The Phoenix Suns are pretty stocked at the point guard position. Goran Dragic was the sole bright spot of the 2012-13 season as the starting point guard and new general manager Ryan McDonough showed he knows a good trade when he sees one by bringing in Eric Bledsoe over the summer. Then you throw in recent first-round draft pick Kendall Marshall and roster-hopeful Diante Garrett and you’ve got two quality starters with two less than satisfactory backups. How will Phoenix spread the playing time? And how will the point guard situation play out on both ends of the floor?
First of all, it’s important to point out that even though the Suns’ backcourt will be comprised of two point guards, it doesn’t really matter how well it works out. What Phoenix is doing is experimental. If the Dragic-Bledsoe backcourt works out, great! If it doesn’t, it doesn’t really hurt a team that’s tanking this year anyway. This experiment is pretty similar to what the Orlando Magic may be doing with their “Let’s play Victor Oladipo at the point guard position and see what happens!” It’s also not that different from the Philadelphia 76ers’ battle cry of “In Thaddeus Young we trust!” These teams have accepted their fate for the 2013-14 season. So why not mix things up and see what happens?
With Bledsoe and Dragic playing together in the backcourt, the most obvious red flag is their lack of size. Dragic is two inches taller than Bledsoe at 6’3″, but weighs only 190 pounds compared to Bledsoe’s 195. If those measurements don’t intimidate you, it’s because they’re not supposed to. Dragic vastly improved his defense last season, but he’ll still have a hard time defending pure-athlete point guards like Russell Westbrook or Derrick Rose and he’ll also be out-muscled by stronger, bigger guards.
Bledsoe is a bit stronger than Dragic and his “mini-LeBron” athleticism will help him keep up with quicker guards. But his lack of size is slightly daunting and that means he’s not tall enough to match up with shooting guards. Which means the undersized Dragic will be guarding even bigger, stronger, quicker shooting guards. However, Dragic is an effective off-the-ball defender who can read plays well, as evidenced by his 1.6 steals per game (17th best in the NBA). Still, an undersized backcourt means defensive stops will be a hard thing to come by for the Suns with their starting lineup on the floor.
Again, that’s not the end of the world. Not getting stops makes losing games easier, which is the Suns’ hidden goal this season. Even better, Phoenix won’t have to pull any stunts with fake injuries to justify the tanking. The truth is, a Dragic-Bledsoe backcourt will have a hard time winning games on the defensive end. However, how this backcourt performs during the season could be crucial for one reason: Goran Dragic could be playing for his job with the Phoenix Suns.
Don’t misunderstand me here. I’m not just talking about Dragic as a starter in Phoenix. I’m talking about Dragic in Phoenix, period. Many, myself included, thought the Bledsoe trade meant Dragic’s tenure in Phoenix was done, which seemed unfair considering how well he played last year. He gave the Suns his all and led the team in scoring, assists and steals for the season.
Look here, America. Behold one of the most underrated players in the NBA. Photo Credit: NBA.com
But then McDonough and coach Jeff Hornacek did a funny thing and informed the world that they planned on pairing Dragic and Bledsoe together in the backcourt. But the truth is, if this Dragic-Bledsoe experiment doesn’t work out and McDonough feels The Dragon would better serve the Suns’ rebuilding process as trade bait, Dragic will immediately be on the trade block. He not only has to prove he can stop people on the defensive end, but he also has to make himself invaluable to the Suns’ future.
On the offensive end, Dragic was the Suns’ maestro with the ball last year and made smart passes to find open guys like a poor man’s Steve Nash. His assist percentage was 35.7 percent (12th best in the league) and he had an impressive assist-to-turnover ratio of 2.68. Just for reference, Deron Williams and Tony Parker posted assist-to-turnover ratios of 2.8 last season. Dragic was eighth in the league in assists per game last season (7.4 per game) and should be allowed to continue to do his thing as Steve Nash’s heir in Phoenix, especially considering his impressive play in Eurobasket 2013 so far: 15 points, 6.3 assists, 4.5 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game through four contests.
Slovenia upsets Spain. @Goran_Dragic killed it. 18pts 6 reb. 7ast. @BokiNachbar played well too.
— MarkJonesESPN (@MarkJonesESPN) September 5, 2013
On the fast break, you’d think Bledsoe would be a more dynamic player in the open court because of his speed. But fast break opportunities actually favor Dragic a tad more. According to Synergy Sports, just less than 29 percent of Dragic’s points came in transition, where he shot 60.1 percent from the floor. Bledsoe was slight behind Dragic’s mark, scoring on 53.6 percent of his fast-break attempts.
In a half-court offense, Bledsoe’s efficiency takes a hit. Bledsoe is a freak athlete, but he’s not as good of a passer or ball handler as Dragic. So although Dragic may need to defense shooting guards on the defensive end, he absolutely needs the ball in his hands to create. Bledsoe’s struggles in the half-court offense should greatly benefit from Dragic’s court vision and he’s athletic enough to create his own looks from the wing, as shown by his field goal increasing from 38.9 percent the year before to 44.5 percent. He also improved his 3-point shooting from 20 percent to 39.7 percent in just a year. If Bledsoe can knock down the open looks Dragic will likely provide, the Suns’ rebuilding process will be a lot smoother.
As for the reserves, Diante Garrett is unlikely to see much playing time. The Suns haven’t invested as much in him as they have in Kendall Marshall, a first-round draft pick who has failed to show any signs of fulfilling his potential. Marshall’s turnover percentage, an estimate of turnovers per 100 possessions, was an absurdly irresponsible 26.6 percent last season. In just 14.6 minutes per game, Marshall committed 1.2 turnovers per game while also managing to shoot 37.1 percent from the floor. And don’t even get me started on his Matador defense.
The Suns’ starting point guard(s) will have problems on the defensive end, but they more than make up for those deficiencies on the offensive end (especially in a tank season). But if Marshall can’t prove his worth as a backup point guard, Phoenix won’t hesitate to cut him or trade him under new and improved management. Dragic needs to have the ball in his hands to create on offense and needs to learn how to guard bigger shooting guards to make himself indispensable moving forward. Bledsoe needs to use his athleticism on the wing to his advantage on offense and will hope to lock down point guards on defense. If the Suns are able to find a way to make this backcourt work, they’ll be better off after a few years of rebuilding through the draft.
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