Alex Len: 2014-15 Phoenix Suns Player Grades

Lowlights

You can’t really gauge Len’s value by points, because that’s not really what he’s bringing to the table, though he had several scoring outbursts throughout the season. His season high was on Nov. 17, when he scored 19 points to go along with seven rebounds in a 118-114 victory over the Boston Celtics. For him that’s a scoring outburst, but he didn’t even hit 20 points.

Aside from not ever cracking 20 points this season, most of Len’s lowlights have to deal with injuries.

He missed three games in early February after a collision with Portland’s Robin Lopez. He also lost three games in early March. Then against Portland again, Len suffered a broken nose than ended his season with seven games to go, for a total of 13 games missed. Obviously the missed games are lowlights, but there were others.

There is something to be said for letting your game come through the flow of the offense and not forcing anything, but Len needs to demand the ball a bit more. His game widely fluctuates from game to game, depending on a lot of factors including matchup, pace and who else is hot for Phoenix (if Gerald Green or the Morris brothers are hot, he’s not getting any touches). I’ll just show one example.

On Feb. 23, the Suns were at home to take on the Houston Rockets. Eric Bledsoe, P.J. Tucker and Isaiah Thomas had it going, but Len only attempted three shots (and made two). Three attempts for the starting center who is pretty good? Unacceptable.

Len finished that game with those four points in 24 minutes and the Suns lost by two points as Len and Dwight Howard kept each other in check. James Harden went off for 33 points and the buzzer-beater. If Len plays… like…any better, they win that game.

Next: Highlights