3. Eric Bledsoe Fine-Tuning His Game
Bledsoe’s strengths were on full display on Feb. 26, when he notched 28 points, 13 rebounds, nine assists and four steals in a crucial win against the Thunder. Since then, we’ve mostly just seen his weaknesses.
That’s not to say Bledsoe has been terrible or that he hasn’t had a handful of good games. It was only a little over a week ago that he was dropping 34 points on James Harden and the Houston Rockets. When Bledsoe is fully engaged, he’s shown the potential to be a star in a league full of impressive point guards.
The problem is, Bledsoe isn’t always engaged, and his well-balanced numbers don’t tell the whole story either. He’s usually able to fill up the stat sheet, but his field goal percentage has plummeted over the last few weeks, he hasn’t stepped up as a consistent leader and his turnover problem has become downright troublesome.
Bledsoe has the unfortunate task of defending an elite point guard or shooting guard on an almost nightly basis. This is also his first year of being a starter where he actually is playing the whole season, so the growing pains are understandable too. But he’s averaging 4.4 turnovers per game in March while shooting 43.5 percent from the floor.
Working to improve that potentially fatal turnover flaw and trying to become more of a vocal leader would be a welcome sight for a team whose season should now be about player development and fine-tuning.
Next: No. 2