Suns: Why Alex Len’s Breakout Season Could Come In A Bench Role

The Backup Role

Chandler’s relationship with Len sounds lovely, and so does Len’s box score against Utah, but most fans are probably taking all this with a massive grain of salt. It’s easy to be optimistic about the upcoming season in early October when the real games haven’t even been played yet. This is just preseason.

But here’s the thing: the level of competition that Len is facing in these preseason games hasn’t been all that different from what he’ll be seeing during the regular season. Coming off the bench, Len isn’t going to be facing the Rudy Goberts and DeMarcus Cousins of the league for most of his minutes.

Isn’t the prospect of Len feasting on opposing backup centers — as he did Friday night — an enticing one, considering he’s already a starting-caliber center?

“It’ll probably be forgotten as the year goes on, but Alex’s hard work — and I think his work in practice against Tyson — is gonna help him with all that stuff,” Hornacek said. “Cuz Tyson battles him, Tyson doesn’t lay off him in practice. He makes it pretty difficult on him and that’s gonna make Alex better when he goes against other guys.”

Len is really getting the best of both worlds. In practice, he’s directly competing against one the savviest players at the center position in this league, the kind of guy who anchors the defense on one end and rolls to the basket to suck in the defense and open up his team’s offense on the other.

When Len is going up against backup bigs who will mostly range from “mediocre” to “terrible,” the games will be that much easier after going head-to-head with Chandler on a daily basis.

“He’s so young, you know? He’s still a baby, and I feel like he’s only gonna get better and better,” Chandler said. “Not even in years, he’s gonna get better as the season goes on, he’s gonna get better game-by-game. It’s gonna be different matches, but I expect him to continue to grow this year.”

As Chandler explains, Len’s production may depend on a night-to-night basis. But for the most part, the new and improved Alex Len should have the upper hand against most matchups, meaning that he needs to take to heart some of the things Chandler has been telling him about using his size, strength and positioning to his advantage:

"“For a young big guy, it’s just about being patient. I just try to tell him, once you got him, he’s done, and you’ve gotta realize that. Once you get to your spot, there’s no need to try to get more ground — because a lot of times as a young big guy, you get smaller cuz you’re trying to get more space, but that’s when you actually get smaller and that’s when you fumble the ball and get your shot blocked. Once you get to your key spots on the floor, he’s through.”"

As long as he stays healthy, Len has a chance to really shine despite coming off the bench. As a rookie, Len was injury-prone and even in his second year when he stayed on the court, he was thrust into a situation where the team needed a quality starting center before he was fully ready.

With a mentor like Chandler starting ahead of him and without the pressure or full responsibility, this could be like the rookie season that Alex Len never had.

Next: Len Giving Back To His Mentor