The Phoenix Suns were one of the youngest teams in the association before they shipped away 28-year-old fan favorite Goran Dragic to bring in 23-year-old Brandon Knight at the 2015 trade deadline. But with the Suns in the middle of their fight for a playoff spot, 25-year-old Eric Bledsoe will need to become the face of the franchise.
One great game against Russell Westbrook and the Oklahoma City Thunder last night doesn’t mean he’s ready to be “the man” on a playoff team just yet, but it was a damn good sign for Suns fans who were starting to wonder who would be the unspoken new leader of this team moving forward.
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Bledsoe was the obvious best choice, of course. Despite Knight’s stellar play for the Bucks this season, he’s still only 23 and has played three games with the Suns. An adjustment period is to be expected, though the initial signs are promising (16.8 points and 4.5 assists per game in his four appearances for Phoenix so far).
Alex Len has the potential to be a franchise center considering his vast improvement, soft touch and shot-blocking abilities at the tender age of 21, but he’s not ready yet. And although Markieff Morris has shown how incredibly underrated he is with his ability to score in a variety of ways, not to mention his clutch shooting, it’s Bledsoe that needs to be the leader in a point guard-dominant game plan.
Even before last night’s potentially season-altering win in overtime, Bledsoe had been showing he’s capable of becoming that guy. Here’s a look at why Eric Bledsoe is the new leader of the Phoenix Suns.
Next: The Numbers
The Numbers
We’ll save last night’s epic performance for the end, but suffice it to say that the season-long numbers for Bledsoe are pretty promising as well. Averaging 17.3 points, 6.1 assists, 5.4 rebounds and 1.7 steals per game, Bledsoe leads the Suns in scoring, assists and steals.
He’s shooting 45.6 percent from the field, so even though his 33.7 percent shooting from downtown leaves something to be desired, he gets to the line 5.4 times per game (most on the team) and has the highest Player Efficiency Rating of anyone on the roster.
Since the All-Star break, Bledsoe is averaging 18.4 points, 8.0 rebounds, 7.8 assists, 1.6 steals and 1.4 blocks per game.
League-wide, Bledsoe ranks in the top 10 in free throws, free throw attempts and steals. He’s also in the top 15 for minutes played and assists. Unbeknownst to the rest of the world, Eric Bledsoe seems to be right on the verge of becoming the definitive face of a franchise and breaking through to All-Star potential.
He still has some things to fine-tune, of course. His three-point percentage isn’t quite where it needs to be and he commits an awful lot of turnovers (3.3 per game, 10th most in the NBA).
But for a 25-year-old who is only now having his first healthy season as a starting point guard in this league, the raw numbers suggest Bledsoe could be something special, especially since he spent the better part of the season splitting the ball with two other point guards.
Next: Well-Rounded Play
Well-Rounded Play
Last night, Bledsoe finished one assist shy of his third triple-double on the season, which would have tied him with Rajon Rondo and Michael Carter-Williams for second-most in the league.
Two triple-doubles doesn’t do Bledsoe’s well-rounded play justice, however. On Feb. 23, Bledsoe finished three rebounds shy of a triple-double. On Jan. 23 it was one assist and two rebounds that prevented him from reaching the triple-double mark. On Dec. 28, he finished with 22 points, eight boards and eight dimes.
You get the point; this guy is a regular triple-double threat who is fully capable of putting up solid numbers in multiple categories on any given night.
Phoenix looking like they chose correctly between Bledsoe and Dragic.
— Aaron Bruski (@aaronbruski) February 27, 2015
But even Bledsoe’s penchant for regularly approaching triple-double territory doesn’t do his well-rounded play justice, since Phoenix is also fortunate to have one of the NBA’s most tenacious defenders at the point guard position.
To be fair, the Suns are still one of the worst defensive teams in the league. But Bledsoe’s defensive rating of 103.2 points per 100 possessions is one of the best marks on the team, which is even more impressive considering Bledsoe is regularly tasked with defending other team’s point guards — the position most loaded with talent in the NBA.
This season, we’ve seen Bledsoe defend everyone from Russell Westbrook to Damian Lillard to Derrick Rose to Chris Paul to Stephen Curry. He’s not going to lock down those kinds of players every night, but when he’s fully engaged he can hinder them enough to tire them out and give the Suns an advantage.
Next: About Last Night
What Last Night Taught Us
Last night was the microcosm of Eric Bledsoe’s vast potential. Len and Keef both played severely underrated roles in the big overtime victory, but you’d be kidding yourself if you thought the hero of the game was anyone other than Bledsoe.
Not only did he hound Russell Westbrook — an MVP candidate who’s been damn near averaging a triple-double for the month of February — for 42 unbelievably high-octane minutes, but he matched one of the most unstoppable forces in the league blow for blow on the other end too.
Head coach Jeff Hornacek said it best after the game:
"“He’s had a lot of great games, but in a game we needed, he came out there and played 42 minutes. Sometimes he gets tired, there were a couple of times where I thought maybe he was getting there but then he found some more juice in the tank. To have to guard Westbrook and run around like that and still have that energy and still score, it was big.”"
Still not convinced this was an unspeakably epic clash of the mini-sized titans? According Elias Sports Bureau, it was the third time in NBA history that opposing players recorded at least 28 points, 13 rebounds and nine assists in the same game…and the other two times happened 44 years ago with guys named Bob Pettit, Elgin Baylor and Jerry West.
This game has turned me into a full-fledged, stock-owning, banner-waving believer in Eric Bledsoe.
— Andy Bailey (@AndrewDBailey) February 27, 2015
Westbrook finished with a gaudy triple-double stat line of 39 points, 14 rebounds and 11 assists, but it took him 38 shots to get there. Thanks to Bledsoe’s constant pressure, most of Westbrook’s shots were contested and he finished a meager 12-for-38 from the floor (1-for-10 from three-point range).
Bledsoe ended up with 28 points, a career-high 13 rebounds, nine assists and a career-high four blocks. He didn’t get his third triple-double of the season, but he got the win and managed to do it playing the last 5:20 of regulation with five fouls…which doesn’t include the five-minute overtime.
He also joined seven Hall of Famers or future Hall of Famers (LeBron James, Tim Duncan, Robert Parish, Shaquille O’Neal, David Robinson, Charles Barkley and Hakeem Olajuwon, per Basketball-Reference.com) in the category of players to record at least 28 points, 13 rebounds, nine assists and four blocks in a game — and was the only guard to do so.
Westbrook carried his team down the stretch, but Bledsoe helped carry the Suns throughout the entire game. He went 11-for-16 from the floor and 2-for-3 from three-point range. He wasn’t perfect; he missed four of his eight free throws and also committed five turnovers. But he provided almost everything the Suns could’ve asked for in a huge game with playoff implications.
Next: Qualities Of A Leader
Qualities Of A Leader
Throw all the numbers from — good and bad — out the window for a second and consider this if you still aren’t convinced: last night’s win pulled the Suns within 1.5 games of the Thunder for the West’s final playoff spot. A loss would have dropped them to 3.5 games back.
It had only been a week ago that one-third of Phoenix’s roster was shipped out at the trade deadline. Between the new faces trying to learn the new playing style and the regulars trying to help everyone get settled in, the Suns were in desperate need of a win to try to build some cohesion and keep distant playoff hopes alive.
Bledsoe delivered.
Keep in mind, this was a team that had won two of its last 10 games heading into last night’s contest with the Thunder — and one of those wins had come in uninspiring fashion against a tanking Denver Nuggets team.
Bledsoe was the one who made it happen against quite possibly the NBA’s best point guard. He made big play after big play. He laid it all on the line and the emotion, focus and energy were all there and readily apparent for every second of the 42 minutes he was on the floor.
Suns forward P.J. Tucker noted the sense of urgency for the team after the big win and noted that it seemed to emanate from Bledsoe.
“For sure. I think everybody, especially him,” he said. “We had a conversation, and I told him, ‘It starts from the top and trickles down.'”
Bledsoe acknowledged the responsibility on his plate of being a leader as well.
“I just tried to show a little more ability [to lead], especially for our teammates,” he said. “They feed off that, that’s what my coaches have been telling me, this is my team they’re telling me. Just step up, and that’s what I’m trying to do.”
Sometimes this season, we’ve seen Bledsoe become disengaged and when he’s not fully locked in, his potential as a leader has been easy to scrutinize. But even though it was only one game, we may have seen Eric Bledsoe grow up last night.
I’m not saying the Phoenix Suns’ troubles are over or that Eric Bledsoe is an All-Star just yet. I’m not even saying the Suns are going to pull off some magical run for the playoffs behind his strong play. But if last night taught us anything, it’s that Eric Bledsoe is one scary individual when he’s properly motivated.
Now the key is finding that consistency.
Next: Goran Dragic: Top 10 Moments With The Phoenix Suns