Top-10 Best Trades in Phoenix Suns History

7. Paul Silas for…Dennis Johnson?

Phoenix Acquired:
Paul Silas

Atlanta Acquired:
Gary Gregor

Rather than only one trade, this is a series of four essentially one-for-one trades the Suns made over the course of a decade, each time literally replenishing Phoenix with a younger star than the player previously shipped out.

Phoenix Acquired:
Paul Silas

Atlanta Acquired:
Gary Gregor

In the franchise’s second season, Jerry Colangelo orchestrated a deal shipping an original Sun, Gary Gregor, to the Atlanta Hawks for Paul Silas. Gregor was Phoenix’s first ever draft pick, selected 8th overall in 1968, and averaged a near double-double in the franchise’s inaugural season with an 11.1 and 8.9 scoring and rebounding average.

However, at 6’7″ 235 pounds he was far from a front court bruiser, the kind of player needed to maintain a level of competitiveness in the NBA and Silas fit that mold ideally. While Paul Silas was not a scoring machine, he was a rebounding one and was the league’s 3rd leading rebounder in 1968-69. He was also a great passer for his size and the boost he provided was expected to help the team’s running game as he could pass the ball out quickly and effectively starting the break.

For three seasons Silas did his job, and did it very well. Setting his career-high in rebounding in his second season and scoring career-high in his third, Silas became an All-Star and was at the peak of his prime. But the Suns won 49 games and missed the playoffs for the second year in a row in 1971-72 and with Connie Hawkins nearing the end of his career, Phoenix needed star power and a significant scoring threat to help the franchise forward.

Phoenix Acquired:
Charlie Scott

Boston Acquired:
Paul Silas

Thus Jerry Colangelo traded Paul Silas for Charlie Scott, the ABA’s single season scoring average record holder and recent defector of the Virginia Squires. The Boston Celtics had held his NBA rights and when he believed that his relationship with the Squires had reached an impasse over their inability to pay his contract and loans that were owed, he left the team. When Scott suddenly became available to the NBA, the Suns offered Silas for the rights to Scott and a deal was consummated.

On an individual level Charlie Scott did exactly what he was best at: score. Setting the franchise record for highest scoring average in a season twice in three years, Scott was an exceptional offensive threat, and even bigger star in the Valley. He was also a good distributor as he led the team in assists once, and averaged over four a game each season. But Scott was a scorer at heart and became a very difficult player to play with. Phoenix struggled to win games over the next three seasons and only won a total of 100 with Scott as the team’s leading man. By 1975 a change had to be made. According to Colangelo at the time, the difficulties Scott was having in Phoenix was well known around the league and of the 17 other teams in the NBA besides Phoenix, 16 of those teams said ‘no’ to trade requests.

However, it only takes one to have a trade partner:

Phoenix Acquired:
Paul Westphal
1975 second-round pick (Jimmy Dan Conner)
1976 second-round pick (Butch Feher)

Boston Acquired:
Charlie Scott

Finally, Colangelo convinced Boston to accept the disgruntled star and in return departed with third-year guard Paul Westphal, who played solidly off the bench as the Celtics’ third guard averaging 7.3 points points per game.

Though a backup in Boston, Westphal was immediately a starter in Phoenix, and there was no discovery period to find out how good Westphal might be.

A similar scorer in terms of average, Westphal was a far more efficient shooter with an uncanny ability to keep his teammates remain involved in the offense. Without a selfish bone in his body, Westphal’s leadership was something the franchise had lacked with Scott and Westphal immediately helped to lead a turnaround that included two franchise highs in wins plus an NBA Finals appearance.

Setting career-highs in scoring in his first three seasons and averaging 22.5 points over his five seasons following the trade, Westphal was a four-time All-Star and legitimate star in the NBA. Westphal set or fell near many franchise records and in his six-year tenure in Phoenix (including one additional season to end his career in 1983-84) earned himself a place in the Suns’ Ring of Honor, with his #44 retired forever.

To this day Paul Westphal is still top-10 in 19 individual offensive and defense categories.

But by the end of the 1979-80 season, Westphal’s pleasant relationship with the Suns began to fray. He had philosophical issues with the offense under Head Coach John McLeod as Westphal was seeing diminishing playing time and wanted his minutes ratcheted back up.

Finally, after the Suns’ 1980 Semifinals loss to the Los Angeles Lakers, Westphal demanded a trade. The Suns wanted to keep their star but the two sides struggled to find common philosophical and contractual ground that would please Westphal, so Colangelo relented and found a trade partner.

Phoenix Acquired:
Dennis Johnson

Seattle Acquired:
Paul Westphal

With the Seattle Supersonics the Suns were able to acquire defensive specialist Dennis Johnson, considered by many to be the best defensive guard in the league at the time.

A player known as much for his attitude as his defensive prowess, Johnson put together three impressive seasons with the Suns, including All-Star appearances in his first two seasons in ’81 and ’82 (Westphal and Johnson teamed up with one another on the Western All-Star team three seasons in a row).

However, what the Suns gained by Johnson’s defense was not nearly enough to help put the franchise over the top and even though the team set a franchise record with 57 wins in Johnson’s first season, they were unable to get out of the Semifinals again, losing in six to Kansas City. The following year they lost in the semi’s to the Los Angeles Lakers, and in 1983, they lost in a three game first round series to Denver.

Believing again that the Suns lacked size and that a competent guard would be found to replace him, Colangelo traded Johnson and the Suns’ first-round pick in 1983 to the Boston Celtics for Rickey Robey, a backup power forward/center and two second-round picks, ending the streak of star players traded for star players.

Phoenix Acquired:
Rick Robey
1983 second-round pick (Rod Foster)
1983 second-round pick (Paul Williams)

Boston Acquired:
Dennis Johnson
1983 first-round pick (Greg Kite)

Ironically, that competent guard was Paul Westphal who had recently been released by the New York Knicks. He and Colangelo patched up their differences and Westphal returned as a veteran leader off the bench for a swan song before retirement.