Category: Phoenix Suns Blog

Admittedly, Channing Frye is not good at making predictions.

He predicted he would not do much in training camp, yet he was a full participant.

He predicted he would not play in the intrasquad scrimmage, yet he logged 24 minutes.

And he predicted he would not play in any of the eight preseason games, yet there he was on the court in Portland Wednesday, scoring 14 points in 16:07 against his former team.

So, about that prediction of a regular season return in December?

“Yeah, that’s too late. We’ll cancel that,” he said with a smile Friday. “I’m a little more in shape than I thought I was. I just continue to push myself and here I am. That’s the last time I make predictions.”

Reported by Craig Grialous of Arizona Sports

LeBron James was the first. Then ex-teammate Jamal Crawford.

Both players went on record over the offseason sharing their opinion that the Suns landed themselves a future NBA star in 6-foot-1, 195-pound point guard Eric Bledsoe.

The Suns certainly hope so.

They hope they’ve acquired a player, who much like backcourt teammate Goran Dragic, will blossom once out of the shadow of a perennial all-star.

As a backup to Chris Paul last season, Bledsoe averaged a career-high 8.5 points to go along with 3.1 assists, 3.0 rebounds and 1.43 steals in 20.4 minutes.

When given the chance to start when Paul got hurt, Bledsoe, in 12 games, responded with 14.2 points, 5.3 assists, 4.8 rebounds and 2.5 steals in 34.2 minutes.

“I was looking forward to this moment, and it came and I’m ready for it,” Bledsoe said of being a first-time starter as he enters year four of his pro career. “I’ve been preparing for it this summer—not only this summer, since I’ve been playing basketball since college. I’ve been preparing (that) one day I would get a chance to be a starter in this league.”

Reported by Craig Grialou of Arizona Sports

What interested Mike Longabardi in joining the Suns?

Longabardi: “I just looked at the whole perspective that they have, and I’ve never been in this situation before. It’s a great place to live. I like the moves that Ryan (McDonough) has made. So for me personally, it was an opportunity to come in and kind of put my stamp on it and help (Hornacek) so that we can all be successful and build it from the bottom up.

“My goal is, hopefully, one day become a head coach. I don’t know if that’s going to happen or not; only time will tell. But I know if I do probably get an opportunity it’s going to have to be in a situation where you’re going to have to start from the ground up. So to me, this is exciting too. So I’m going to come here, see what Jeff is going to do; how he’s going to do things and help him a little bit.

“This is the first time that I’m working on a team that I didn’t really know anybody coming in, so that’s going to be good for me also. All those things together, and obviously coming here to Phoenix, it’s a beautiful place to live. It was kind of like an easy decision when you really, really put everything down on paper.

“This is going to be new. Yeah, I’ve never dealt with this before, which is part of the reason why I wanted to do it. I’m not so much caught up right now with the results because this is a process. The results are important. We always want to win. I’m not saying that that’s not important, but we just got to keep taking steps so that we’re getting better and each year we make progress. To me that’s the sign of a good coach: How he does each year, are they getting better, are they improving.”

Reported by Craig Grialou of Arizona Sports

The Phoenix Suns today announced they have signed guard/forward James Nunnally, bringing the club’s roster to 18 players.

Nunnally, 23, excelled for the Miami Heat during the 2013 Las Vegas Summer League, leading the team with 13.0 points per game while shooting 57.7 percent from the field and 63.0 percent beyond the three-point arc. His best performance came in Miami’s final contest against the Suns as Nunnally made 5-of-6 three-pointers and scored 21 of his 24 points in the second half to help erase a 20-point deficit in a game Phoenix held on to win 91-89.

Last season, the 6-7, 205-pound Nunnally played for the Suns’ D-League affiliate, the Bakersfield Jam, and averaged 10.3 points while connecting on 40.6 percent of his three-point attempts. He first gained NBA experience with the Sacramento Kings at the 2012 Las Vegas Summer League, following a standout four-year career at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Nunnally was named to an All-Big West team three times at UCSB and helped the Gauchos to back-to-back NCAA tournament appearances for the first time in the program’s history. For his collegiate career, Nunnally averaged 13.7 points and 5.2 rebounds.

The Phoenix Suns make their return to Flagstaff, Arizona for the first time since 2004 when they report for training camp at Northern Arizona University from September 30 through October 5. This year marks the 21st time the City of Flagstaff has hosted the team’s training camp. Phoenix first used Flagstaff as a training camp site in 1986, coincidentally the first training camp as a player for now Suns Head Coach Jeff Hornacek.

“I have great memories of training camps in Flagstaff from my time as a player with the Suns,” said Hornacek. “The Flagstaff community has always been very supportive and I’m looking forward to returning there to get camp started.”

“Northern Arizona University is thrilled for the opportunity to host the Phoenix Suns for their annual training camp,” said NAU Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics Dr. Lisa Campos. “We have a history with the Suns and to bring the team back to Flagstaff and the NAU campus is something we are proud to do.”

The Suns’ week in Flagstaff will culminate with an open to the public scrimmage, starting at noon on Saturday, Oct. 5, at NAU’s J. Lawrence Walkup Skydome. The training camp workout schedule begins at the J.C. Rolle Activity Center on Tuesday, Oct. 1, and continues through the intrasquad scrimmage.

Phoenix opens the preseason schedule at home against Maccabi Bazan Haifa at 7 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 7, at US Airways Center to tip-off a seven-game exhibition schedule in preparation for the club’s 46th NBA season.