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Putting a roster together year-in-and-year-out is hard enough in itself, but doing so during a summer that was hyped up as the beginning of a new Era in Suns Basketball is nearly impossible. For the Phoenix Suns they used what amounts to every second they had this off-season to evaluate their options and puzzle together their 15-man roster for the 2012-2013 season.
The mass overall includes a total of nine new players after it was announced the team has kept training camp hold overs Diante Garrett and Luke Zeller.
"I don't see, unless there is something unforeseen, I see this as our roster," said general manager Lance Blanks about the roster Thursday. "Things can change, particularly at the bottom of the roster, with injuries or if something happens we would have to tweak something."
It did come down to the wire with Ike Diogu and Solomon Jones being waived just six days before the regular season begins and only 24 hours before the teams final pre-season tilt. Garrett has been a favorite of the Suns staff for going on a few years now with his ability to score and play the point. He has been impressive through Summer League, training camp, the pre-season, and most importantly in practice proving he has a spot on this roster despite the log-jam at the one.
With Zeller he provides a little of what Channing Frye would have, albeit a very inexperienced version of Frye, but nonetheless a perimeter shooter from the five spot. For these two they help the team the most in practice and as injury buffers if someone goes down. Playing in the Developmental League is also an option for those at the bottom of the roster that could benefit from playing experience verse bench time in the big leagues.
Here are the 2012-2013 Phoenix Suns:
No. |
Player |
Pos. |
Ht. |
Wt. |
Birthdate |
College/Country |
Yrs Pro |
0 |
Michael Beasley |
F |
6-10 |
245 |
1/9/1989 |
Kansas State/USA |
4 |
26 |
Shannon Brown |
G |
6-4 |
215 |
11/29/1985 |
Michigan State/USA |
6 |
1 |
Goran Dragic |
G |
6-3 |
195 |
5/6/1986 |
Union Olimpija/Slovenia |
4 |
3 |
Jared Dudley |
F |
6-7 |
225 |
7/10/1985 |
Boston College/USA |
5 |
8 |
Channing Frye |
F/C |
6-11 |
255 |
5/17/1983 |
Arizona/USA |
7 |
10 |
Diante Garrett |
G |
6-4 |
175 |
11/3/1988 |
Iowa State/USA |
R |
4 |
Marcin Gortat |
C |
6-11 |
245 |
2/17/1984 |
RheinEnergie Koln/Poland |
5 |
2 |
Wesley Johnson |
F |
6-7 |
210 |
7/11/1987 |
Syracuse/USA |
2 |
12 |
Kendall Marshall |
G |
6-4 |
200 |
8/19/1991 |
North Carolina/USA |
R |
11 |
Markieff Morris |
F |
6-10 |
245 |
9/2/1989 |
Kansas/USA |
1 |
20 |
Jermaine O'Neal |
C |
6-11 |
260 |
10/13/1978 |
Eau Claire HS/USA |
16 |
14 |
Luis Scola |
F |
6-9 |
240 |
4/30/1980 |
Tau Ceramica/Argentina |
5 |
31 |
Sebastian Telfair |
G |
6-0 |
175 |
6/9/1985 |
Abraham Lincoln HS/USA |
8 |
17 |
P.J. Tucker |
F |
6-6 |
235 |
5/5/1985 |
Texas/USA |
1 |
40 |
Luke Zeller |
F/C |
6-11 |
245 |
4/7/1987 |
Notre Dame/USA |
R |