Phoenix Suns bring in draft prospects for workouts
May 27, 2015, 12:32 PM | Updated: Jun 5, 2015, 5:34 pm
The Phoenix Suns currently hold picks number 13 and 44 in June’s NBA Draft.
In preparing for their selections, the team is bringing in a good amount of draft hopefuls for workouts, looking to get a closer look at some of their options.
Below is a list of every player the team has brought in, along with some notes on each.
Friday, June 5
“I think all six of those guys have a chance to get drafted in the first round. So it was a very good workout for us. As far as when these workouts are scheduled, basically we take the guys when we can get them. I think there was a unique opportunity this weekend, a lot of GMs and executives have gone to Europe for the adidas Eurocamp in Treviso, Italy. So we took advantage of that and scheduled as many guys as we could. Twelve is maximum you can have in for a day, so we did two groups of six. Guys showed well. We had two pretty good workouts.”
Group 1
Montrezl Harrell, F, Louisville
Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, F, Arizona
R.J. Hunter, G, Georgia State
Rashad Vaughn, G, UNLV
Christian Wood, F, UNLV
Delon Wright, G, Utah
Group 2
Nedim Buza, F, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Will Cummings, G, Temple
T.J. McConnell, G, Arizona
Larry Nance, Jr., F, Wyoming
Jarvis Threatt, G, Rio Grande Valley Vipers
Alan Williams, F, UC Santa Barbara
Thursday, June 4
“He showed that he’s got great skills. He’s a big man who can handle the ball, he can pass it, he can step back and shoot it. From what we saw, in even the 3-on-2s and 2-on-1s, he just knows how to play the game.” – Coach Jeff Hornacek on Frank Kaminsky
Frank Kaminsky, F, Wisconsin
Trey Lyles, F, Kentucky
Daniel Mullings, G, New Mexico State
Kelly Oubre, F, Kansas
Keifer Sykes, G, Green Bay
Greg Whittington, F, Georgetown
Wednesday, June 3
“He shoots it pretty easy. He’s got a high release, high-arcing shot. He’s obviously got good size and strength, he’s about 6-foot-9. So we like his versatility. He’s able to step out to the 3-point line and make shots behind the line, but he’s also able to catch on swing passes and attack closeouts and get all the way to the basket and finish. Today he showed nice things in transition. He’s a pretty fluid athlete, so I think at times you don’t realize quite how big he is until you see him go finish and dunk pretty easily on the break.” – GM Ryan McDonough on Sam Dekker
Brandon Ashley, F, Arizona
Bo Barnes, G, Arizona State
Daniel Bejarano, G, Colorado State
Rakeem Christmas, F, Syracuse
Sam Dekker, F, Wisconsin
Juwan Staten, G, West Virginia
Tuesday, June 2
“We always talk about the effort and you see it most of the time, but I thought today was the biggest overall group where the guys showed their skills, showed their ability to play the game, not just kind of go one-on-one. I think they all played it the right way. Sometimes you get in these workouts and guys just want to show, ‘Hey, what can I do, I want to show the coaches this or I want to show the GM what I can do.’ These guys just played basketball, and they played the right way. They moved the ball, they shared it. When they were competing against each other three-on-three, they didn’t care about how they looked in terms of scoring. They just wanted to win, and that’s the type of players we’re looking for.” – Suns coach Jeff Hornacek
Gary Bell, G, Gonzaga
Pat Connaughton, G, Notre Dame
Kevon Looney, F, UCLA
Bobby Portis, F, Arkansas
Rayvonte Rice, G, Illinois
Shannon Scott, G, Ohio State
Monday, June 1
“Devin looked good. I believe this is his first workout for any team. He shot the ball well. Came in in pretty good shape — I believe he got 27 line touches in the three-minute run. So he’s an intriguing player, intriguing prospect.” – Suns GM Ryan McDonough
Devin Booker, G, Kentucky
Derek Cooke Jr., F, Wyoming
Vince Hunter, F, UTEP
Josh Richardson, G, Tennessee
Jarvis Summers, G, Ole Miss
Dez Wells, G, Maryland
Friday, May 29
“It was a talented group. We were impressed. I just asked the guys after the workout about their schedules, and three of the six had workouts yesterday in places that aren’t real close to Phoenix. It kind of tells a little bit about the process and what these guys go through. But it was a good group. We had good shooting, pretty good size, some interchangeable matchups — especially on that perimeter — so it was probably the most talented group we’ve had in so far overall.”
Darion Atkins, F, Virginia
Jerian Grant, G, Notre Dame
Olivier Hanlan, G, Boston College
Darrun Hilliard, G, Villanova
Richaun Holmes, F, Bowling Green
J.P. Tokoto, F, North Carolina
Thursday, May 28
“It was good. It was a veteran group, so you had a bunch of older, more mature guys. So it was probably the most physical of all our workouts so far. It didn’t have, like, 22, 23 — I think one of the guys was 24. Physically they’re all strong. A lot of bodies on the floor, in a good way, chasing the ball. It was probably our most competitive, most physical workout thus far.” – assistant GM Pat Connely
Quinn Cook, G, Duke
Tyler Haws, G, Brigham Young
D.J. Newbill, G, Penn State
Matt Stainbrook, C, Xavier
Aaron Thomas, G, Florida State
Marcus Thornton, F, Georgia
Wednesday, May 27
“It was a good group today. We had four guards in the group so the speed was a little quicker today. They pushed through things. I thought they did a nice job. Today we kind of went from thing to thing pretty quickly. They didn’t need a lot of breaks — looked like most of the guys were in pretty darn good shape. And that shows when you do the shooting at the end, you know, we do the 100 shots for them and they’re moving on that. Even our guys, our players say that that’s pretty tough, and these guys handled it well.” – Suns coach Jeff Hornacek
Gerald Beverly, F, Daemen College
Aaron Harrison, G, Kentucky
Kevin Pangos, G, Gonzaga
Jordan Sibert, G, Dayton
Kenneth Smith, G, Louisiana Tech
Seth Tuttle, F, Northern Iowa
Tuesday, May 26
“I think it’s pretty strong at the top. I think if you go back and look year-to-year, I think coming into the draft, 2013 was probably considered a little weaker, last year was considered a little stronger. This year’s probably in the middle of those two, over all.” – Suns GM Ryan McDonough on this year’s draft class
Askia Booker, G, Colorado
Branden Dawson, F, Michigan State
Kendall Gray, C, Delaware State
Tyler Harvey, G, Eastern Washington
Le’Bryan Nash, F, Oklahoma State
Chris Walker, F, Florida
