National Basketball Association

Too early to predict year of the draggin'

Published Nov. 3, 2014 1:44 p.m. ET

foxsports

PHOENIX -- With 79 regular-season opportunities for redemption, serious concern exists regarding how the Suns trained their Dragon.

Well, isn't the concern appropriate?

Shouldn't the reflex to Saturday's flop in Salt Lake City inspire us to review Goran Dragic's first three games and wonder if it was wise to put him on cruise control for Slovenia during World Cup competition?

No, not really.

OK, so a look at Goran's first week this season tells us he's not exactly producing at last year's midseason level.

After a career year shooting behind the arc, Dragic has missed all eight of his attempts thus far. And in three games, he managed just four assists and five turnovers. He made only three shots in the 19 attempts that were not at the rim.

It will take time, of course, for the Suns trio of dribble-oriented playmakers to reach their optimum mesh point. That's just obvious.

But it also should be noted after last season's 26-point gusher in the opener at Portland, Dragic hardly scorched the opposition the following two games.

He made just 2 of 11 shots in a Game 2 loss to the Utah Jazz and followed that by getting hurt and playing very little against the Thunder in Oklahoma City.

Through the first three games of last season, Dragic made only one of his eight 3-point attempts.

By the way, he didn't play in the fourth quarter of the season-opening win against the Lakers, and he sat for more than half of the fourth against the Spurs last week.

So, let's wait a while longer before making any doomsday judgments.

This category does not reference the 118-point hit the Suns absorbed in Salt Lake City.

Instead, we're going to review the tactical explanation from coach Jeff Hornacek regarding the potential for his PG3 lineup to survive when the other team has the ball.

Aside from creating offensive flow with three primary ball handlers on the floor at the same time, matching up defensively is the main issue to resolve.

"Well, they're scrappers," Hornacek said. "Goran has decent size. There are not a lot of the huge three-men in the league -- the 6-8, 6-9 guys that can drop down in the post.

"It's a smaller league, so you can get away with it. Sometimes it's a game of chicken if they want to do that, then that same person has to guard our guy. Eric (Bledsoe), with his size and strength, can go on anybody in the one, two or three, so it gives us options to mix and match there at the end."

The area surrounding Phoenix's basket looks familiar. So does their ranking of 25th in paints points surrendered per game.

Their average of 45 was boosted considerably by allowing 66 in the loss at Utah. That one-game salvo was the highest total in the NBA's opening week. It should be noted paint points include fast breaks, reminding us it's not just about post defense.

Anyway, although second-year center Alex Len wasn't nearly as effective working against Derrick Favors as he was against Tim Duncan, we'll stay on the bright side of his recent rise. We'll maintain our belief that inside rim protection and lane-area scoring from the fifth overall pick in the 2013 draft can help give Phoenix a solid shot at the 2015 postseason.

Playing more than 30 minutes against the Spurs and going for a double-double (10 points, 11 rebounds) with shot-altering properties is encouraging. It certainly was for Alex, whose injury-riddled early career is not secret.

"Last year was probably the toughest year of my career," he said after his efforts against the Spurs. "I wanted to get out there, but I couldn't, so I just had to work hard and I did the little things like stay in the weight room and work on other stuff."

Hornacek distills Len's defensive potential like so: "He's long. He makes guys adjust shots."

According to pre-draft numbers, the former Maryland Terrapin's wingspan is 7-3.5, and his standing reach is 9-1.5.

And maybe he's still growing there, too.

After smoking the defensively-challenged Lakers for 16 3-pointers in 32 attempts, the Suns have converted just 9 of 49 in two games since. This puts their three-game percentage at an icy 30.9.

Potential good news: The Lakers are on deck for Game 4 on Tuesday in L.A.

Obviously, the Suns' thumping of the Lakers provided a crazy offensive efficiency number.

But averaging in the last two games, we find Phoenix at 14th in efficiency (106.0 points per 100 possessions) and eighth in pace (95.6 possessions per 48 minutes.

The collapse in Utah ranks Phoenix 19th in defensive efficiency (106.7), with P.J. Tucker now eligible to play following a three-game suspension.

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