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Phoenix Suns Summer League Roster

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As part of our continuing series of spending way too much time telling you more than you need to know about players that don't have NBA contracts, I present the Toronto Raptors Summer League roster in excruciating detail.

For a breakdown of other NBA Summer League rosters, check these out: New Jersey NetsUtah Jazz,Philadelphia 76ersOrlando MagicIndiana Pacers,Boston CelticsOklahoma City ThunderDenver NuggetsDallas Mavericks, Houston RocketsDetroit Pistons, Los Angeles LakersGolden State Warriors and Toronto Raptors.

For the rest of the Vegas Summer League rosters, refer to this post.

2010 Phoenix Suns Las Vegas Summer League Roster

No. Player Pos. Ht. Wt. Birthdate College/Country NBA Exp.
0 Marcus Johnson F 6-6 210 02/13/87 Southern California Rookie
1 Scottie Reynolds G 6-2 190 10/10/87 Villanova Rookie
7 Zabian Dowdell G 6-3 190 09/10/84 Virginia Tech Rookie
10 Ryan Toolson G 6-4 190 03/21/85 Utah Valley Rookie
11 Brandon Johnson G 6-0 200 10/09/86 San Diego Rookie
15 Lawrence Hill F 6-8 220 09/16/87 Stanford Rookie
18 Anton Ponkrashov F 6-7 220 04/23/86 Russia Rookie
23 Matt Janning G 6-4 195 06/22/88 Northeastern Rookie
31 Gani Lawal F 6-9 234 11/07/88 Georgia Tech Rookie
32 Taylor Griffin F 6-7 238 04/18/86 Oklahoma 1 year
34 Gavin Edwards F 6-10 230 01/15/88 Connecticut Rookie
50 Shaun Pruitt F/C 6-10 245 11/22/85 Illinois Rookie
55 Earl Clark F 6-10 225 01/17/88 Louisville 1 year
60 Dwayne Collins F 6-8 243 04/13/88 Miami (FL) Rookie


Once again, I won't be discussing players already on the roster, so Earl Clark, Taylor Griffin, Gani Lawal and Dwayne Collins are out.  Don't worry, though, SB Nation's Suns blog Bright Side of the Sun has you covered there.

And, once again, the players will be listed by position first followed by how likely I think it is that they'll appear on any NBA roster next season.

Guards

Zabian Dowdell, PG, Virginia Tech - Dowdell played for Phoenix in last year's Summer League, and spent 10 games playing in the D-League before heading overseas.  He's fairly highly regarded as far as free agents playing in Summer League go, and he's been using the last few years (he left college in 2007) to transition from more of a scorer to a true(r) point guard.  Goran Dragic has the backup PG position on lock, but I think Dowdell has a pretty good shot to either make it in Phoenix as a third-stringer, or as a backup somewhere else.

Matt Janning, G, Northeastern - I know, I'm surprised too.  Despite being more of a shooting guard in college, Janning has been playing the point for the Celtics in the Orlando Summer League.  He probably has as much of a shot (not here, but with any team) as Reynolds does, but I'm listing him first because he at least already has shown off his skills.  He has pretty good instincts, a quick first step, rebounding ability and decent size.  His outside shot wasn't always there in college, but if he puts on a repeat performance in Vegas, teams could come calling.

Scottie Reynolds, PG, Villanova - Blah blah All-American, blah blah undrafted blah.  You know all that already (or should, probably).  Reynolds basically carried Villanova as a senior, meaning he was responsible for most of the scoring despite being a point guard.  As such, there have been some questions as to whether he can alter his mentality for the NBA.  Oh, and about the fact that he's not a good shooter.  Or particularly athletic.  Still, he was a very efficient scorer in college and found ways to succeed despite his limitations, and he's coming into Summer League with something to prove.  With a few years of work, he could conceivably become a point guard version of Reggie Williams.

Brandon Johnson, PG, San Diego - Johnson actually spent five years in college, being granted an additional year of eligibility after tearing his achilles tendon.  So he's not only old for a rookie (he'll turn 24 this year), but has some injury concerns as well.  Regardless, Johnson could become an interesting prospect.  He's San Diego's all-time leader in points and assists, and he cut his turnovers and fouls down as a senior.  He three-point and field goal shooting percentages also declined, however, as did his rebounding numbers, but for now I'll chalk those up to injury recovery.


Wings

Marcus Johnson, SF, Southern California - After starting out at UConn, Johnson transferred to USC in 2008.  He was a good defender in college and a decent rebounder, but he's an inconsistent scorer and the worst shooter of these three players.  He also struggles to shoot 50 percent from the free-throw line.  Near as I can tell, his offense consists of dunks.

Ryan Toolson, SG, Utah Valley State - Toolson scored 63 points against Chicago State a few years back, and that's...really all I've got.  He's the best outside shooter of this group (40.5 percent last year in Turkey), and also Danny Ainge's nephew.  So he'll be coaching the Maine Red Claws within 10 years.

Anton Ponkrashov G/F, Russia - Ponkrashov is listed here although he also can play some point guard, as he's a pretty decent playmaker.  Unfortunately, he's not all that athletic and still mostly goes to his left, and is a poor shooter.  I expect him to go back to Russia when Summer League is over (he played for CSKA Moscow last season).

Big Men

Shaun Pruitt, PF/C, Illinois - Pruitt is unique in this group in that he actually seems willing to throw his body around in the paint and rebound the ball.  Conditioning was an issue for Pruitt coming out of college, but I have no idea where he is with that now.  He went to training camp with the Warriors last year before being cut.  He has made the overseas rounds (Puerto Rico, China, Latvia, Czech Republic) so NBA teams may put that tag on him, but he has the best shot to get further NBA notice out of any of the free agent bigs the Suns have brought in.

Lawrence Hill, PF/C, Stanford - Hill is looking to become the next Stanford big man in the NBA, following the Lopez twins and, uh, the Collins twins, Mark Madsen and Curtis Borchardt.  Hill's production took a dip as a junior when the Lopezes came into their own, but recovered as a senior.  He still didn't rebound particularly well nor block a ton of shots.  He played for the Warriors' Summer League team last season before going to play in Mexico.  Apparently he fancies himself something of a shooter, as he shot 148 threes there, making a little over 38 percent of them.  I can't imagine that's why NBA teams are interested, but it's possible he's trying to re-make his game a bit.

Gavin Edwards, PF, Connecticut - Edwards' main skill is shotblocking, as he averaged an even two blocks as a senior last year.  His rebounding is okay, though it probably could be better given that he's 6'10" (okay, 6'9"), and he's apparently not very physical on either end.  His father played in the NFL for 11 years, so he has an athletic pedigree, and he's pretty mobile for a guy his size.  Given the rest of his profile, however, I'm expecting to see him get pushed around a little bit in Vegas.