Jayne Kamin-Oncea – USA Today Sports Images
Dionte Christmas played guard for three years at Temple before not being selected in the 2009 NBA Draft. Since that time, Christmas has spent time playing in Israel, Turkey, Czech Republic, Greece, Russia, Italy and a few Summer League and preseason stints in the Association. However, Christmas has never played a minute in an NBA regular season.
Christmas was at the Las Vegas Summer League again this year, playing for the Phoenix Suns. In seven games at Summer League, Christmas had a solid showing as he averaged 10.1 points, 2.7 rebounds and two assists in 20.9 minutes per game while also shooting a solid 46.3 percent from the field, though he did only shoot 32.1 percent from the floor.
After his impressive outing at Vegas, the Suns must have felt that he did enough to earn a shot at making their roster as they signed him to a two-year, $1.3 million non-guaranteed contract. That type of contract is one Christmas saw last summer as he went to training camp with the Boston Celtics. This year, though, he’s looking to stick with Phoenix.
In his senior year at Temple, Christmas was their go-to guy, averaging 19.5 points, 5.8 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.5 steals per game, though his team’s reliance on him forced his efficiency to a mere 41.4 percent shooting from the field and 35.2 percent shooting from three.
Looking at his overall game and how he could fit with the Suns, Christmas is a talented offensive player, especially in terms of attacking, but he also has a decent jumper. He also has the athleticism to potentially be a good wing defender.
Not including Christmas, the Suns currently have a ton of guards, including four two-guards, on their roster. However, as he comes in to training camp competing with proven-to-be-no-better-than-mediocre players like Gerald Green, P.J. Tucker and Malcolm Lee, he has the chance to prove himself and potentially give this roster some new blood. He’s had the chance to break into the league before, but this might be his best shot yet.
Cody Williams is a Senior Writer with Rant Sports. Follow Cody on Twitter @TheSizzle20, add him on Google and like his Facebook page.
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