Cliff Alexander: Phoenix Suns 2015 Draft Profile

Weaknesses

Okay… so I’ve just spent a lot of time talking about the positives of Cliff Alexander, so I guess it’s only fair I spend that much time talking about the negatives.

To rephrase, if you thought the strengths section was long…the weaknesses section is longer.

On-the-court

First off, Alexander made some really boneheaded plays at Kansas. He got lost a bunch of times in pick and roll defense, and it was obvious his basketball IQ wasn’t where it needed to be, or perhaps even where it should have been, playing at one of the nation’s top programs.

For Alexander, his struggles were amplified playing under a coach like Bill Self, who was and is notorious for pulling players (especially freshmen) after one mistake on the court. That alone led to Alexander playing tight a lot, as he never really showed what he could have been on the court, despite the fact that he did have some good games.

Alexander posted a couple of double-doubles, and he had 15 points and nine rebounds against the big front line of Texas, which featured future draft pick(s) Myles Turner and Jonathan Holmes.

As for other weaknesses, Alexander wasn’t able to showcase his shooting at the level that he felt he was capable of, although it appears like he’s worked on that some since his time at Kansas. However, going back to the IQ, it did seem like he preferred to settle for the jumper early, rather than going to work inside first and getting a feel for the game. That likely explains why he shot just 35 percent on two-point jumpers, again according to Hoop Math.

Fouls were also an issue for Alexander, who developed a bit of a reputation in Big 12 play. Alexander averaged 5.2 fouls per 40 minutes, and it seemed like he was always the first player in the game to pick up two fouls in the game, although a lot of that came with his role as the rim protector, not to mention the fact that he was the closest thing the team had to a center. And his reputation definitely contributed to it too.

It’s also worth noting that guys like Shaquille O’Neal (5.4 fouls per 40 minutes as a freshman) and Hakeem Olajuwon (6.4) had the exact same problems, and they all turned out pretty good, so it isn’t exactly the be-all-end-all. But really, all of these weaknesses go back to the same thing: basketball IQ.

If Alexander can learn his team’s offense and improve mentally as a defender, then he really won’t have a problem fitting in with a team, first as a contributor off the bench and then as an eventual starter. However, if he isn’t able to pick up the game, he could flame out after a couple of years, and ultimately be forgotten. That’s kind of the risk with him.

The etc.

I’m going to divide this category up into three sub-categories (technical fouls, injury, suspension), which isn’t usually a good sign when talking about non-play related things. However, the three aren’t necessarily as bad as they seem, and certainly aren’t mentioned on a typical basis.

Cliff Alexander picked up a ton of technical fouls in high school for celebrating and flexing after dunks, and that’s something that did carry over to college, where he got a technical foul for flexing after dunking on an Oklahoma State player (which you can see in the picture that’s right below this paragraph). Granted, it was such an awesome dunk that it inspired it’s own ESPN article entitled “Watch Cliff Alexander destroy other humans,” but that really isn’t the point.

Given what transpired last year, the Suns don’t exactly need more excitable guys on their team, but there’s also something to be said for Alexander’s intensity when he steps on the court. Overall, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him mix it up with some guys, and I would have to say I expect him to get on the bad side of the refs pretty quickly.

Alexander also riled up some fans when he appeared to take a (very, very, very, mild) shot at Kansas coach Bill Self, when asked about his playing time at Kansas. He basically said something along the lines of “talk to Self, not me” when asked the question, but again, it’s not like it was the worst thing in the world.

Next, Alexander picked up a slight knee injury at a workout for the Lakers, which is not something you ever want to hear. Given the issues surrounding Joel Embiid, everyone is going to be a little bit more on edge on draft day, so this certainly did not help the forward from Kansas.

Specifically, the injury ended up being a “mild sprain,” which held him out for less than a week, according to ESPN’s Chad Ford. Once again, it wasn’t that big of a deal, but it dropped him down on some draft boards. Momentarily he fell right to the Suns’ range on a DraftExpress mock, although that has been updated since.

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Finally, Alexander was suspended for the final third of the season by Kansas as a “precautionary measure” to a “potential NCAA violation,” according to the University. As someone who covered the team, I am pretty well versed in what happened, and if you’re interested, here was the situation.

Alexander’s mother, who lived out-of-state, appeared to take out a loan against Alexander’s eligibility. However, I will say that there appeared to be indications that the loan was taken out without Alexander’s knowledge and without the knowledge (of his mother) that it was against NCAA violation, not that it excuses anything. Upon finding out there might be a problem, Kansas held Alexander out for the rest of the year, not wanting to be stripped of any wins or face any punishments whatsoever.

Alexander was not interviewed by the NCAA, although he did say he made himself available and turned over all the requested information. To this point, the school has not received any consequences. And it doesn’t really seem like there will be anything.

You might be asking yourself why I went so far in depth with this. Ultimately, I brought this up because I actually read an article where someone was under the impression that he got kicked off the team, and the writer tried to make it sound like it was a big red flag with his character.

At the end of the day, it wasn’t his character got him “kicked off the team,” and it seems like it won’t be that much of an issue moving forward. It’s important to understand the situation, although we obviously never know how these things will work out in the long run.

Next: Potential Fit