PHOENIX — It's a new era for the Phoenix Suns under head coach Frank Vogel and the team can cross a big item off their to-do list: the NBA Draft.
The Suns only had one pick in the draft, #52 in the second round, which they used to select forward Toumani Camara out of the University of Dayton.
Camara met the Phoenix media at the Suns' practice facility, the Verizon 5G Performance Center, on Tuesday and said it was a dream come true to hear his name called at the draft.
"(It was) very surreal at the moment, just going down and steps shaking his (NBA deputy commissioner Mark Tatum's) hands and everything, put the hat on, something I've been thinking about since the age of seven," Camara said. "So being able to accomplish that, especially in front of my mom, my brother. I mean, it works for me. So yeah, it was crazy."
Camara also can't believe that he now gets to be teammates and play alongside Devin Booker, Kevin Durant, and Bradley Beal, some of the best players in the NBA.
"I think it still hasn't hit me yet," Camara said. "I've never met those guys. So being able to play alongside them, great talents like that, (I) feel like it can help me just so much with my game. It's just exciting. I think my game is best deployed is just being able to be around those guys."
Camara knows he won't be called on to be a star with this team, and he is just fine with that.
"I think I'm really comfortable with it because they really just asked me to be who I am, which is play hard, play with a lot of energy, be a defensive guy, and rebound at a high level," Camara said. "And then make open shots offensively and just stay true to my game. And try to expand on that throughout my career. But I think that's, that's what they want me to be right now. Just stay true to myself."
And it turns out Camara, who hails from Belgium, was inspired to chase his NBA dream thanks to Bismack Biyombo, who has played for the Suns for the past two years.
"So when I was like probably 12 or 13, Bismack had a camp back home in my city, in Brussels," Camara said. "It was my first time actually meeting an NBA player and seeing him, how big he was and everything, I was like, probably like six foot, skinny, and yeah, it was just impressive to me. And it just stayed in my head the whole time throughout my career and then I actually have a picture with him and everything."
It also turns out Camara is much more than just a basketball player. He's also a puzzle guy.
"I like to do like actual jigsaw puzzles, like big pieces," Camara said. "I feel like it calms me down. And then just focusing on each piece and everything, just takes my mind off everything on the side. I feel like it's my type of meditation, my type of like, just relaxing."
The Suns will hold their introductory press conference with new guard Bradley Beal on Thursday at 11:30 a.m. and you will be able to watch that right here on 12News.com.
The NBA will open free agency on Friday and the Suns will open Summer League play on July 8 against Milwaukee in Las Vegas.