Eric Bledsoe will return to Phoenix on Wednesday for the first time since the team traded him to the Bucks, but the point guard is downplaying the events, calling it “just another game.”
“It’s just another game,” Bledsoe said (via ESPN’s Nick Friedell). “Another game we just got to win. We got to win this game, get above .500, build off that.”
Bledsoe wouldn’t comment on the “hair salon” incident or on Suns‘ management when asked if he wished either party had handled things differently leading up to his departure.
“I’m at this point now,” Bledsoe said. “I’m on another team focused on what we can build here. So I ain’t focused on that.”
Here’s more from Phoenix:
- The Suns waited too long to trade Bledsoe, RealGM’s Danny Leroux contends, suggesting that the team should have dealt him before last season’s trade deadline. The scribe argues that the number of teams in playoff contention at the time, combined with Bledsoe’s age and reasonable contract, made February 2017 the right time to move him.
- Greg Moore of the Arizona Republic believes that GM Ryan McDonough can turn things around for the franchise, though it will take some time. The Suns are expected to be one of only a few teams with substantial cap room this summer and while Moore is hopeful that someone like LeBron James or DeMarcus Cousins decides to come to the team, he envisions Phoenix landing a player in the tier below them. He names DeAndre Jordan, Aaron Gordon, and Marcus Smart as possibilities.
- Tyson Chandler is expected to be back in the lineup on Wednesday after missing the last three games with an illness, Moore writes in a separate piece. Coach Jay Triano said he isn’t sure how he’ll handle the center rotation, with Greg Monroe, Alex Len and Chandler all vying for minutes. “I haven’t even thought about it,” Triano said. “I’ve got a couple of days to figure out the rotations.”
- The Northern Arizona Suns, the team’s G League affiliate, have added Earl Barron and Nick Friedman as assistant coaches, Chris Reichert of The Step Back reports (Twitter link). The club has also promoted Tyler Gatlin to associate head coach.