Well, it’s officially official. With two 3-pointers made in the April 2 loss against the Charlotte Hornets, Phoenix Suns breakout guard Collin Gillespie is now the franchise leader in 3-point makes in a season — breaking a record that’s stood for more than two decades.
Gillespie now stands alone in Suns lore having made 227 shots from beyond the arc in a season, an organization record. The previous high mark was held by Quentin “Q” Richardson, who drained 226 long range looks during his lone season in The Valley in 2004-05 with the first iteration of Steve Nash and Mike D’Antoni’s “Run and Gun” Suns.
But now, after more than 20 years and seeing Suns team records for 3s in a season fall year after year, Gillespie was finally the man up to the challenge of besting Q’s record for single-season sharpshooting.
And what a season it has been for Gillespie. After averaging just 14 minutes per game across 33 games (nine starts) in his first season with Phoenix a year ago, he’s now averaging career highs with 28.9 minutes, 13.1 points, 4.8 assists, 4.1 rebounds and 1.3 steals per contest. He’s been called the most surprising player on one of the NBA’s surprise teams, and he’s set for a significant pay increase this summer when he enters free agency.
But that’s a problem for the Suns to figure out in the future. For now, let’s take a look at how Gillespie’s record-setting season from long range compares to Richardson’s.
Volume isn't the only impressive thing about Gillespie's record
During his short stint in The Valley, Q Richardson was encouraged to let it fly from long range in what became a new era of not only Suns basketball, but NBA basketball as well.
Q’s 226 3-pointers led the league in 2004-05, as did his 631 long range attempts. That was good enough for a 35.8% mark from distance.
Gillespie has now hit 227 long range shots in 557 attempts — significantly fewer than Q launched some 20 years ago. As it stands, Gillespie ranks No. 15 in the NBA in 3-point attempts per game at 7.3 per contest. His 40.7% mark from distance is the best on the team and around the top 20 in all of basketball. For comparison, Q’s 3-point percentage ranked 60th in the league when he set the record, and was significantly less efficient than teammate Joe Johnson’s mark of 47.8% (which ranked second in the NBA that season behind Fred Hoiberg).
The story with Gillespie was efficiency and consistency.
While Q failed to net a 3-pointer 14 times during his own record-setting run, Gillespie’s gone without making a 3-point look just six times all season.
Richardson’s volume stands out, as he made five or more triples a stunning 17 times throughout the 2004-05 campaign. Gillespie’s sunk five or more 12 times, with a high of eight in a single game — which he accomplished twice.
Q made nine 3-pointers in a single contest in a Dec. 29, 2004, win over New Orleans.
Gillespie and Richardson are among the best outside shooters in the history of the Suns franchise, but now Gillespie stands alone at the top of the record books.
Unlike Q, who was unceremoniously traded after his record-setting year, Suns fans no doubt hope that Gillespie will be sticking around a while longer.