Fade to Orange

Garret Siler, #20

Born: October 25, 1986

Position: Center

College: Augusta State University

Height: 6′ 11″

Weight: 305

 

 

College Statistics

Year	Team	GP	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
2005-06	Augusta State	21	9.2	0.699	0	0.409	2.4	0.19	0.05	0.57	5.3
2006-07	Augusta State	31	22.6	0.689	0	0.603	6.8	0.77	0.45	2.39	13.1
2007-08	Augusta State	34	26.6	0.762	0	0.579	7.8	1.18	0.35	2.62	15.2
2008-09	Augusta State	35	26.8	0.789	0	0.655	7.7	0.86	0.37	2.57	16.2
Career		121	21.3	0.735	0	0.562	6.2	0.75	0.31	2.04	12

Where did he come from?
Siler played four years of Division II ball for Augusta State, in his Georgia hometown. While there he set a collegiate record with 79 percent shooting his senior year. Siler went undrafted in the 2009 draft, but did play for the Timberwolve’s in the 2009 Summer League before joining Atlanta for training camp. Siler was cut from Atlanta’s roster during preseason and decided to play in China for the Shanghai Sharks, a Chinese Basketball Association team which is owned by Yao Ming. While there he averaged 14.1 points on 74 percent shooting to go along with 9.3 rebounds.

In the summer of 2010, Garret played for both the Nets and Magic in the Orlando Summer League and for the Miami Heat in the Las Vegas portion. His play for Miami, 6.6 points, 3.8 rebounds and 0.6 blocks got him offers from both the Hawks and Heat. However, on September 20th, Siler was invited to practice for the Phoenix Suns. The Suns were impressed with his size and play and one day later offered him a two-year, minimum salary contract. Siler played well for the Suns through preseason and on October 24th was named to the Suns season opening roster.

What can we expect from him as a Phoenix Sun?
While Siler is on the roster to start the 2010-2011 season, beating out Dwayne Jones for the spot, it is likely that Siler will not see significant playing time. Many feel he was kept by the Suns for practice situations to give Robin Lopez a bigger body to go up against, but should he continue to improve, get his weight and conditioning under control, he could very well see himself becoming a more integral part of the Suns team, as his size alone would make him a force in the post.

Random Factoid
Siler was officially named to the Phoenix Suns opening day roster on Monday, October 25th, and as such has become the first ever Augusta State Jaguar to make an NBA team. Not a bad 24th birthday present if you ask me.

Highlight Reel

Matt Janning, #22

Born: June 22, 1988

Position: Shooting Guard

College: Northeastern

Height: 6′ 4″

Weight: 175

 

 

College Statistics

Year	Team	GP	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
Career		128	35.9	0.42	0.346	0.758	4.2	2.8	1.3	0.2	14.3
2006-07	Northeastern	32	35.4	0.414	0.353	0.724	4.5	2.8	0.9	0.2	11.6
2007-08	Northeastern	31	36.3	0.447	0.367	0.812	3.5	2.4	1.3	0.2	16.1
2008-09	Northeastern	32	36	0.406	0.323	0.742	4.7	2.7	1.5	0.2	14.3
2009-10	Northeastern	33	36.1	0.412	0.329	0.752	3.9	3.1	1.5	0.2	15.4

Where did he come from?
Matt Janning played college ball for the Northeastern Huskies as a combo guard. He had a very good college career, earning an All-Colonial Athletic Association first team selection twice and winning the CAA Player of the Year award his junior season. He has also been proclaimed as one of the best scorers ever to play for Northeastern.

Janning went undrafted in the 2010 NBA Draft, but many teams extended invites to him to play on their Summer League teams. He decided to play for Boston in the Orlando portion of the Summer League, where he impressed many, scoring 20 points in his last game, and was asked by the Celtics to commit to them for training camp and preseason. Janning turned them down after receiving an offer to play in the Las Vegas Summer League from the Phoenix Suns. He continued his strong play there, averaging 12.6 points and 5.8 rebounds and drawing comparison to former Sun, Jeff Hornacek. His play earned him a multi-year contract from the Suns, guaranteeing him a spot with the team through the preseason.

What can we expect from him as a Phoenix Sun?
Janning will be competing with Zabian Dowdell for the final guard spot on the Suns roster. Assuming Janning is able to beat out Dowdell, it remains unlikely that he will have much of an impact on the team this season as his minutes will only come in garbage time. But as a young player with a good shot and high basketball IQ, he should be able to learn from Nash and Dragic and the coaching staff and potentially work himself into some quality minutes in future seasons.

Todd Quinter, Suns Director of Player Personnel, likens Janning to former Sun Jeff Hornacek in that they were both little known rookies with a good shooting touch and feel for the game. Also like Hornacek, Janning will need to build up his strength to better math up with NBA guards.

“As he becomes a better shooter, his game will improve and he’s got a great feel,” Quinter said. “The things he needs to improve are consistently shooting his long-range shot and physically being able to defend.”

Random Factoid
Janning is the definition of an underdog. He received zero offers from universities by the time he graduated high school. He spent his whole summer in club tournaments trying to prove himself and draw an offer. Northeastern took notice of his shot and work ethic and gave him a chance on their squad. Janning started all four years and won a few awards and was even considered one of the best shooters of all time at Northeastern, but again went overlooked as he went undrafted in the 2010 NBA draft. He didn’t even receive an invite to the Portsmouth Invitational, a tournament for prospective NBA players where most undrafted rookies get invited to showcase their skills.

He did receive some interest from teams to play on their summer league squads, and again Janning spent his summer proving himself to the doubters and again was rewarded, this time by the Phoenix Suns, with a contract guaranteeing him a spot on the roster at least through preseason.

Let’s hope history continues to repeat itself and Janning finds himself one day as one of the best shooters to play for the Phoenix Suns.

Highlight Reel

With training camp under way and the first preseason game tonight(!!!!), it occurred to me that there are several players on the team that I really don’t know too much about. So every Tuesday I will be profiling the new additions to the Suns. Today we will start with Zabian Dowdell.

Zabian Dowdell, #4

Born: September 10th, 1984

Position: Point Guard

College: Virginia Tech

Height: 6′ 3″

Weight: 190

 

International Statistics

Year	Team	GP	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
Career		77	25	0.504	0.348	0.817	3.2	3	1.4	0.13	13.4
2007-08	SLUC Nancy (LNB)	30	21	0.493	0.339	0.803	3	3.1	0.8	0.1	9.4
2007-08	SLUC Nancy (ULEB Cup)	10	22.1	0.474	0.333	0.825	2.8	3.2	1.2	0	11.2
2008-09	Fastweb Casale (LegADue)	37	31.8	0.544	0.372	0.822	3.9	2.7	2.2	0.3	19.5

Where did he come from?
After a pretty successful college career, Dowdell was named All-ACC honorable mention twice, All-ACC Defensive team twice,  All-American honorable mention in 2006-07 and first team All-ACC during his senior season (the first Hokie to do so), he went undrafted in the 2007 NBA draft after being projected to go #28. He made the Seattle Sonics summer league team that year, but failed to make their season squad. He spent the past 3 seasons playing European basketball for SLUC Nancy, Fastweb Casale and Unicaja Malaga. He joined the Suns this summer on their Summer League team and earned a spot on the team’s training camp roster.

What can we expect from him as a Phoenix Sun?
Zabian will be competing with fellow Summer League teammate Matt Janning for one of the final roster spots on the team as the Suns look to add a 5th guard and 3rd point-guard. Assuming he is able to beat out Matt for that spot, it remains unlikely that Dowdell will see significant minutes this season barring an injury to Nash or Dragic. Even though his situation appears grim, Dowdell is remains excited for the opportunity to get some experience and is eager to show what he is capable of; “I feel like I can do everything. I can run the team, score, get guys involved, play defense,” Dowdell said. ”When I get in the gym, I try to work on everything. Whatever they need me to do, I feel like I can do it. I feel like I can help the team and I’ll do anything I can to show that.”

Random Factoid
Athleticism runs rampid in Dowdell’s family. His half-brother Alton Dowdell played football for Delta State University, half-brother Roger Dowdell played football for Florida A&M University, half-brother Bernard Jackson played for the College of Charleston and half-brother Jermaine Jackson played for the University of Maine. He also has a sister, Tamara Dowdell, that played for the University of South Florida, a cousin, Alric Arnett, that plays football for West Virginia University, another cousin, Damien Berry, plays football for the University of Miami, and yet another cousin, Tim Sims, Jr., who played football for Stanford University.

Highlight Reel

Zabian Dowdell HIGHLIGHTS 2008
Uploaded by Makerman.