Quinton Crawford leading Toumani Camara, the Summer Suns in Vegas Summer League

We are on the precipice of the NBA Summer League. It is our last chance to consume Phoenix Suns basketball until we are on the other side of summer. While they isn’t too much excitement around the Summer Suns – thankfully we’re not glued to our televisions while scouting lottery picks – there still is plenty in play for both the young players and the coaches.

This season it will be new assistant head coach Quinton Crawford who will be guiding the Summer Suns in the head coach role in Vegas.

Crawford, who came up as a video coordinator with the Sacramento Kings, Charlotte Hornets, and Orlando Magic, is a Old Bridge, New Jersey native who played his collegiate basketball at the University of Arizona from 2011 to 2013. He scored a total of zero points in two season with the Wildcats, playing in 9 games on teams that included Solomon Hill and Nick Johnson.

It wasn’t in the cards to play professional basketball, so after his senior year he learned the art of video coordination while at the U of A. “That summer, they let me sit in the video room with the managers and learn how to cut video,” Crawford said, “which allowed me to get my first job as a graduate assistant at Pepperdine which allowed me to get my next job in the NBA.”

He originally met current Suns’ head coach Frank Vogel in Orlando during the 2018-19 season. Vogel brought Crawford on as an assistant in 2019 with the Los Angeles Lakers and was part of the 2020 NBA Finals run that netted the Lakers their 16th championship. In 2022, Crawford followed his fellow Laker assistant head coach Jason Kidd to the Dallas Mavericks.

He has now re-joined Vogel with Phoenix. And Vogel has tasked him with coaching the Summer Suns. The 32-year old Crawford is up for the challenge. “My style is I treat people with respect. I don’t think I have to get after everybody every practice, but I do have demands that have to be met. Part of that is playing hard and playing with effort and exerting themselves.”

Crawford will be coaching Jordan Goodwin and Toumani Camara, both who should be on the big-league squad. “Tou’s phenomenal, man,” Crawford stated after a Summer League practice. “I think he’s gonna be a great player.”

“Toumani has all the ability to be a great perimeter defender or roller for us,” Suns summer league coach Quinton Crawford said. “He can also space the floor and my job is to put him in the right position to be successful.”

Below is the roster he will be coaching...minus Isaiah Todd who the Suns sent to the Memphis Grizzlies yesterday.

Summer League kicks off for the Suns tomorrow at 6:00pm Arizona time. Be sure to tune in to the Suns JAM Session after the game as we talk about what we saw from the young team on our post game podcast.

Let the summer fun begin!