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Phoenix Suns: Eric Bledsoe Taking Steps Toward Being Elite

By Gerald Bourguet

Oct 31, 2015; Portland, OR, USA; Phoenix Suns guard Eric Bledsoe (2) celebrates after scoring in the first half of the game against the Portland Trail Blazers at Moda Center at the Rose Quarter. The Suns won 101-90. Mandatory Credit: Godofredo Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 31, 2015; Portland, OR, USA; Phoenix Suns guard Eric Bledsoe (2) celebrates after scoring in the first half of the game against the Portland Trail Blazers at Moda Center at the Rose Quarter. The Suns won 101-90. Mandatory Credit: Godofredo Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports /
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Oct 7, 2015; Phoenix, AZ, USA; Phoenix Suns point guard Eric Bledsoe (2) shoots the basketball in the second half against the Sacramento Kings at Talking Stick Resort Arena. The Suns defeat the Kings 102-98. Mandatory Credit: Jennifer Stewart-USA TODAY Sports /

Three-Point Shooting

Last season, Eric Bledsoe shot 32.4 percent from three-point range on 3.4 attempts per game. For his career, Bledsoe is a 32.9 percent shooter from distance. Those numbers don’t reveal the mark of a marksman, but so far this season, Bledsoe has been exactly that for a Suns team that spent its offseason trying to bolster its three-point shooting.

The additions of guys like Devin Booker, Jon Leuer and Mirza Teletovic help in that regard, as did the re-signing of Brandon Knight. But so far this season, it’s looking like the best summer addition to Phoenix’s long range attack has been all the work that Bledsoe put in to improve his perimeter shot.

Bledsoe hasn’t changed anything with his shooting stroke, but he’s made 14 of his 35 three-point attempts so far this year (40 percent) and is shooting them with confidence. According to Hornacek, it wasn’t just the summer reps that have led to this surprising new efficiency from downtown, but the manner in which he got those reps in.

"“The biggest thing about guys shooting the ball is when you practice, if you’re just doing spot shooting and you’re not doing it game speed, I believe that’s a waste of time,” Hornacek said. “Okay, maybe your 10,000 reps or whatever it is gets your brain trained a little bit on the shot, but game speed is so much different, even in practice. “So we try to emphasize to the guys, practice at a full speed so when you get in the game and the speed’s even faster, it’s not a big adjustment. I think Eric over the summer when he worked on his shooting, he did it with pace and he did it with speed. So now when he’s shooting them, they look pretty easy for him.”"

Again, nine games is a small sample size, and there’s a good chance Bledsoe won’t be a 40 percent three-point shooter for the whole season. But so far, it appears as though he might be able to hover around a far more efficient mark than he posted last season, perhaps somewhere in the 36-38 percent range.

Next: Conditioning

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