Eric Bledsoe’s versatility makes him a perfect match with Milwaukee
Few players in the NBA have been rewarded less over the course of their career for consistent improvement and malleability than Eric Bledsoe.
Seriously, it’s hard to think of a secondary star who has taken greater advantage of opportunity than Bledsoe over the last several years who has less to show for it. He never once averaged double-digit scoring after being drafted by the Los Angeles Clippers, then bounced all the way up to nearly 18 points in 2013-14, his first Phoenix season. That year, considering his role and the team’s achievement, was probably his most successful.
Think about that — Eric Bledsoe put together the most efficient scoring season of his career and it amounted to what is literally the best non-playoff team in NBA history.
He outlasted all the point guards (Goran Dragic and Isaiah Thomas, as well as draft picks Archie Goodwin and Tyler Ennis) Phoenix accumulated during the initial part of general manager Ryan McDonough’s tenure. His survival on that team resulted from his ability to facilitate all sorts of styles on the court — as an off-ball killer despite a slow-developing jumper, a flickering flame in transition and a hammerhead shark on defense.
Bledsoe has always helped his teams, but what’s most impressive is the development project he underwent in the background.
He reached his apex last season, which was also symbolically the season in which his talents were most wasted. Leading the 24-58 Suns, Bledsoe posted career highs in scoring and assist percentage, getting to the line at will and puncturing defenses while second-year stud Devin Booker went over and around them.
His reward came last March, when Bledsoe became a victim of one of the more bold tank jobs in the NBA, sitting the last 14 games of the year to help the Suns lose games. Again, during the best season of his career, seven years in the making, the team to which he devoted half his career benched him in favor of a slightly better future draft pick.
The frustration bubbled over and never settled following that decision, ultimately ending in November, when Phoenix traded Bledsoe to Milwaukee. He joined a Bucks team in desperate need of a veteran no. 2 across from Giannis Antetokounmpo, a surprise MVP candidate ahead of schedule. Quietly, it has been a perfect match.
The Bucks started 11-4 with Bledsoe, while the Antetokounmpo-Bledsoe pairing has overwhelmed defenses. Prior to Bledsoe’s arrival, Milwaukee had used Malcolm Brogdon and Matthew Dellavedova as its secondary playmakers when Antetokounmpo sat or operated away from the ball. Bledsoe is those two players grafted together and dialed up to 1,000.
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His versatility means he will slip right into smaller, smoother lineups when Jabari Parker returns in 2018. In fact, his presence puts an unknowable ceiling on the current foundation in Milwaukee. That’s partially because we haven’t seen Parker alongside this MVP candidate version of Antetokounmpo, but also because Bledsoe brings another terrifying element to smaller, faster lineups the Bucks will able to deploy.
Bledsoe has struggled to find his stroke from deep after being dismissed from the Suns early in the year, but for the most part his scoring numbers are there. His defense is ramping back toward peak ball-hawking form. Bledsoe is finally with a team using his contributions the right way, and he’s once again slid seamlessly into a new role, pushing the Bucks to another level.