Tyson Chandler v Alex Len: Centers of the Future

Alex Len Con’s

1. Although he should only be a second-year player, he is regardless finishing up his fourth season, and has never been able to take control of the starting center spot based on merit, rather only on circumstances.

2. For such an athletic player, one who had been developing a good mid-range game over his career to date, those skills have thus far proven to be far from polished leaving much to be desired on the offensive end. To be a truly effective stretch center he should also find it within himself to develop an outside shot. He is 3-16 from three in his career.

3. While he never looks lazy, Len can go through extended lapses of malaise where he is neither effectively active on offense or defense. He has further not yet seemed to have developed a natural instinct for where a rebound will carom off of a missed shot. This is an instinct that can be taught, although a certain percentage of it must already be innate and he cannot just be content on grabbing those rebounds that fall into his lap.

4. He still gets pushed around and can be moved out of position fairly easily, preventing a 7’1″ center with a very good leaping ability to miss out on rebounds that should be sucked up like a black hole when falling into his space. At 23-years old his body is done growing, although it can still be developing. he needs to add the lower-body strength to hold his ground on defense, and force his will on offense.

Alex Len’s Pro’s

1. Remember, he is only 23-years old. While sports in America is a “gratify me now or go away” business, how successful can any 23-year old truly be expected to be? There are plenty of players his age who have reached that next level, but there are also plenty of players who did not blossom into their full physical and mental adult selves until after their rookie contracts expired. A local example is Robin Lopez. His attitude problems aside, the Suns gave up on his as a serviceable long-term center after his rookie deal ended. The following season in New Orleans he started all 82 games and more than doubled his scoring average while also seeing a spike in his blocks per game. The subsequent year his rebounding average spiked as well. Granted much of that wasn’t necessarily due to a sudden better understanding of the game and can be more fittingly attributed to extended usage, but Lopez none-the-less did quickly became a center in the league that teams sought after, and is now paid just under Eric Bledsoe money to put up numbers less than what Alex Len is already capable of averaging.

2. Len’s efficiency rate shoots way up when he is played starters minutes. Per 36-minutes this season he averages 13.7 points, 11.7 rebounds, and 2.3 blocks. There are only four other players in the NBA who have played a minimum of 30 games and average at least what Len is averaging per 36-minutes: Alan Williams, Hassan Whiteside, Rudy Gobert, and Kyle O’Quinn. (To be fair, Anthony Davis matches or exceeds these stats as well, except he falls .1 rebound behind Len). That is a very eclectic group, and Len does not matchup with Whiteside, Gobert, or Davis in terms of overall unbelievable talent. Yet those numbers are undeniable: he is a very productive center in the NBA, one of only a small group of players capable of offering up that stat line.

3. Len has also never been given the starters role during training camp and been said take it. Obviously a player has to earn his spot in the NBA and he has never played well enough to simply take it, but at the same time, the Suns have gone through a rebuilding stage over the past three seasons and he was still never handed the responsibility, even though a number five overall pick might come to expect such a comfort. The starting center spot was presumed to be his last season before the Suns unexpectedly signed Tyson Chandler, who immediately became the presumptive starter. While Len never publicly pouted or complained, there had to have been a mental letdown when one moment he believed the spot was his and the next it was taken away (this is almost the same scenario that led to Goran Dragic and Isaiah Thomas demanding trades). With Tyson Chandler out in November following the passing of his mother, Alex Len stepped in and performed admirably for nine starts. He reached double-digit rebounding in six of the nine games, and recorded five double-doubles. Since then the Suns have continued to mess with their rotations and lineups, and even now that he is the full-time starter, his minutes have shrunk dramatically from 26.5 during that stretch in November to 19.6 after the All-Star break. He has once again been forced to take a backseat, in this case to Alan Williams, when all along it was Len’s upcoming contract extension that should be the reason why he should be the focus of the frontcourt.