Meet the 2023 Summer Suns!

The Las Vegas Summer League gets underway on July 7, but your Phoenix Suns won’t start action until the 8th, this upcoming Saturday.

We already expected guys like Toumani Camara to participate, but Jordan Goodwin is a bit of a surprise to me, having played over 1100 minutes in the NBA a season ago. Several more names were already reported, but what will the full roster look like?

Let’s first run through the names that aren’t on the Suns roster that we already anticipated being named to the Summer squad:

• Marcus Carr, 6’2 guard, Texas: high-volume scoring and playmaking guard who had multiple 40-point games in college; shot 44.4% on open catch-and-shoot 3P (40.5% on all C&S 3P) in his final collegiate season.
• Grant Sherfield, 6’2 guard, Oklahoma: smooth scorer, capable of getting his own shot inside the arc; also shot 39.4% from three as a senior after shooting 33.9% over his first three collegiate seasons.
• Hunter Hale, 6’4 guard, Winthrop/Adriatic ABA: averaged 17.8 points (37.9% on 7.1 3PA), 3.5 assists (2.8 turnovers), and 1.3 steals over 30.1 minutes per game over two seasons (52 games) in what I consider to be a top 5 league on the planet.
• Keanu Pinder, 6’9 forward, Arizona/Australian NBL/Spanish Liga ACB: Spreading time between two of the better leagues outside the NBA last year, Pinder’s come a long way from his days in Arizona, averaging 16.9 points and 9.3 rebounds in 29.3 minutes per game with the Cairns Taipans.
• Trey Jemison, 6’11 center, UAB: one of the five names we knew before the draft that had worked out with the Suns, Jemison blocks shots with the best of them, bringing a ferocity to the rim on dunks as well.
• Barry Brown Jr., 6’2 guard, Kansas State/Australian NBL/French LNB Pro A: After his season in Australia wrapped up, Brown joined Victor Wembanyama’s Mets 92 team in France for the playoff run, where he shot 51.3% on 3.9 3PA over 10 playoff games.
• Louis Olinde, 6’9 forward, Germany/Euroleague: Playing in the toughest league outside the NBA for the past five years, Olinde shot 39.1% from three and 68.9% at the rim last year
• Eugene German, 6’0 guard, Northern Illinois/Chinese CBA: shot 29.4% from three on incredibly high volume at 9.5 3PA, but on a very difficult shot profile including 61.7% of his jumpers coming off the bounce; hit 43.7% of 7.1 3PA in the Turkish league over 10 games in 2021-22

And now to hit on the guys that I wasn’t expecting to see, including a former Suns point guard and former MSU Spartan to finally awaken the Mat Ishbia connection:

• Jawun Evans, 6’0 guard, Oklahoma State/Israeli BSL: totaling 64 minutes over seven games for the Suns in 2018-19, Evans most recently played in Israel, averaging 16.6 points and 5.5 assists over 30.2 minutes per game.
• Gabe Brown, 6’8 forward, Michigan State/G League Raptors 905: The four-year Spartan finished his time in East Lansing averaging 11.6 points (38.2% on 5.3 3PA) and 3.8 rebounds before 12.1 points (41.0% on 6.6 3PA) over 31 games for a notoriously strong Raptors 905 program
• Savion Flagg, 6’7 forward, Sam Houston State/Greek GBL: transferred to SHSU to average 18.6 points (35.1% on 6.6 3PA) after four years of struggling to find the spotlight at Texas A&M. He then averaged upwards of 14 & 7 in the Greek League last season.
• Jordan Usher, 6’7 forward, Georgia Tech/Turkish TBL: I saw him live when he played against USC as part of the 2021 Jerry Colangelo Classic at Footprint Center when he finished with 11 points and 5 rebounds on a cold shooting night, 5-14. Most recently, Usher averaged 14.4 points (40.0% 3P) across 29 games in the Turkish league.

With the new CBA allowing for three two-way contract slots instead of two, there’s certainly a chance that all three are on this Summer League roster. Here’s how and when you can watch them:

• July 8 vs Milwaukee at 6 p.m. on NBA TV
• July 10 vs Miami at 3:30 p.m. on NBA TV
• July 11 vs New Orleans at 5 p.m. on ESPN2
• July 14 vs Utah at 8 p.m. on ESPN2
• at least one more game on July 16 with TBD details

Well there ya have it! Who are you all most looking forward to seeing (beyond the obvious ones like Goodwin, Camara, and Pinder)? Hale strikes me as an intriguing prospect because he’s coming from such a productive spot in such a competitive league (they’re really physical over there in the ABA too).