over .500 and with 30 first-half victories after winning 15 total games in 2013-14.

Originally the eighth overall pick of the 2011 NBA Draft by Detroit, Knight played the first two seasons of his career with the Pistons before being acquired by the Bucks along with Khris Middleton and Slava Kravtsov in exchange for Brandon Jennings on July 31, 2013. An All-Rookie First-Team selection in 2011-12, Knight holds career averages of 15.3 points, 4.5 assists, 3.5 rebounds and 1.00 steals in 265 games (256 starts) with the Bucks and Pistons.

An athletic 6-3 guard who boasts a nearly 6-7 wingspan, Knight was a collegiate standout in one season at the University of Kentucky in 2010-11. Knight earned All-SEC Second-Team honors after setting Kentucky freshman records in scoring and three-point field goals made. Knight was named the NCAA East Region Most Outstanding Player after helping the Wildcats reach the Final Four for the first time since 1998, ending the longest Final Four drought in the prestigious program’s history.

Philadelphia receives the Lakers’ protected 2015 first-round pick from the Suns in the deal. Phoenix initially acquired the draft pick from the Lakers as part of the sign-and-trade that sent Steve Nash to Los Angeles on July 11, 2012.

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Suns Acquire Brandon Knight in Three-Team Trade

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Stoudemire Wins 2002-03 ‘got milk?’ NBA Rookie of the Year Award

Bob Young
The Arizona Republic
Oct. 25, 2002 12:00 AM

Bryan Colangelo, president and general manager of the Suns, admits that he was curious to see how forward Shawn Marion would react to the six-year, $79 million contract extension Marion signed in the off-season.

Coach Frank Johnson will tell you he was flat-out worried about it.

They have seen what has happened to players such as Shawn Kemp and Vin Baker, who signed big contracts and then went into semi-retirement while drawing those big checks. And then there are the Kevin Garnetts and the Shaquille O'Neals of the league, who get huge amounts of money and still seem like a bargain.

"Players can go two different directions when they get a big contract," Colangelo said. "Shawn has gone in a positive direction. He's really taken his game to another level."

Marion has played during the preseason, which wraps up tonight when the Golden State Warriors visit America West Arena, like a man out to prove he's worth every cent.

"Shawn has been fantastic," Johnson said. "I forget that he's a young guy sometimes, but he's showing our other young guys how to play hard and practice hard. He has really stepped up. He's been unbelievable."

That is a relief for Johnson, who had his worries about giving a 24-year-old player entering only his fourth season in the NBA the maximum allowable contract.

"No question," he said. "I'd be lying if I said it wasn't a concern."

"Nah," Marion said. "I'm not thinking about that. I'm still going out and doing the stuff I did to get here. That's what I'm focusing on. I'm just playing.

"I'm still hungry, man. That contract is a step forward for me, but I've got a lot of goals I set that I'm still trying to achieve.

"That's a step financially for me, but that's not my main goal right now."

Marion's primary concern is getting the Suns back on track after a 36-46 season that left the club out of the playoffs for the first time in 13 years.

Of course, the Suns believe Marion is worth the money and is on the verge of breaking through as an All-Star.

John Hollinger, the basketball editor at CNNSI, produced an exhaustive look at every NBA team and player in his Pro Basketball Prospectus, which he launched this year.

In it, he breaks down players according to traditional statistical categories but also goes deeper by calculating rebound rates, assist and turnover ratios, points per shot attempt, and so on, to arrive at an overall assessment he calls the Player Efficiency Rating.

Bottom line, he rates Marion as one of the top 20 players in the NBA and writes that he should have been on the Western Conference All-Star team last season ahead of Sacramento's Peja Stojakovic and Utah's Karl Malone.

"Marion is an excellent, underrated player," Hollinger writes. "Marion is as good as they come rebounding from the small forward position, he shoots for a high percentage and his turnover ratio is consistently one of the league's lowest at his position.

"He also is a vastly underrated defender; the Suns did very well against opposing small forwards all season."

Marion has focused on his defense in the preseason, taking the defensive assignment on Kobe Bryant against the Lakers and on Jalen Rose of Chicago.

"I'm trying, man," he said, smiling. "We're emphasizing defense. Offense wins games, defense wins championships."

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Marion's Play Proves Net Worth

PHOENIX, Oct. 14 - The Phoenix Suns today confirm that longtime ownership
partner Eddie Lynch passed away early Monday morning.

Lynch, 67, died at 4:25 a.m. on Monday, Oct. 14 after suffering from
complications from a stroke suffered on Monday, Oct. 7.

He is survived by his wife Diana and two daughters, Allison Lynch and
Katherine Lynch.

"Our prayers and wishes are certainly with Eddie's family," Suns
Chairman, CEO and Managing General Partner Jerry Colangelo said.  "He was a
dear friend of our organizations and I will miss him."

Lynch has been a fan and longtime partner in the Suns ownership
group and also joined in the effort to bring baseball to Arizona.  He became
a member of the investment group of the Arizona Diamondbacks at the team's
inception.

An active civic member, Lynch served many local boards including:
Arizona Club, Phoenix Thunderbirds (Big Chief and General Chairman, Phoenix
Open 1980, 1981), Sentinel Savings &amp; Loan, Phoenix Metropolitan Sports
Foundation, Phoenix Chamber of Commerce &amp; Valley of the Sun Convention
Bureau and Samaritan Medical Foundation, Phoenix Community Alliance, Phoenix
Chamber of Commerce, City of Phoenix Selection Committee for Transportation
Director and Fire Chief, YMCA, International Shopping Center, Arizona
Bankers Association, U.S. Olympic Committee (Arizona) and Super Bowl
Committee (1996).

Lynch was the founding general partner of Westcor Partners, a
Phoenix-based development company, in 1968.  Westcor owned and operated some
of the Valley's most prominent retail centers, including Scottsdale Fashion
Square, The Borgata, Arrowhead Town Center and the new Chandler Fashion
Center.  Prior to that he was vice president of marketing of Guaranty Bank
of Arizona and also served as president and owner of Western Outdoor
Advertising.

A graduate of the University of Arizona, Lynch recently celebrated
the opening of the Eddie Lynch Athletics Pavilion Plaza - a facility that
allows former student-athletes, supporters and friends to own a bit of
history with custom-inscribed walkway tiles.  Located at the North end of
McKale Memorial Center, the expansion gives Arizona Athletics a 36,000
square foot showpiece for its heritage and lower-level facilities for
strength and conditioning and medical treatment.  Lynch was awarded the
University's Distinguished Citizen Award in 1992 and was director of the
University Foundation and the school's Arthritis Center.  He was also a
member of the Alumni Board, the BPA College Board and the Director of the
Senior Academy.

Memorial arrangements and donation requests are still pending.

eddie-lynch-passes-away

Eddie Lynch Passes Away

Connie Hawkins remembers Chamberlain
  SUNS CHAIRMAN AND CEO JERRY COLANGELO:

"My relationship with Wilt goes back 42 years, because way back when, in 1957, I was recruited by Wilt and some of the players at Kansas University, and was to be a starting guard on that team my sophomore year, playing with Wilt. And, of course, when I attended KU, he announced that he was going to quit and sign with the Globetrotters which he did, and I decided to transfer schools and go back to my home state and play at the University of Illinois. It's funny how lives cross paths. That was my first experience with Wilt.

"I do remember in Allen Field House in the Freshman-Varsity game, I intercepted a pass between two guards and I was the only guy going the other direction. I was considered fairly quick back in those days, but believe it or not, Wilt caught me and pinned the ball against the board, which I'll always remember because it looked like a monster over the top of you. Wilt knew weight training and was into track and doing things that basketball people weren't doing back in the '50s, so he was way ahead of his time.

"A little bit later, lo and behold, I'm coaching against Wilt in the playoffs, when the Suns, in their second season (1969-70), played the Lakers. Wilt came back from an injury and helped lead the Lakers to a victory over us. So he got me twice.

"Kiddingly, I say the third time hurt more than the first two, when he got his 25,000th point in a game against the Suns here in Phoenix and I had to give him a basketball. That's the one that really hurt.

"But Wilt without question, was one of the great all-time players in the history of the game. The only question that comes up is was he the best or the second best or third best. Again, his numbers speak for themselves, a man who once averaged 50 points a game one season, he got 100 points in a single game, won a couple of championships, was in the playoffs like 11 or 12 of the 14 years he played -- a phenomenal record, a phenomenal athlete. I guess the biggest thing that anyone could say is that it's a big, big loss from a big man. He made a big impact on college basketball, he changed the rules of college basketball, and certainly made a great impact on the NBA.

"Wilt was such a dominant big man and played so much over the rim, that everyone concentrated their efforts on stopping Wilt Chamberlain. He became one of the great passing centers of all time. In fact, in one season, I believe he had 700 assists if I'm not mistaken. As he aged as a player, he changed his game. He developed different shots as he went through his career. The "little dipper dunk," if you recall, when he would flip the ball over the rim. He had the hook shot, the sky hook. But more than anything, I would say, he could do just about anything he needed to do except shoot free throws. He always had a problem with free throws and that bothered him.

"Some of the great battles between Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain are some of the great one-on-one matchups ever in the history of the NBA, and they were classics. Absolute classics.

"Probably no player has impacted the game more in the history of the game than Wilt Chamberlain."

"The first time I met Wilt, we played in a high school game in Brooklyn and he came to watch me play. That was the first time I saw him, and everybody was talking about this guy, Wilt Chamberlain, from Philly. I finally saw him and I couldn't believe how tall the guy was. His nickname was "Wilt the Stilt," and his legs were like the size of my body. When I first met him, I was in high school and I was like 6-2 or 6-3, and he was the biggest man I'd ever seen in my life. I couldn't believe how big he was. That was my first experience.

"My first time playing against him was in the Rucker Tournament. We used to play during the summer time all the time. I've told this story before, about the team from Brooklyn playing the team from New York. I was with the team from Brooklyn and Wilt used to play with the team from New York.

"We had a guy by the name of Jackie Jackson who used to play on our basketball team and he was one of those guys who could jump real high. Well, Wilt used to always have this favorite shot where he would jump and shoot high off the backboard and it would go in. So, we figured out a play in the school yard. We said we were going to overplay him and let him shoot that fade-away jump shot, Jackie would come from the other side of the court and back then you could trap it on the backboard. So we decided we were going to do that.

"It came down, they passed it into Wilt, I overplayed Wilt, he turned around to shoot it, Jackie came from the other side and he went up and blocked it. It was like two or three feet above the top of the basket and he blocked it and everybody just went crazy. Everybody was yelling and screaming and we were running around. Back then we didn't give high fives, so I guess we were doing low fives. Everybody was slapping hands. And this was in the school yards, where the projects were, and people were just hollering and screaming and the place was packed. I turned around and looked and Wilt was just staring at us like this (Hawk glares). He called time out and everybody was still hollering and screaming, but I was focused on Wilt. He just kept staring.

"After the time out was over with, Wilt came up with the next 30 shots and they were nothing but dunk shots. He dunked it every way you could go. In the school yards, they have the baskets with no nets on them. And one time, he dunked the ball so hard, the ball went through the basket, hit the ground and it went over the 15-foot fence. Somebody went to go get the ball and when they brought the ball back, the basket was still shaking. That's how strong this guy was. He was just a dominating guy.

"It's really ironic. I think about it and I don't think people realize just how great he really was. You hear guys talking about Michael Jordan and all these folks, but they really refuse to accept the fact that when you look at the record books, he has some records that will never be broken. He played like 13 or 14 years and never fouled out of a basketball game. He scored 100 points in one game. One year, he played, I think it was 54 minutes a game. He didn't sit down the whole time. He played the whole year. One year, he had like 55 rebounds in a game. Each year, he did something that was phenomenal, and I don't think anybody can ever top that.

"If you watch film of him when he was in high school, he used to get the ball off the rebound and dribble the full length of the court. So, he was able to do that when he was in high school, even back then. If you've read his book, he was like a decathlete, he was a high jumper, he played lacrosse, and I think when he was in L.A., he did a lot of volleyball playing. A lot of people don't know it, but he was probably a world class volleyball player.
  (On Chamberlain's 100 point game)

"I remember one game, I'm sorry Jerry is here, but I was scoring a lot of points and he told me to keep shooting. I said 'Jerry, I'm tired.' And he said, 'You can't be tired now. Keep shooting.' It's a lot of work. It really is a lot of work to score that many points."

thoughts-on-wilt

Thoughts on Wilt

The Phoenix Suns added a familiar face today as the club signed free agent centerMark West
  .

The 6-10 West was a member of the Suns from 1988-94 and played in 521 regular season and 69 playoff games for Phoenix. While a Sun, he had averages of 7.2 points and 6.2 rebounds per game and shot .614 from the field, higher than his career marks of 5.8 points, 5.0 rebounds and .581 from the field.

He currently ranks second in NBA history in field goal percentage (.581), trailing onlyArtis Gilmore
  's .599 rate. West led the NBA in shooting in 1989-90 when he shot .625 from the field and he paced the Suns four-straight seasons from 1988-92 in that category.

West came to the Suns in theKevin Johnson
  trade with Cleveland on Feb. 25, 1988 and went on to play 521-straight games - the second-longest streak behindA.C. Green
  - before having the streak snapped after his trade to Detroit in the 1994-95 season.

Last season, West served as a backup toDikembe Mutombo
  in Atlanta and played in 49 of the 50 games with averages of 1.2 points and 2.2 rebounds.

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Suns Sign Mark West

The Phoenix Suns named Dr. Thomas Carter team physician today and announced that his medical group, The Orthopedic Clinic Association (TOCA), will handle the club's medical needs.

Joining Carter are foot and ankle specialist Dr. Gustavo Armendariz and orthopedic surgeons Dr. David Bailie, Dr. Evan Lederman and Dr. Gerald Yacobucci. Carter and Armendariz have served as orthopedic consultants to the Suns in the past with Dr. Richard Emerson. Dr. Craig Phelps will continue to serve as primary care team/family physician.

Carter, the lead team physician, is a nationally-recognized practitioner, educator and researcher. He is a board certified orthopedic surgeon and has been Arizona's elected delegate to the American Orthopedic Society for Sports Medicine. Carter is one of 12 physicians in the United States on the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons Sports Medicine Evaluation Subcommittee and is one of 100 members worldwide of the anterior cruciate ligament study group. Carter is considered one of the national authorities on meniscus and articular injuries. An orthopedic consultant with the Suns, Phoenix Mercury and Phoenix Coyotes, he has been an orthopedic surgeon at Arizona State University since 1991 and currently is the Head of Orthopedic Surgery at ASU.

Armendariz has worked with the Suns in the past and performed the surgery on All-Star guard Jason Kidd in March when he suffered a fractured left ankle. In addition, he handled surgeries for Rex Chapman and Horacio Llamas. Armendariz is a board certified orthopedic surgeon who completed a fellowship in disorders of the foot and ankle and is a nationally-recognized foot and ankle specialist.

Phelps has been the Primary Care Team Physician of the Suns since 1986 and is board certified in family medicine and sports medicine. He is a member of the Society of NBA Team Physicians and served a 10-year term on the Board of Directors of the American Osteopathic Academy of Sports Medicine. Currently, Phelps is the Medical Director of the Student Health Center at Grand Canyon University and Provost for the Arizona School of Health Sciences, Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine. In addition, Phelps is part of the Center for Sports Medicine and Orthopedics, a sports medicine/family medicine practice.

The group assumes duties immediately and will join the Suns when they open training camp on Oct. 3 in Flagstaff.

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Suns Name Dr. Thomas Carter Team Physician

-- After an impressive performance with the Phoenix Suns' summer league squad in July, guard Paul McPherson signed a contract with the team today.

McPherson paced the Suns' entry in the Rocky Mountain Revue with 18.7 points per game and topped the league in field goal percentage, hitting .619 (26-42) from the field.

"He's shown the ability to be a very good scorer," said Suns coach Scott Skiles. "We feel like he may have something special with regard to his strength and athleticism, and his ability to score."

McPherson's top game during the week-long tournament was a 25-point (12-19 FG), eight-rebound performance against Sacramento. The next night he added 18 points (8-12 FG) and four rebounds in 24 minutes before suffering a sprained ankle. Of his 13 rebounds during the tournament, seven were offensive.

"Intense," said McPherson when asked to describe his game. "I play defense. I'm a physical player. I like to attack the basket ... I smile, I shake hands, I talk a little trash every once in a while, but you know, I just try to leave everything on the court and just have the most fun I can."

The 6-4, 225-pound lefthander, who has the NBA logo tattooed on his left bicep, was an early entry candidate for the 2000 draft, but went unselected. He spent last season at DePaul University, where he averaged 11.2 points and 4.6 rebounds alongside L.A. Clippers first-round pick Quentin Richardson. McPherson started 23 of 32 games for the Blue Demons and placed ninth in Conference USA with 1.5 steals per game.

Prior to DePaul, McPherson played in 1998-99 at Kennedy-King Junior College in Chicago, which he led to a fourth-place finish at the 1999 NJCAA Tournament. He paced the tournament in scoring and that season was MVP of the National Junior College All-Star Game. In 1996-97, McPherson played at Tallahassee Junior College and helped the team to a 33-2 record and a third-place finish at the NJCAA Tournament.

Born July 3, 1978 in Chicago, Ill., McPherson was named All-City, All-Area and All-State as a senior at South Shore High School, averaging 24.4 ppg and 12.3 rpg.

suns-sign-paul-mcpherson

Suns Sign Paul McPherson

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