Four reasons the Phoenix Suns should avoid Kemba Walker

Kemba Walker is too similar to Eric Bledsoe

PHOENIX, AZ – NOVEMBER 14: Kemba Walker #15 of the Charlotte Hornets shoots against Eric Bledsoe #2 of the Phoenix Suns on November 14, 2014 at U.S. Airways Center in Phoenix, Arizona. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2014 NBAE (Photo by Barry Gossage/NBAE via Getty Images)

Let me make one very important thing clear to those of us in the vast Valley of the Suns who are currently on the fence one way or the other regarding a potential move: Kemba Walker is Eric Bledsoe part two.

Player	Contract	Age	Height	Weight	16-17 ppg	16-17 apg	16-17 rpg	16-17 FG%	16-17 3PT%
Kemba Walker	$12M per year through 2018-19	27	6’1”	172	23.2	5.8	3.3	44.4%	39.9%
Eric Bledsoe	$14.5M this season and $15M in 2018-19	28	6’1”	205	21.1	6.3	4.8	43.4%	33.5%

*I chose 2016-17 stats because both point guards were basically the offensive hear-beat. This season Bledsoe is obviously s large step backwards from Giannis Antentekunmpo thus distorting his stats a bit.

The two are physically and statistically almost the exact same player, Bledsoe being a bit heavier, Kemba being a bit better of a 3-point shooter.

To this point in their careers too, neither have been able to lead a team deep into the playoffs (Kemba has made the dance twice in is career, (once as a 7th seed in 2014 where they were swept and once as a 6th in 2016 when they lost in seven) although in a weaker Eastern Conference.

I hate to say it, but if Eric Bledsoe couldn’t make the Phoenix Suns a playoff team – or at least a competitive one – who is to say that a nearly identical player in Kemba will?

Obviously different roster circumstances aside as the current Phoenix Suns are without question better than the previous two years, but even when Phoenix had three point guards, the team was decently talented, and Bledsoe was a regular starter, Bledsoe still not pull themselves even into the 8th seed.

I have long argued that point guard don’t win championships, although a good point guard is a necessary piece in the mix. Both Eric Bledsoe and Kemba Walker are good enough point guards to be starters on a championship team, I have no doubt in my mind.

Neither of them are center-pieces though, potentially something that Phoenix would give away just to acquire Kemba.