Eric Bledsoe Is Arriving as an NBA Star in 2015
The NBA can stop waiting for its next star to arrive. Eric Bledsoe is already here.
After getting paid like a star last summer, the fifth-year combo guard—and second-year starter—has since compiled the overstuffed stat sheet to match.
The 25-year-old's "Mini-LeBron" moniker fits for more reasons than his freakish athleticism alone. Like the two-time champion, Bledsoe makes his presence felt all across the box score.
Four players are averaging at least 17 points, six assists, five rebounds and 1.5 steals this season. Three of them—James Harden, LeBron James and Russell Westbrook—are entrenched in a heated MVP race. The other is Bledsoe, a player whose nightly contributions are too easily overlooked because his Phoenix Suns are only good and good isn't good enough in the congested Western Conference.
The struggles of the 10th-seeded Suns show barely a trace of Bledsoe's fingerprints, however.
Whatever his team has needed, he's delivered.
Despite standing just 6'1", he's tied for the 12th-highest rebounding percentage among the 103 guards who average at least 20 minutes per game (8.6). His 1.4 block percentage is tied for fifth in the same group.
Only eight players in the entire league have come away with more steals (108) or scored more points on drives to the basket (340).
He sits 12th overall with 391 total assists, and that ranking is even better than it sounds. Prior to the trade deadline, he was sharing lead guard duties with Goran Dragic and Isaiah Thomas. Bledsoe has been splitting touches with Brandon Knight since.
He can be an electric scorer (21 games with 20-plus points), but his stardom is most easily seen through his ability to impact the game in so many other ways.
"A lot of guys when they don't score, it affects the rest of their game," Suns coach Jeff Hornacek said, per Fox Sports Arizona's Randy Hill. "Great players, when they don't score, then they're doing other things."
Bledsoe is the gravitational pull of Phoenix's offense.
Defenses have to give him extra attention or they'll be at his mercy all night. But when they bring extra help, he has the vision and selflessness to set the table for his teammates.
As his passing numbers demonstrate, Bledsoe creates better scoring chances for his supporting cast than they are able to find on their own.
"I think that's what's impressed me most about him," Hornacek said of Bledsoe's passing, per Suns.com's Matt Petersen. "Coming here, I wasn't sure about his passing ability and what he saw as a point guard. Right away...you'd think, 'Yeah, okay. He sees the floor well.' He's making those passes."
Bledsoe still has plenty of room to grow.
He has coughed up the fourth-most turnovers in the league (220). Consistency with his shooting remains an issue. He's converted only 34 percent of his shots outside of three feet this season.
But it's important to remember where he's at in his career. He has just 143 starts under his belt, only 25 more than Sacramento Kings sophomore Ben McLemore. Bledsoe isn't new to this gig, but he's still getting on-the-job training.
And he's already performing at an elite level.
He isn't simply padding his box scores, either. There is substance to his statistics.
Bledsoe has elevated his team, the one consistent mark seen in every sports star.
When he's played, the Suns have outscored their opponents by 2.5 points per 100 possessions. When he hasn't, they have been outscored by 3.0 points per 100 possessions. The former would be the NBA's 12th-best net efficiency rating. The latter would rank 22nd overall.
That's the kind of impact he's already having, and he's still learning how to balance his dual roles as scorer and playmaker.
"I think I got to be more aggressive because my teammates want me to be more aggressive and my coaches and I want to be aggressive, too," Bledsoe said, per Hill. "But at the same time, I just want to get everybody open shots, too."
He's capable of doing both.
He racked up 27 points, 16 assists and 11 rebounds in a head-to-head matchup with his old mentor, Chris Paul, and the Los Angeles Clippers earlier this season. Bledsoe tallied 28 points, 13 rebounds and nine assists in a Feb. 26 win over Westbrook and the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Against Damian Lillard and the Portland Trail Blazers on Jan. 21, Bledsoe poured in a season-high 33 points to go along with 10 boards and six dimes.
When he gives himself the green light to attack, he can be unstoppable.
"He's as quick and powerful as any guard in this league," said Thunder coach Scott Brooks, per Hill.
Bledsoe is a star now, and if he can stay healthy—he's had knee problems before, but hasn't missed a game due to injury this season—he should remain one for a while.
The only question is when the basketball world will see him as such. As DJ Foster explained in a piece for ESPN.com, it could take some time before Bledsoe is properly appreciated:
"It wouldn’t be a surprise if he continues to be left out of conversations surrounding the best players in the league. His game is loud -- the dunks, the defense, the drives -- but for some, it’s still in another language. There are plenty of other guards who more closely align with the over-idealized vision of a 'true' point guard.
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But even without a neatly defined label or a conventional set of skills, Bledsoe provides the one thing that actually matters: production.
Being overlooked is unfortunately fitting for Bledsoe.
He spent his lone season at Kentucky playing in the shadows of John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins. During Bledsoe's three years with the Clippers, he was buried behind Paul, Baron Davis and Mo Williams.
Even last season, Bledsoe wasn't surrounded by buzz like Dragic, who was an All-NBA third-team selection and recipient of the Most Improved Player Award.
The spotlight is coming Bledsoe's way soon, however. His numbers, and, more importantly, their impact, are too good for it not to.
There's no reason to deny the star that's shooting across the desert sky any longer.
Unless otherwise noted, statistics used courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com and NBA.com and are current through games played on Thursday, March 12.
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