1985–86 Phoenix Suns season

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The 1985–86 Phoenix Suns season was the 18th season for the Phoenix Suns of the National Basketball Association. The Suns finished the regular season tied with their third-worst record to that point, going just 32–50. Coupled with every team in the Western Conference's Midwest division finishing with a better record than all but two teams from the Pacific division, and the Suns were out of the playoffs for the first time in eight seasons, ending a then-franchise record streak for consecutive playoff berths. The Suns were led by head coach John MacLeod, in his 13th year with the Suns, and played all home games in Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

Walter Davis bounced back from injury that caused him to miss the majority of the previous season, leading the Suns in scoring at 22 points per game, his highest output since his 1978–79 season with the Suns. Phoenix boasted a pair of 20-20 scorers, as Larry Nance continued to increase his scoring each season since being drafted five seasons by Phoenix, with a 20.2 average a game for the season. Nance would finish the season ranked third in the NBA in field goal percentage and lead the Suns in rebounds. Mike Sanders came off the bench and appeared in all 82 regular season games, averaging a career-high 11.0 points a game.

Offseason

NBA Draft

Round	Pick	Player	Position	Nationality	College
1	10	Ed Pinckney	Forward	United States	Villanova
2	32	Nick Vanos	Center	United States	Santa Clara
3	56	Jerry Everett	Guard	United States	Lamar
4	78	Granger Hall	Forward	United States	Temple
5	102	Shawn Campbell	Center	United States	Weber State
6	124	Charles Rayne	Guard	United States	Temple
7	148	Georgi Glouchkov	Forward	Bulgaria

Roster

Phoenix Suns roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Nat. Name Height Weight DOB (Y-M-D) From 5.5 !F/C 33 USA ! Adams, Alvan 81 !6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 210 lb (95 kg) 1954-07-19 Oklahoma 2.5 !G/F 6 USA ! Davis, Walter 78 !6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 193 lb (88 kg) 1954-09-09 North Carolina 6.0 !C 53 USA ! Edwards, James  84 !7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) 225 lb (102 kg) 1955-11-22 Washington 1.5 !G 10 USA ! Foster, Rod 73 !6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 160 lb (73 kg) 1960-10-10 UCLA 4.0 !F 16 BUL ! Glouchkov, Georgi 80 !6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 235 lb (107 kg) 1960-01-10 Bulgaria 1.5 !G 24 USA ! Humphries, Jay 75 !6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 185 lb (84 kg) 1962-10-17 Colorado 4.0 !F 34 USA ! Jones, Charles 80 !6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 215 lb (98 kg) 1962-01-12 Louisville 5.5 !F/C 22 USA ! Nance, Larry 82 !6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 205 lb (93 kg) 1959-02-12 Clemson 4.0 !F 54 USA ! Pinckney, Ed 81 !6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 195 lb (88 kg) 1963-03-27 Villanova 4.0 !F 32 USA ! Pittman, Charles 80 !6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 220 lb (100 kg) 1958-03-23 Maryland 6.0 !C 8 USA ! Robey, Rick 83 !6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) 230 lb (104 kg) 1956-01-30 Kentucky 2.5 !G/F 11 USA ! Sanders, Mike 78 !6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 210 lb (95 kg) 1960-05-07 UCLA 2.5 !G/F 7 USA ! Thompson, Bernard 78 !6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 210 lb (95 kg) 1962-08-30 Cal State Fresno 1.5 !G 15 USA ! Toney, Sedric 74 !6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 178 lb (81 kg) 1962-04-13 Dayton 6.0 !C 30 USA ! Vanos, Nick 85 !7 ft 1 in (2.16 m) 255 lb (116 kg) 1963-04-13 Santa Clara	Head coach John MacLeod (Bellarmine) Assistant coach(es) Al Bianchi (Bowling Green) John Wetzel (Virginia Tech) Athletic trainer(s) Joe Proski (Montana State) Legend (C) Team captain (DP) Unsigned draft pick (FA) Free agent (S) Suspended Injured

Depth chart

Pos.	Starter	Bench	Reserve	Inactive
C	Alvan Adams	Nick Vanos	Rick Robey	James Edwards
PF	Larry Nance	Ed Pinckney	Charles Pittman	Charles Jones
SF	Georgi Glouchkov	Mike Sanders
SG	Walter Davis	Bernard Thompson
PG	Jay Humphries	Sedric Toney		Rod Foster

Regular season

Standings

Awards and honors

Week/Month

• Larry Nance was named Player of the Week for games played December 16 through December 22.

All-Star

This was the first year in franchise history that the Suns were not represented in the All-Star Game.

Player statistics

Season

* - Stats with the Suns.
† - Minimum 300 field goals made.

References

• Standings on Basketball Reference