Alex Len: 2014-15 Phoenix Suns Player Grades
By Eric Saar
Weaknesses
The worst weakness of Len right now is his inexperience that extends to all parts of his game. In a way that’s also his “best” weakness, because the way you fix it is with time, which is inevitable and not dependent on other factors. His inexperience sometimes manifests itself as a something like a missed rotation on defense.
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The most visible error, however, is his propensity for fouling. In terms of fouls per 48 minutes for starting centers with at least 44 starts, Len led the league. He fouled at a rate of 6.2 fouls per 48 minutes and the 12 players above him hadn’t started nearly as many games at center as he did. For comparison purposes, Steven Adams’ 6.0 fouls per 48 minutes in 67 starts was right behind Len.
For a starting center, he didn’t score very much with a measly 6.3 points per game in 2014-15. His field goal percentage is decent, just pushing more than 50 percent, but that is padded by dunks and alley-oops. His jumper isn’t quite on target and he fades away far too much on it for a seven-footer.
His other issue is he only averaged 6.6 rebounds on the season, not nearly enough for his position. That’s mostly due to not having enough weight below the belt to hold his position with the veteran bodies who have packed on the pounds and muscle over the years.
The elephant in the room is his injury history, though this year was not too worrisome as he generally missed time for non-chronic or recurring issues (hand/finger and the broken nose). The tweaked ankle caused by a collision with Portland’s Robin Lopez was the other injury but fortunately, the effects didn’t linger.
Next: Strengths