3. Who was the team’s Most Valuable Player?
Bourguet: Eric Bledsoe. It may not feel like he made great strides this season, but he really did. This was his first FULL season as a starter and the only game he missed was for the birth of his son. He put up numbers that only LeBron James, Russell Westbrook and James Harden can say they averaged, he was usually defending an elite guard on the other end of the floor and when he was engaged, he played at a borderline All-Star level. Now the key will be consistency, but to be honest, nobody even comes close to being this team’s MVP over Bledsoe this year.
Chasen: Bledsoe or Keef. Bledsoe was the team’s best player over the first 45 minutes of games. Keef was the closer. You can really go either way on this one, or even be clever and take Len. After all, the Suns were like a game over .500 when he played. Maybeeeeeee P.J. Tucker… but really not.
Hann: The entire team was too inconsistent for me to pick out a single player for this award, but if I was forced to choose, Eric Bledsoe takes the cake. In his second year as a full-time NBA starter, the one labeled “mini-Bron” averaged 17 points, 5.2 rebounds and 6.1 assists. However, for as many stretches of dominance Bledsoe showed, he had equal spurts of turnover-prone and inefficient basketball. The key is going to be consistency for Bledsoe as he enters an incredibly important third year with the Suns.
Saar: While it was a close race between Eric Bledsoe and Markieff Morris, the award should go to Markieff. They are basically the same defensively, Keef was more consistent, more clutch and didn’t turn the ball over as much. That’s the simplified version, but read my article for a more detailed statistical comparison.
Harris: Ask me this question in January and I would not have an obvious answer. Ask me it now and it seems like a no-brainer. The MVP for the Suns 2015 season has to be Eric Bledsoe. Now, a good part of why he gets it is just by default, but Bledsoe has shown that he can play as an all-star caliber point guard. He led the Suns in points per game (17.0), assists per game (6.1), and steals per game (1.6), so it seems like and is an easy choice for me.
Next: Most Improved Player