What he showed this past season in Atlanta was a version of Len the league hadn’t seen, and he believes if he was drafted into a situation like the Hawks have where player development is the focus, his career would have been in a different place. “I would have been way ahead of where I’m at right now, like that’s not even crazy to say,” Len said. “I feel like with the two years that I’ve been in Atlanta, I’m already so much better. Just looking at where I was last summer to now, it’s just crazy how much better I’ve gotten. I’m able to do stuff that I’ve never been able to do in my career. I’m doing ballhandling drills, I’m getting shots up. I’m just a better well-rounded player with things I never had the chance to do. I was never asked to do the things I’m doing now when I was in Phoenix.”
Alex Len Rumors
All NBA Players
Position: C
Born: 06/16/93
Height: 7-1 / 2.16
Weight:225 lbs. / 102.1 kg.
Salary: $4,160,000
Born: 06/16/93
Height: 7-1 / 2.16
Weight:225 lbs. / 102.1 kg.
Salary: $4,160,000
Bun Len is confident in saying that he feels like where he is now should have him in the conversation of possibly being an Eastern Conference All-Star. “I think everything is possible, because like I told you, the stuff I’ve been doing this summer, I’ve never been able to do before,” Len said. “The stuff I’m doing in pickup games lets me know that I have improved. I’ve expanded my game where I know if guys close out on me, I can drive past them. At the end of the year, some teams were switching 1 through 5. If they put a small on me, I can just take them into a post, and it’s an easy bucket.
Len’s role in Phoenix was to be a traditional big man — the majority of his buckets would come off screen-and-rolls, putbacks and the occasional midrange shot. What he showed this past season in Atlanta was a version of Len the league hadn’t seen, and he believes if he was drafted into a situation like the Hawks have where player development is the focus, his career would have been in a different place.
“I would have been way ahead of where I’m at right now, like that’s not even crazy to say,” Len said. “I feel like with the two years that I’ve been in Atlanta, I’m already so much better. Just looking at where I was last summer to now, it’s just crazy how much better I’ve gotten. I’m able to do stuff that I’ve never been able to do in my career. I’m doing ballhandling drills, I’m getting shots up. I’m just a better well-rounded player with things I never had the chance to do. I was never asked to do the things I’m doing now when I was in Phoenix.”
For five days per week since the season ended, Len has been working out at the Hawks’ facility with the coaching and training staff to continue his improvement. “Obviously, I would love to start,” Len said. “That’s what I’ve been working the whole summer towards. I’ve been trying to show the coaches and management that I want to be here for the future. We’ll see how it goes because you never know how coaches see the starting lineup. You just never know. You might be the best player out of all the bigs, but Coach might want to go with a more athletic big who plays better defense. I try not to focus on that as much. I just try to be the best I can. In training camp, though, I’m obviously going to fight for the starting job.”
22 Jun
Gallery 22 Jun
2013 NBA re-draft: The way it should have been
Two Euro players selected outside of the lottery in the top spots.
Last year was such a young draft. The top five picks were 19.9, 19.3, 19.3, 18.8 and 19.1 years old, respectively. That’s the first time in NBA history that the top five picks were teenagers. To put that in perspective, as recently as 2013 — the Anthony Bennett year — there were no teenagers in the top five; Bennett, Victor Oladipo, Otto Porter Jr., Cody Zeller and Alex Len were all in their 20s. “The average age of drafted players is the lowest of all time,” noted one assistant GM. “That probably increases variance.”
