In an effort to avoid going from the worst defensive rebounding team in the league to the worst defensive rebounding team in the league by an even bigger margin (it’s already pretty sizable), the Phoenix Suns have signed free agent big man Earl Barron to fill in for injured center Robin Lopez. Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports reported that Barron will be available for the Suns’ four-game road beginning tomorrow.
Barron played most of last season for the D-League’s Iowa Energy, but became a bit of an underground sensation for his seven-game stint with the Knicks at the end of last season. Barron averaged 11.7 points and 11.0 rebounds per game for New York over that stretch, including a monster 17-point, 18-rebound effort against the Boston Celtics. Barron had four double-digit rebounding performances in his seven NBA games last year, and while his career rebounding rate is significantly lower than his rate with the Knicks, Barron will still grab some boards for Phoenix if only due to the lack of intra-squad competition. It’s not like Hedo Turkoglu, Channing Frye, or even Hakim Warrick will beat Barron to a rebound, after all.