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Get to know the Suns 2023 Summer League Team

New Suns guard Jordan Goodwin. © Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

Who will be lacing up for the Suns in Vegas starting tonight at 6 p.m. MST against the Bucks? Get to know the players on the Summer League roster.

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First, take a look at the most updated version of the roster via NBA.com. Isaiah Todd will not be playing for the Suns, as he was traded to the Grizzlies. Todd’s spot on the Summer League team was taken over by Eron Gordon, the younger brother of new Suns’ guard Eric Gordon.

Now, here are the bios of every player on the roster (in numerical order, starred the impact players to watch).

Head Coach – Quinton Crawford

Crawford has won a Summer League in the past back in 2021 with the Lakers, where he was an assistant under Frank Vogel. He was an assistant for all of Vogel’s years with the Lakers and won the NBA championship in 2020 with them.

Crawford played college basketball at Arizona from 2011-13 after transferring from Middlesex Country College. He started his NBA career as an assistant video coordinator with the Kings, then moved to head video coordinator of the Magic from 2016-18. Right before the Lakers, Crawford was the head video coordinator and player development coach for the Hornets.

Last season, he was an assistant coach with the Mavs, but Vogel added him back to his staff when he was hired by the Suns.

* G Jordan Goodwin (#4)

The 24-year-old Goodwin was acquired by the Suns in the Bradley Beal trade and will have a big opportunity to make a good impression on the Suns’ coaching staff with his play in  the Summer League. He is a combo guard, so it will be interesting to see if the Suns want to use him as an off-ball guard or point guard.

As an off-ball guard, Goodwin get more playing time in the regular season because the Suns will likely have Cam Payne come off the bench. However, if Payne starts, Goodwin would be the direct backup.

The 6-foot-3 Goodwin is best known for his defense and rebounding even as a smaller guard, so these will be two aspects of his game to watch. The areas the Suns would probably look for improvement in would be his playmaking and his shooting. He will assume a leadership role of the Summer League team due to his experience.

Goodwin played his college ball at Saint Louis and was named to First Team All-Atlantic 10 and Atlantic 10 All-Defensive Team his junior and senior seasons. He averaged a double-double with rebounds both of those years and broke the all-time Saint Louis steals record during his career.

He went unselected in the 2021 NBA Draft, but signed a three-year contract with the Wizards during the 2022-23 season after impressing for them both in the NBA and during two seasons with their G-League affiliate, the Capital City Go-Go.

Goodwin grew up having Bradley Beal as a mentor, so it was big for him to come over to Phoenix in the trade.

He will be playing for the Suns to fully guarantee his contract for this season, as the $1.93 million he is contracted to make this year is only partially guaranteed.

2022-23 stats with Wizards (62 games, 7 started): 6.6 PPG, 3.3 RPG, 2.7 APG, 0.9 SPG, 0.4 BPG on 45/32/77 splits in 17.8 MPG

Watch his introductory presser: 

G Marcus Carr (#16)

Marcus Carr was one of the best players in all of college basketball last season with Texas, averaging 15.9 PPG, 4.1 APG and 1.6 SPG on 43 FG% and 37 3FG% for the Longhorns. The 6-foot-2, 24-year-old guard started his college career at Pitt in 2017-18, then transferred to Minnesota where he played from 2019-21 and wrapped up his last two collegiate years at Texas. He was one of the most well-known players by the time his college career ended. He made first-team All-Big 12 last season and third-team All-Big 12 in 2022.

He now joins the Suns’ Summer League team after going undrafted.

Career college stats (164 GP): 14.3 PPG, 4.6 APG, 3.3 RPG, 1.1 SPG on 40/35/77 splits

F Savion Flagg (#17)

Flagg went unselected in the 2022 NBA Draft after five collegiate seasons. The 24-year-old forward first played four seasons for Texas A&M and then his last for Sam Houston State, where he was named first-team All-WAC after averaging 18.6 points, 8.2 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game.

The 6-foot-7 Flagg played his one professional season for Greek club Lavrio after singing a contract with them on July 15, 2022.

Stats with Lavrio (21 GP): 14.5 PPG, 7.2 RPG, 3.8 APG, 0.8 SPG on 73/32/49 splits in 32.9 MPG

F Louis Olinde (#19)

Olinde did not play college ball and hails from Germany. The 6-foot-10 forward is known for his smothering defense and fits the profile of a 3-and-D NBA player, as he shot 39.1% on threes last season. He has  played the last three years of his professional career for Alba Berlin of Basketball Bundesliga.

His father, Wilbert Olinde, won the 1975 National Championship with UCLA and moved to Germany for his professional playing career.

The 25-year-old says that the NBA is his dream, and he will have a chance to prove it with the Suns.

Stats:

* F Toumani Camara (#20)

The Suns’ second-round draft pick told the media he was unsure if he’d be playing for the Summer League team, but he is on the roster now. The defensive-minded wing played for Dayton his last two seasons in college after transferring from Georgia. He is listed at 6-foot-8, 220 pounds.

Stats in college: 11 PPG, 6.9 RPG, 1.4 APG, 1.0 SPG, 0.8 BPG on 51/31/63 splits

Read more about him here:

Suns select Dayton’s Toumani Camara with the No. 52 overall pick

Does Suns NBA Draft pick Toumani Camara Have Pressure on Him Right Away?

Watch a press conference from him:

F Jordan Usher (#23)

G Grant Sherfield (#25)

The 6-foot-2 Sherfield joins the Suns’ Summer League roster after going undrafted out of Oklahoma. The 23-year-old also played for Wichita State (2019-20) and Nevada (2020-2022) before playing his last season with the Sooners. Sherfield averaged over 18 points in his two seasons with Nevada and then averaged 15.9 with the Sooners.

The Fort Worth native was a big-time scorer in college, but also showed impressive playmaking, especially at Nevada where he averaged over six assists per game. His assist average dropped to 3.3 with the Sooners, however.

Collegiate stats (116 GP, 98 GS): 15.2 PPG, 4.6 APG, 3.3 RPG, 0.7 SPG  on 41/36/84 splits in 32.2 MPG

C Keanu Pinder (#26)

Pinder is from Australia and played his college ball at Arizona. The 6-foot-9 big man is very athletic and could surprise some people this Summer League.

He did not get much playing time  during his two seasons at Arizona (2016-2018), but did have several highlight-reel blocks and dunks. Since playing at Arizona, the 28-year-old has had stops with Legia Warszawa of the Polish Basketball League (2018-2020), Adelaide 36ers of the NBL (2019-2021) and Cairnas Taipans of  the NBL (2021-present).

His last two seasons in the NBL he has won the Most Improved Player award (first ever player to do so) and was named the All-NBL Second Team this year after averaging 16.9 points and 9.3 rebounds. He recently signed a two-year deal with the Perth Wildcats in April, but we will see if he has improved enough to get a shot in the NBA depending on his performance with the Suns.

Career NBL stats (82 GP): 9.7 PPG, 6.6 PPG, 1.2 APG, 0.9 BPG and 0.9 SPG while shooting 50% from the floor and 71% from the line in 21.8 MPG

G Eugene German (#28)

The 28-year-old German has not appeared in an NBA game since going undrafted in 2020 out of Northern Illinois. During his time at Northern Illinois, the Gary, Indiana native made the MAC All-Freshman Team in 2017, was selected twice as Second-team All-MAC in 2018 and 2019 and made first-team All-MAC his senior year in 2020. He averaged over 20 points per game his sophomore through senior seasons.

The first professional club the 6-foot guard played for was Greek’s Ionikos Nikais (signed Aug. 9, 2021), where he averaged 20 points, 2.8 board and 2.3 assists. German then had a stop at Merkezefendi Belediyesi Denizli Basket of the Basketbol Süper Ligi and last played for the Qingdao Eagles of the Chinese Basketball Association.

Stats at Northern Illinois (125 G, 98 starts): 17.6 PPG, 3.6 RPG, 2.7 APG, 1.0 SPG on 46/36/71 splits

G Jawun Evans (#30)

Evans actually had brief stint with the Suns in 2018-19 when he played seven games for Phoenix. The 26-year-old was drafted 39th overall by the 76ers in 2017 after two dominant seasons at Oklahoma State. The 6-foot guard played one season with the Clippers, then was with the Suns and Thunder in 2018-19, but hasn’t made an appearance in an NBA game since.

He played for the Raptors 905 in 2019-20, the Promitheas Patras of the Greek Basket League in 2021, the Raptors 905 once again in 2021-22 and the Cavs’ G-League affiliate, the Cleveland Charge, in 2022. Since September of 2022, he has played for the Lithuanian Basketball League’s Juventus Utena.

Career NBA stats (56 games, 4 started): 4.2 PPG, 2.0 APG, 1.7 RPG, 0.7 SPG on 35/26/78 splits in 15.1 MPG

F Gabe Brown (#40)

Brown is a 23-year-old forward who played his college ball at Michigan State (first MSU connection for Mat Ishbia) from 2018-2022. After going undrafted last year, he played for the stacked Raptors 905 team in NBA G-League, where he put up good numbers.

Stats in the G-League: 12.5 PPG, 3.1 RPG, 1.0 APG, 0.5 SPG, 0.2 BPG on 46/41/95 splits

He had one of the coolest highlights in the G-League last year:

G Barry Brown Jr. (#45)

Brown Jr. is a 26-year old, 6-foot-3 guard who played at Kansas State from 2015-2019. He most recently played for the Metropolitans 92 alongside Victor Wembanyama in France, where he showed off his impressive three-point shooting in the playoffs. He went undrafted in 2019, but played in the Summer League and preseason that year with the Timberwolves:

G Hunter Hale (#77)

The 6-foot-4 Hale has developed into a terrific scorer at the professional level after a long college career. The Kalamazoo, MI native first walked on to Central Michigan in 2015-16 and then transferred to Division II Grand Valley State after redshirting his sophomore year. After two seasons at GVS and helping lead them to a conference title where he was named MVP, he transferred to Winthrop for his final year of eligibility in 2019-20. He led the team in scoring (13.9 points) and took home Big South conference tournament MVP honors after leading Winthrop to the title before COVID shut down the NCAA tournament.

He went undrafted in 2020, then signed with the Nelson Giants of the New Zealand National Basketball League in 2021. He was named to the NBL All-Star Five after leading the league with 26.9 points per game. Since then, he has played with Borac Čačak of the Basketball League of Serbia and the ABA League.

Stats with Borac Čačak (2 seasons, 52 GP): 17.8 PPG, 3.9 RPG, 3.5 APG, 1.3 SPG on 44/38/83 splits

Accolades: Adriatic League Top Scorer (2023), All-New Zealand League Team (2021), New Zealand League Top Scorer (2021), New Zealand League steals leader (2021), Big South tournament MVP (2020), First-team All-GLIAC (2019), Second-team All-GLIAC (2018)

C Trey Jemison (#55)

The rookie out of UAB, Trey Jemison, will get his first to show what he is capable of in the summer league with the Suns after a solid college career. The 6-foot-11 center started his college career at Clemson in the 2018-19 season. He played two seasons with the Tigers before playing his last three with UAB. Jemison started all 102 games he played for UAB, though he never averaged over 10 points, but did show elite rim protection. He also did not shoot any threes and only played down low offensively.

Total college stats (152 G, 103 starts): 5.7 PPG, 5.6 RPG, 0.6 APG, 1.3 BPG, 0.4 SPG, shot 56.7% from the floor and 64% on FTs in 19 MPG

Check out Suns’ complete Summer League schedule below:

The three big names on the list include second-round pick Toumani Camara, as well as Jordan Goodwin, who was acquired in the Bradley Beal trade. The Suns currently have 15 players signed, but no two-way spots taken. There will be a ton of opportunity for players to get to compete for the three two-way contracts the Suns can give out.

Suns dealing Isaiah Todd, trading picks with Memphis

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Brendan Mau is a college sports insider and general assignment reporter for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on Twitter via @Brendan_Mau 

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