Suns sign Brian Skinner
Oct 1st, 2007 by Inside Hoops
The Phoenix Suns today signed unrestricted free-agent forward Brian Skinner to a one-year deal.
“Brian is a player who can help us,” said Suns President of Basketball Operations and General Manager Steve Kerr. “He is an athletic shotblocker who runs the floor and fits our style very well.”
In Skinner, Phoenix adds a 6-9, 265-pound forward who last season averaged 4.7 points and 5.7 rebounds in 22.7 minutes in 67 games (44 starts) for the Milwaukee Bucks. A nine-year NBA veteran, Skinner joins his seventh team after stints with Bucks, L.A. Clippers, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Sacramento and Portland. In 2005 while with the Sixers, Skinner was a part of the blockbuster trade that sent All-Star Chris Webber to Philadelphia from Sacramento.
The Bucks’ third-leading rebounder a season ago, Skinner, 31, still holds the Baylor University record for career rebounds (915) and blocks (346). His best statistical season came in his first stint in Milwaukee in 2003-04 when he averaged a career-high 10.5 points and career-best 7.3 rebounds in 56 games (career-high 54 starts). Including last season, Skinner has shot 49.0 percent or higher from the field in six consecutive seasons and eight of his nine NBA campaigns.
Originally the 22nd overall selection in the first round of the 1998 NBA Draft by the Los Angeles Clippers, Skinner owns career averages of 5.1 points, 5.0 rebounds in 22.7 minutes in 472 games (175 starts).
2007 Phoenix Suns training camp runs October 2-7 at McKale Center on the campus of the University of Arizona in Tucson.