Phoenix Suns: What To Expect From Alex Len In 2015-16
It’s Jun. 27, 2013 and the Phoenix Suns, coming off a depressing 25-57 season, have the fifth pick in the draft. Their pick comes around, and it seems like Suns fans (or maybe just myself) had their minds set on a Goran Dragic–Ben McLemore backcourt. The new Suns front office went a different route, selecting a Ukrainian center with a broken ankle.
Two years later, Alex Len‘s NBA experience is an interesting story. He went from being one of few things that didn’t work out in a magical 2013-14 season to becoming one of the bright spots in 2014-15, a season marred with disappointments. Now, in 2015-16, the third-year big man is one reason this Suns team will be interesting.
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As it turns out, a healthy Alex Len has the skills to be a good NBA player. He has a very versatile skill set that should serve him well as he grows. He has the height and athleticism of a rim-protecting roll man, but the touch and the speed of a stretch big. None of those skills are very polished, but they all exist.
To be honest, Len kind of took the league by surprise last year. Teams would focus on the Suns’ slashing guards and ignore Len. If said driving guard could get him the ball, Len had the length and awareness to dunk it quickly before any defender could adjust.
Len doesn’t create his own offense because he isn’t much of a post up player. He posted up only 10.3 percent of the time, per NBA.com. He finds chances on putbacks and opportunities like the one in the above clip.
Len shot 32 percent on midrange shots, which isn’t an efficient number in a vacuum. However, Len does have shooting touch and he can use it. He’s good enough in the midrange to run what I call the Al Horford semi pick-and-roll.
Len doesn’t actually set a pick here, but he looks like he’s going to. Tyler Zeller focuses on Eric Bledsoe and ignores Len’s separation. All Bledsoe has to do is casually give Len the ball.
Len has also been working on his three-point shooting.
Asked Alex Len if he was going to be a stretch four this year. He laughed, said maybe a couple, two, three threes a game.
— Dave King (@DaveKingNBA) July 7, 2015
I have no idea how well that’s going to work, but it certainly would help the Suns. If Len can manage to add more range to his game, it would be a big boost for the Suns’ offensive creativity. It would also allow a proposed Len-Tyson Chandler tandem to share the floor without sacrificing spacing.
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Defensively, Len is a physical talent who hasn’t learned the rules and tricks of NBA defense. He has the mobility to defend outside the paint, and he’s naturally a good interior defender because he’s seven feet tall and can raise his arms.
Statistically, Alex Len is a solid defender for a guy with one year of actual playing experience. Opponents shot 6.3 percent worse from within six feet when defended by Len. That’s not Rudy Gobert level good, but it’s solid.
The knock on Len has always been his fouling. He averaged 5.1 fouls per 36 minutes last season. His fouling tendencies are especially bad because as a young big, he needs time on the floor to improve, but he gets two fouls in the first seven minutes and has to sit.
Len’s fouling is probably a result of A) the fact that he is so long and so nimble that he can barely keep up with himself and B) elite interior scorers in the NBA are good at faking, leaning and doing other things to draw contact. Len’s fouling will likely go down if only because, coming off the bench, he’ll defend less talented scorers. However, Len also does have a tendency to commit silly fouls where he swats at offensive rebounds.
Len hasn’t quite settled into an NBA role yet, because he can do everything some of the time but can’t do anything all of the time. The hope is that Tyson Chandler will be able to rub off on him, and Len seems willing to take a bench role if it helps him learn, The Washington Post quoted Len saying,
"“He’s one of the best defensive bigs in the league. The way he blocks shots, the way he communicates. I think I can learn just from watching, just from being around him, add it to my game. I think it’s going to be great.”"
So Len is likely going to expand his range and, ideally, improve other areas of his game. I would anticipate seeing the same optimistic signs of improvement as he learns how to play NBA defense. It’s hard to decide what his ceiling is, but the development of Len is one of many exciting storylines in the coming season.
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