Collin Gillespie just joined Russell Westbrook with crazy accolade

The Phoenix Suns have been a fun team that has worked hard on both ends of the court so far this season, and so are great value for their 9-6 record. Backup point guard Collin Gillespie has come to personify this new version of the team, with his consistent play off the bench a constant spark for his teammates.

Gillespie joins Russell Westbrook on impressive list.

After their most recent win over the Portland Trail Blazers - in which they kept a Suns' draft pick quiet - Gillespie broke new ground by having 150 points, 75 rebounds and 75 assists off the bench through 15 games. The only two other players to achieve that in league history? Westbrook, as well as the divisive LaMelo Ball.

We're having fun with this by suggesting Gillespie could ever be in the running for MVP, that's not going to happen. But what he has been is the Suns' Most Improved Player up to this point in the campaign, and his emergence having been on a two-way contract last season is part of the reason head coach Jordan Ott can play the way that he does.

The Suns don't have a true point guard and have once again turned to the incredibly skills of Devin Booker to figure it out. He has answered the call - but with Jalen Green out until around Christmas at the earliest - even he needs a break from time to time. Enter Gillespie, who if anything improves elements of the team's play when he has the ball in hand.

He's an absolute pest defensively and although not as consistent a maker of difficult passes in the way Booker is, he keeps the offense ticking over by taking care of the ball while also playing at the pace coach Ott wants. It says a lot that Gillespie was buired behind Tyus Jones and Jordan Goodwin last season, when he has now leapfrogged the latter in the rotation.

The main concern in The Valley now is if they can keep Gillespie long-term, as he is playing on a minimum deal and absolutely deserves to be earning more. The franchise does have his Bird Rights and that should help get a deal done, particularly as Gillespie looks happy in Phoenix and it is unclear who else can afford to send $10-$12 million his way across the next number of years.

These lists that are made up to group players together can often feel forced, and really this doesn't mean anything. But even a casual watcher of Suns games can see how important he has become to their game plan, he is the perfect guard for coach Ott's schemes. Being named alongside a future Hall of Fame player in Westbrook doesn't hurt either considering he was on a two-way last season.