Sports 620 KTAR’s John Gambadoro is reporting that the Suns are on the verge of signing Dwayne Jones from the NBDL.

So who is Dwayne Jones? Jones played collegiately at St. Josephs. He is a 6′11″ Power Forward/Center that is averaging 17.6 points and 16 rebounds per game for the Austin Toros (Spurs Affiliate). Jones is 26 years old and also averages 1.8 blocks and shoots 60% from the field. He has played in the NBA in a limited capacity for 3 different NBA teams (Boston, Cleveland and Charlotte). The word on Jones is that he is a solid rebounder/defender but is a major liability from the free-throw line. In the NBA, he is a career 49.4% from the charity stripe. However for the Austin Toros this season he is shooting 66.7%. He also is not a great shooter and much of his scoring is from offensive rebounds a la Lou Amundson. In 2004-05 for St. Josephs, Jones was the Atlantic 10 Defensive Player of the Year, and a member of the All-Defensive Team for the second consecutive year. He ranked fifth in rebounds (11.6) and blocks (3.0) in the nation, and led the Atlantic 10 in both categories.

This signing is undoubtedly bad news in regards to Robin Lopez’s health. Jarron Collins is a smart player, but he simply doesn’t have the lateral speed that Lopez does to force opponents to alter shots. Jones likely will fit right in, as he doesn’t demand a lot of touches on the offensive end. Hopefully, Jones can bring some toughness to the Center position even if Lopez is not able to play in the playoffs. It appears that having a defensive Center is incredibly important to Amar’e Stoudemire’s success on both ends of the floor.