Despite trading essentially all their remaining draft picks in the Bradley Beal trade, the Phoenix Suns still had a second-round pick in this past 2023 NBA Draft. With the 52nd pick, the Suns selected Dayton upperclassman Toumani Camara.
While Dayton did produce NBA Legend Stephen Curry, the University isn’t known for producing a lot of NBA prospects. However, Camara might just be the type of player the Suns need to help build out their bench.
Camara is a 6-foot-8 power forward who started his collegiate career with Georgia but transferred to Dayton after his sophomore year. He’s a player who steadily improved over his college career.
| Season | School | Conf | G | GS | MP | FG% | 2P% | 3P% | FT% | TRB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | PF | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019-20 | Georgia | SEC | 32 | 23 | 24.0 | .494 | .564 | .172 | .625 | 4.3 | 0.7 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 1.6 | 2.7 | 6.6 |
| 2020-21 | Georgia | SEC | 25 | 25 | 28.4 | .486 | .553 | .263 | .621 | 7.7 | 1.6 | 1.2 | 1.1 | 2.4 | 3.0 | 12.8 |
| 2021-22 | Dayton | A-10 | 34 | 34 | 27.2 | .510 | .561 | .338 | .591 | 6.9 | 1.6 | 0.8 | 0.8 | 2.6 | 2.7 | 10.9 |
| 2022-23 | Dayton | A-10 | 34 | 34 | 30.0 | .546 | .606 | .363 | .669 | 8.6 | 1.7 | 1.2 | 0.8 | 2.1 | 2.6 | 13.9 |
| Career | Overall | 125 | 116 | 27.4 | .513 | .573 | .307 | .631 | 6.9 | 1.4 | 1.0 | 0.8 | 2.2 | 2.7 | 11.0 | |
| Georgia | 57 | 48 | 25.9 | .489 | .557 | .233 | .623 | 5.8 | 1.1 | 0.9 | 0.8 | 2.0 | 2.9 | 9.3 | ||
| Dayton | 68 | 68 | 28.6 | .529 | .584 | .352 | .637 | 7.8 | 1.7 | 1.0 | 0.8 | 2.4 | 2.6 | 12.4 |
The stats don’t lie— Camara developed into a 3-and-D player during his college career. But will his skills transfer to the NBA? On offense, he’s developed into a reliable three-point shooter and is a force finishing around the rim with post-ups and put-backs. With the Suns, they will need the three-point shoot to be even more of a threat.
Defensively he’s very versatile, as he can guard in the paint and on the perimeter. He’s got good hands, so being active in passing lanes and striping the ball will have to be a must for the 23-year-old.
It’s a shame that Phoenix doesn’t still have the Northern Arizona Suns as their G-League team so that they could send them to properly develop. However, there’s a chance he could be in the rotation to begin the season. The Suns don’t have numerous options to add talent at the moment, so they may have to rely on their second-round pick for minutes.
The good news is he has four years of college and the thought process behind drafting a 23-year-old is that they are more ready to contribute than younger players in their class.
It’s clear he’s able to play within a system and willing to be a role player.
Considering the Suns only had the 52nd pick in this past draft, the selected the type of player they needed heading into next year.
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