14 players the Phoenix Suns signed past their prime
By Luke Duffy
11. Dennis Scott
Continuing a trend started by Redd here, and when you think of Dennis “3-D” Scott, you surely think of the Orlando Magic. Scott was also ahead of his time in that he was a marksman from deep, who was deployed to help spread the floor for his superstar teammate of the time, Shaquille O’Neal.
In fact you could make the case that prime Scott would have been the ideal role player to plug into the 2023-24 Suns roster with his spacing ability. During his time with the Magic, he shot a scorching 40.3 percent from deep on 5.5 attempts per game, as that young team had some memorable battles with the Chicago Bulls.
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Scott’s time with the Suns wasn’t long, only 29 regular season games and four postseason appearances in the 1997-98 season. The Suns would exit the postseason at the hands of San Antonio Spurs in the first round, and Scott would play just 15.5 minutes per game and put up 4.3 points.
This is a strange one because Scott was only 29 at the time, and in theory given the way he played, there was still plenty left in the tank. Only two years previously, he had averaged 17.5 points per game. Yet after brief stops with three other franchises, Scott was gone completely by age 31. The Suns surely expected more than what they ultimately got with this player.