12 days of X-Mas – Obscure stats in Suns history Day 9

By Adam Maynes | Feb 17, 2018

(Original Caption) Philadelphia 76ers' basketball coach Roy Rubin huddles with three of his players at team's pre-season training camp at University of Scranton's John Long Center here, 9/12. From left to right are Rubin, 6-10 John Block of Maryland; 6-2 Hal Greer of Marshall and 6-7 Gary Gregor of South Carolina. 76ers open season September 21 against Baltimore Bullets in NBA exhibition. /

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LANDOVER, MD – CIRCA 1977: Ron Lee #30 of the Phoenix Suns dribbles the ball against the Washington Bullets during an NBA basketball game circa 1977 at the Capital Centre in Landover, Maryland. Lee played for the Suns from 1976-79. (Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images) /

Selected 10th overall, Ronny Lee is arguably the best defensive player the Suns have ever employed. Breaking into the league, Lee was an immediate success, averaging 10.2p/3.6r/3.2a/1.9s. Adding a talent like this to a team that were coming off of a trip to the NBA Finals was believed to be a great advantage.

Lee’s early success didn’t earn him Rookie of the Year, and the Suns did not make a repeat trip to the Finals, in fact they took a step back and missed the playoffs all together.

However, Lee did take a step forward in his second season, raising both his scoring and assists averaged, as well as steals which spiked up to 2.7 per game (mostly off the bench), which led the league. To this day, Lee’s 1977-78 season is the only one that a member of the Suns have led the league in steals.

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