Sunrise in the Pacific

[GreenBear]

The Suns are off to a hot start due in large part to a favorable schedule to start the season (8 home games to just 3 away games thus far) and great team defense. Outside of star guard Eric Bledsoe, no one else on the Suns will even sniff the all-star game. Even Bledsoe faces an uphill battle after only making the game as an injury replacement last year and his offensive numbers (the heavily publicized stats the all-star voters look at) will drop a bit from last year due to fewer touches on a much deeper team than last season.

Bledsoe and Len have led the Suns to a sizzling 9-2 start to the season

As a defensive unit, the Suns rank in the top 10 in every major statistical area:
- Points allowed per game: 94.7 (4th)
- Assists allowed per game: 18.3 (7th)
- Rebounds allowed per game: 38.8 (3rd)
- Blocks per game: 9.4 (1st)
- Steals per game: 8.5 (8th)
- FG% allowed: 41.4% (T-3rd)
- 3-point FG% allowed: 29.9% (1st)
- Turnovers forced: 15.5 (6th)

The Suns clearly believe in the philosophy that great defense is the key to winning. The defense is led by Bledsoe’s 2.9 steals/game (1st in CSL) and 1.7 blocks/game (1st among all guards in CSL), Isaiah Austin’s 2.6 blocks/game (3rd in CSL), and Alex Len’s 2.0 block/game (T-8th in CSL). Turnovers aren’t all the Suns focus on though, as 3 players have a drive stop % above 95% (Bledsoe, Patrick Beverley, and Andrew Wiggins) and 7 regulars allow ≤ 0.8 PA/SF.

The biggest surprise thus far this season is the play of center Alex Len. The season is still young, but he’s well on his way to a career year with 13.9 ppg, 11.4 rpg (5.5 orpg), and 2.0 bpg. Len has really stepped his game up this season after an excellent offseason.

The Suns drafted 4 rookies in the first round of the 2015 CSL draft, and they've played a huge part in the Suns' fast start to the season. Point Guard Delon Wright and Andrew Wiggins are starters, while Sam Dekker and Bobby Portis play important minutes off the bench with the second unit. Wright has played the perfect backcourt mate with Bledsoe by scoring 12.5 ppg on 53% shooting while getting Bledsoe his touches. Wiggins has been up and down with 2.9 TOs per game and 40% shooting thus far, but has still gotten 10.9 ppg while playing great defense. Dekker has provided efficient offense with 8.1 ppg on 51% shooting in 20 minutes.

The Suns will undoubtedly come back down to earth at some point. The Suns were expected to improve after a good offseason that added a lot of depth to the Suns that was missing a season ago, but a winning % above 80% won’t last, and fellow division rivals Sacramento Kings and L.A. Clippers will likely pass them at some point. Especially given that the team is so young (the starting lineup averages 21.8 years old). But the Suns’ brass and their fans have to be thrilled to this start. The season is very young, but the Suns look to be playoff contenders after all.

[NanashiWake]

Great start for you guys, very nice stats and nice read.

I think if Len keeps this type of performance up moving forward you'll have a very nice team for years to come.

[lakeshowak7]

You're team won't take a step back in my opinion. You've got the make up that this engine loves. Defense and three point shooting. It reminds me a lot of Rhoxxy's Clippers team from oCSL. The West is becoming crazy deep.

[WillyJakkz]

Guess I was really wrong as I didn't see you guys being a playoff team in your season preview.

Outstanding work man.

[GreenBear]

There is still a lot of basketball to be played. And like I mentioned, 8 of my 11 games have been at home. You're supposed to win a good majority of your home games, it's the away games that say more about your team than anything. So the jury is still out. And like Lakeshow said, the West is crazy deep. One losing streak or an injury to a key player will have me tumbling down the standings. I think this might be a year that you need 44 wins to get into the playoffs.

[Marcos_Beck]

Your team is doing such a great job.
IMO picking up Beverley was such an under-the-radar move.. Len is coming to his own, your wings look good.. Your team has depth specially outside, maybe lacks a big body inside but so far you Gus certainly didn't show that.
Keep it going my man, and trade me Butler :p

[Dennis]

Like Chicago or Sacramento one of the easier schedules so far. Still all 3 of them had already high quality wins and it's not always easy to win the games "you have to win". Especially ok the road. So being 5-0 away is amazing. Especially given your teams age. Probably you might end up losing in the first round as your team is missing (any) experience, but having a postseason under their belt will only help your guys in future seasons.

What I love most is Lens game. Particularly because Daniel Miller has pretty much the same ratings and frame. I hope he can do the same for us as soon as he's healthy again. He average 7-5-2 in 18 minutes or something like that. So they could become very similar players as soon as they are developed.

[andrei]

Great job this offseason and the rebuilding effort in general. You got some strong young pieces there and ready to join the West top teams in the playoffs this year

[Chilikonkarne]

Delon Wright seems to be the steal of the draft.
It hurts us in Toronto. indeed his file was on the table when picking with the 13th but we went for Caris Lavert instead to fill-up a need.

[emplep7]

Len is playing out of his mind right now. Don't think that continues throughout the year, but crazier things have happened.

[Rizzo]

Delon Wright seems to be the steal of the draft.
It hurts us in Toronto. indeed his file was on the table when picking with the 13th but we went for Caris Lavert instead to fill-up a need.

I made a mistake by not taking Wright at #16 and selecting Hairston instead.

[blackice]

In terms of building around a star player (Bledsoe) this might be the best job I've seen so far (with respect to HOU, SAS and ORL). Just a perfect medley of supporting players that aren't stars by themselves but play their role to perfection.