Bledsoe is a beast in the open court, but he has learned the nuances of tricking defenses, anticipating rotations, and dribbling in ways that open up passing angles and cutting lanes for teammates. He knows options 1, 2, and 3, and he’s smart enough to skip option 1 when he sees the defense leaning to it early. He should continue to get better with more experience, and if he improves just another notch as a long-range shooter, he’s going to be a killer.
The defense is as advertised. He’s one of my Mirror Guys, defenders who mimic the moves of their marks so precisely, and so immediately, they appear to be moving in concert with them — both on and off the ball. Even strong 2-guards struggle to post him up or dislodge him on drives, and when he falls a step behind trailing the pick-and-roll, he’s fast enough to pop right back into your line of sight with one of his giant arms reaching to swat at your shot.
He’s not 100 percent proven yet. There is risk here for Phoenix, beyond the injuries. The Suns scored at a bottom-five rate when Bledsoe ran things without Dragic, per NBA.com, and he’s never been a full-time solo starting point guard. But that’s a 43-game sample size on a team that didn’t bring a ton of perimeter threats coming off the bench to help Bledsoe create offense. He is still a bit turnover-prone, especially in transition, though they are less often the product of reckless careening than they used to be
