Phoenix Suns: Draft Workouts Day 7 Recap
The Rest
Rounding out the list of Day 7 draft workout participants were Daniel Bejarano from Colorado State, Juwan Staten from West Virginia and Bo Barnes from ASU.
Barnes, a 6’4″ senior guard, averaged 6.9 points per game in his final season with the Sun Devils while shooting 37.4 percent from three-point range. He’s not a legitimate draft prospect, but that didn’t stop him from being the MVP of the day as a replacement.
“We probably have to give Bo Barnes from ASU the MVP for today,” McDonough said. “We had Will Davis from UC Irvine in our group of six initially. He sprained his ankle doing a vertical testing drill, so we were down to five and we kind of had to scramble.
“So we called up Bo Barnes, a local kid, I think he was in Scottsdale and he said ‘I’ll be there in 30 minutes,’ so we appreciate him coming down.”
Barnes said he’ll most likely be looking to play overseas now that his college career is done, but that he was thankful for the opportunity to workout for an NBA team.
“It means a lot, all these guys are incredible basketball players so just to be able to come out and compete with them is something I won’t ever forget.”
Bejarano, a 6’4″ senior guard from CSU, averaged 11.4 points, 7.2 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game in his final season with the Rams. He’s not a great passer, but he’s a superb rebounder for his position because of his strength. His 35.4 percent shooting will scare off some teams, but Bejarano is working to prove he’s worthy of making the cut in the second round.
As a native of Phoenix, AZ, working out for the Suns was a big deal for Bejarano.
“I’ve been a Suns fan throughout my whole life. Jason Kidd, [Leandro] Barbosa, Amar’e Stoudemire, Shawn Marion, I could keep going and going so I’m just blessed to be here,” he said.
“I was impressed when I saw his rebounding numbers for a guard, he’s an athletic guy, he’s strong,” McDonough said. “He obviously bounced around a bit during his college career but for him to come in and be versatile — he’s a traditional 2-guard I guess, but with his strength and athleticism he’s able to guard some bigger guys on switches and things like that — it was good to see him, we appreciate him coming in and it’s always good to have local guys.”
Last was Juwan Staten, the No. 81 prospect on Chad Ford’s Big Board. As a 6’1″ senior from West Virginia, Staten had a pretty disappointing final season with the Mountaineers, averaging 14.2 points and 4.6 assists per game on 42.1 percent shooting.
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