Milwaukee Bucks: 5 reasons the Eric Bledsoe trade was a win

3. Eric Bledsoe is really good

It’s often hard to keep in perspective how good a star player is when he is stuck on a bad team. Eric Bledsoe is certainly not a franchise-changing player, but that doesn’t mean he’s anything short of incredibly talented.

Since arriving in Phoenix in 2013, Bledsoe has been a high-usage guard, sometimes running the point and sometimes playing alongside Goran Dragic or Isaiah Thomas in lineups featuring two (or three!) point guards. Despite the high usage, Bledsoe has always been efficient, always finishing in the top quarter of point guards in points-per-shot.

Bledsoe is also adept at getting to the foul stripe. Not counting the three games he played this season, Bledsoe has averaged at least 5.4 free throw attempts per-game in each of the last four seasons. Among point guards he has ranked in the 82nd percentile or higher each of the past four seasons in percentage of shots where he was fouled. He ranked similarly in non-shooting fouls as well.

No slouch at passing either, Bledsoe has averaged at least six assists each of the past three seasons as he has grown into a competent and willing passer. As pointed out by ESPN‘s Stats and Info, Bledsoe ranks in All-NBA level company when it comes to his guard abilities:

Last season Bledsoe put up a line of 21.1 points per game, 6.3 assists and 4.8 rebounds per game. In the last 10 seasons, the only players to hit those numbers have been LeBron James (9 times), Russell Westbrook (four), James Harden (three), Dwyane Wade (twice), Chris Paul, Kyle Lowry and Stephen Curry. In other words, Eric Bledsoe is in really good company.