With his chiseled 6-1 frame and deep South upbringing, many assume Eric Bledsoe played competitive football at some point in his life. High school, at least.
“My coach at basketball, he wouldn’t let me play,” Bledsoe laughed. “Smart man. Two of the players at my high school, they were key players for the team. They ended up tearing their ACL’s.”
He is not a football guy, but Bledsoe exhibits tendencies that are uncannily native to the gridiron. There are nights when his outward emotion would be completely unchanged if he were wearing a helmet. He’s a self-admitted inward guy, which makes moments like these all too rare.
Like a receiver or cornerback, Bledsoe exhibits sudden bursts of elite speed and power, roaring from first to fifth gear in less than a second. As suddenly as it happens, the play is over, and he is seemingly trotting back to the huddle.
Bledsoe is also a game film addict. He can often be seen asking one of the staff assistants for tape of a game before he leaves the arena…on the same night as the game in question[1].
“The more and more I play, I learn from each game,” he said. “I try not to make the same mistake I made last game.”
Bledsoe's Monster Night
Which takes us to late November. Bledsoe was (for him) struggling out of the gate, averaging just 14.7 points, 5.7 assists, 4.6 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game over the first full month of the season. The Suns were likewise middling, hovering at 10-8. Neither individual nor team were performing terribly, but there was a sense of falling short of unseen, unspoken expectations, especially after last season’s spirited and unexpected campaign.
Bledsoe’s film sessions are usually short-term, pertaining to the most recent games. Yet those were examples of what wasn’t working. The Suns’ guard wanted a refresher on what had yielded such feel-good results less than a year earlier.
“We had to go look in the mirror,” he said. “What was going well for us last year? Obviously we had Channing [Frye], but I thought me and Goran played terrific last year.”
As the then-vs-now film session unfolded, Bledsoe was increasingly alarmed and disappointed by what he saw – in himself.
“The last month or so when we were losing, [I] wasn’t competing,” he said bluntly. “Every time somebody came in, I pretty much went in there with a nonchalant attitude.”
It was a stark contrast to the version of Bledsoe from last season. He saw himself running pell-mell, diving for loose balls, locking up defenders, attacking relentlessly.
It didn’t take him long to connect the dots between video and statistics[2]. Bledsoe’s energy coincided with the Suns’ defensive prowess. Last season, Phoenix had a 100.5 defensive rating (points allowed per 100 possessions) with Bledsoe on the court. Without him, that number jumped to 105.4.
“Last year, I was looking at it, I was doing all those things. I was making up for [lapses] with blocks, getting the steals… It’s pretty much those little hustle plays that make a team good.”
— Eric Bledsoe
In November of this season, Phoenix’s defensive rating was hovering dangerously close to sans-Bledsoe territory at 103.4 despite the fact he played in every game.
“I think we were a good defensive team last year, and it was because we helped each other out,” Bledsoe said. “I had to go back and look at what we were doing good and what was going wrong and what can I [do to] help with it?
Again, the film didn’t lie. Recent games showed little of the manic defensive energy that made him one of the most dangerous two-way guards in the league last season.
“Last year, I was looking at it, I was doing all those things,” he said. "I was making up for [lapses] with blocks, getting the steals… It’s pretty much those little hustle plays that make a team good.”
Back to the court Bledsoe went, this time with images of his best self firmly embedded in his consciousness.
The results were immediate. Bledsoe hounded the Pacers on Dec. 2 for 27 points, seven assists and four steals. A triple double at the Clippers soon followed. Since Dec. 1, he has averaged 18.2 points, 6.4 assists, 5.5 rebounds, 1.8 steals and 0.8 blocks per game. He joins James Harden, Russell Westbrook, Stephen Curry and Kobe Bryant as the only players in that span to put up at least 18 points, six assists, five rebounds and one steal per game.
Bledsoe's activity has been especially pronounced in crunch time or in key, game-changing swings. His fourth-quarter shooting accuracy ranks ahead of Portland's Damian Lillard, Golden State's Stephen Curry and Cleveland's LeBron James. His average points per final period are more than Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, Kobe Bryant and Kemba Walker. He has been both assertive and efficient when it matters most.
Even so, Phoenix had to slog through a six-game losing streak as Bledsoe and the Suns learned to rise for every occasion, and not just the big ones. Defeats to losing teams such as Detroit and Miami left a sour taste that only an every-night mentality can prevent.
“We’re always asking Eric to play every game like you’re playing the best team in the league,” said Suns Head Coach Jeff Hornacek. “He seems to do pretty well in those games. It’s when we’re playing lesser teams that he kind of goes on cruise control. We need him to be that aggressive attacker no matter who we’re playing. I think he’s done that.”
Case in point, here’s a five-game stretch in December involving nearly every kind of opponent:
Evolution of Eric Bledsoe
Dec. 23 vs. Dallas: 16 points, 11 assists, 10 rebounds, three steals
Dec. 26 at Sacramento: 18 points, six assists, five rebounds
Dec. 28 at L.A. Lakers: 22 points, eight assists, eight rebounds, four steals, one block
Dec. 30 at New Orleans: 21 points, three assists, eight rebounds, two steals, two blocks
Dec. 30 at Oklahoma City: 29 points, eight assists, two rebounds, one steal, one block
There are other factors behind the Suns’ recent 8-3 surge. Alex Len’s insertion into the starting lineup offers a defensive anchor to balance and support Bledsoe’s perimeter pressure. Goran Dragic is back his attacking, efficient ways. Hornacek has found a way both of them and guard Isaiah Thomas in crunch time as a caffeinated closing unit.
Bledsoe, however, feels the biggest change hasn’t come from X’s and O’s or substitution patterns.
“Now we’re just playing and competing every minute, all 48 minutes.”
[1] Suns Head Coach Jeff Hornacek says the team as a whole is one of the best film-study squads he has ever seen, playing and coaching years included.
[2] Again, Hornacek lauds his players for being aware of and responsive to key stats. One of the biggest reasons Markieff Morris has become more of an interior scorer is because an assistant coach told him he had the lowest free throw rate of all starting power forwards.