Rogers Living Good Life in Phoenix

Rodney Rogers stepped out of the NBA’s darkest corner and into the desert sun.

His game and attitude have been reinvigorated in Phoenix this season after his escape from the basketball purgatory known as the Los Angeles Clippers.

“I’m in heaven, man,” Rogers said.

He has gone from gloomy reserve on the NBA’s worst team to a leading candidate for the Sixth Man Award given to the league’s top player off the bench.

“He has to win,” Suns coach Scott Skiles said. “He would be absolutely robbed if he doesn’t. The people I’m talking to are feeling the same way, so hopefully he has it wrapped up.”

The 6-foot-7, 255-pound Rogers, who can play power and small forward, brings instant offense and tough defense to the court. He can post up smaller forwards inside, score on drives to the hoop and, most impressively, is deadly from 3-point range.

“It has surprised me a little bit how consistent he’s been at it,” Skiles said of Rogers’ long-range accuracy. “He’s always had that ability, but his consistency has been really good.”

Rogers is fourth in the NBA in 3-point percentage at .439 (107-for-244). He is averaging 13.9 points and 5.5 rebounds a game. His game mirrors that of the Suns’ other big-scoring forward, Cliff Robinson.

In a season in which the Suns have been racked with injuries, Rogers is the only one on the roster who has played in every game. Since the All-Star break, he has averaged 17.4 points. He scored a career-high 36 in 38 minutes in Toronto on Feb. 15.

And he came for the bargain price, by NBA standards, of $2 million a year.

“Let’s just say that we feel that we’ve got one of the better $2 million players in the league,” general manager Bryan Colangelo said. “He has played extremely well, and has resuscitated his career.”

Before this year, Rogers had played for only one winning team in his six NBA seasons.

As a rookie out of Wake Forest, he was part of the Denver team that became the first No. 8 seed to knock off a No. 1 when the Nuggets beat Seattle in the first round of the 1994 playoffs.

In 1995, Rogers went to the Clippers as part of the deal that brought Antonio McDyess to the Nuggets.

Rogers averaged in double figures his first three seasons in Los Angeles, but the losing wore him down. In last year’s abbreviated season, his scoring average dipped to 7.4 points a game.