Suns to renounce Alex Len, end an era of disappointment
By Adam Maynes
According to Scott Bordow, the contracts of Alex Len and Elfrid Payton will be renounced making both players unrestricted free agents and opening up over $10M in cap space. Payton’s release shouldn’t move the meter much, but Len’s renouncement means the end of a disappointing era with the Phoenix Suns.
Selected fifth overall in the 2013 NBA Draft, the first draft pick for newly hired General Manager Ryan McDonough, Alex Len was touted as a possible center of the future. Although raw and not even an All-ACC First Team center, Len’s athleticism, size, length, and decent mid-range shot made him a project that McDonough hoped the team could develop and turn into a regular double-double threat with a strong defensive upgrade.
Essentially they were hoping for a Rudy Gobert-type player, who was taken 27th overall.
Unfortunately, development into that kind of a player never materialized and Len never could get over the hump and become a regular starter for Phoenix. Consistently blocked by other centers, particularly Tyson Chandler since 2015, Len is not the franchise center that everyone hoped he would develop into.
That being said, McDonough should be given credit for the pick. Even if Len never panned out, he hasn’t been horrible (like Elfrid Payton was the second half of his tenure in Phoenix), and that draft overall was one of the worst in recent memory.
Statistically, while his per game averages have never looked appetizing, his per-36 averages have grown every season of his career. He has averaged a double-double since his second season, and in 2017-18 he averaged 15.1 points and 13.4 rebounds per 36-minutes.
Initially foul trouble was his greatest enemy and kept him off the court, but even last season he averaged a career-low 4.1 personal fouls per-36 which at least meant that if he had been a heavily relied upon starter, more often than not he would have made it through the game without getting benched for fouls.
That draft too was one of the biggest crap-shoots ever and while it is easy to say now that Len should not have been picked that high, he had even been projected as the potential first overall pick 36 hours before the draft by some expert’s mock drafts. Anthony Bennett of course was taken first and for all intents and purposes is already out of the league, yet Cleveland was excited to have the opportunity to take him fully illustrating how poor the draft really was.
The far and away best player in that draft was Giannis Antetokounmpo who was selected at the very end of the lottery, 15th overall. Had anyone had any inkling that Giannis would be as good as he has become, not only would he have been the first overall pick, but when the Cavaliers won the lottery that year, Nick Gilbert (owner Dan’s son who represented the Cavs in the lottery), would have held up an Antetokounmpo jersey immediately upon winning the lottery much like Orlando Magic General Manager Pat Williams did in 1992 when Orlando won the lottery and the right to select Shaquille O’Neal.
Overall though, the best word to describe Len’s time in Phoenix is disappointing. Regardless of how poor the lottery was that year, to have a fifth overall selection who never averaged double-digits in a single category, nor sign an extension after his rookie contract is up, is a sure sign that that player was a bust.
Through his fifth season in the NBA, Len is 15th overall in his draft class in Win Share, a hair above Nerlens Noel (another disappointment) who missed his entire rookie season, and a hair below Andre Roberson who was taken 26th overall. Len is also 19th in his class in total points and only 6th in total rebounds.
However, it is the fact that he is 25th in the 2013 class with a -1.8 Box Plus Minus, that is most alarming. Len allowed nearly 2 points more than he contributed per 100 possessions above a league-average player on an average team – an truly terrible rate for a player who was selected as high as he was.
With the addition of first overall pick Deandre Ayton, a player who dominated in college unlike his predecessor, and one final season of veteran Tyson Chandler, there is no reason for the Phoenix Suns to re-sign Len and with the renouncement of his rights he will be allowed to enter the market as an unrestricted free agent.
Next: The Phoenix Suns should wait until 2019 free agency to make a move
Will he find another team and suddenly turn into an above average center who Phoenix fans will lament his loss?
Not likely. At best he is probably a Robin Lopez kind of center, someone who if given the minutes can play center as it is expected to be played, but add and become nothing more. Len can certainly average double-digit points and rebounds if given the minutes, and he might even be a better statistical center than Marcin Gortat who has only averaged a double-double twice in his career. But any expectation by Suns fans that he will suddenly be a really good center somewhere else is pure pessimism and nothing to worry about.
The disappointing tenure of the fifth overall pick of the 2013 NBA draft is over in Phoenix, and Suns fans everywhere are disappointed that it didn’t turn out better.