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Sunday morning, news came from the 21-year old Belgian himself that Vrenz Bleijenbergh (pronounced BLY-en-beargh) would be joining the Phoenix Suns summer league affiliate, the Summer Suns:
Super excited to announce I will be playing summer league with the Suns!
— Vrenz Bleijenbergh (@Vrenzzz) June 19, 2022
Step by step and always humble
Can’t wait to fly over to the states pic.twitter.com/ialTicvCBk
Bleijenbergh is a perimeter oriented wing that’s 6-foot-10, weighing 210 pounds, with a 7-foot-2 wingspan.
Background:
- undrafted in 2021.
- played in 14 games with Coosur Real Betis of the Spanish league Liga ACB in 2021-22; Liga ACB is widely considered the third best league in the world after the NBA and Euroleaugue; former Arizona State standout Shannon Evans led Real Betis in scoring with 17.4 points per game.
- spent a short stint of 2021-22 with the Windy City Bulls, Chicago’s G League affiliate; played only 12.8 total minutes with Windy City.
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Bleijenbergh profiles as a tall point guard. In his two European seasons, he put out assist to turnover ratios of 4:3 and 2:1, meaning he takes care of the ball well, and that height provides great advantages to him in that department.
Looking at the stats for his shot, it took a bit of a dip with Coosur Real Betis from previous Euro experience, shooting 37.5% on 4.8 attempts per game with Telenet Giants Antwerp in the EuroCup but just 20.6% on 2.4 attempts with Coosur Real Betis. The way he shoots it in Vegas will do a lot to determine whether he deserves that full NBA chance.
For a film breakdown, check out this great 15-minute video from Mike Schmitz a year ago. Schmitz, after working as a Suns blogger and more recently ESPN’s biggest draft analyst, is now transitioning to an assistant GM role with the Portland Trail Blazers, so you can trust his assessment:
Additional Summer League news will come in the following weeks, especially after Thursday’s draft, but Bleijenbergh wasn’t the first addition.
Iffe Lundberg is already planning on playing for the Suns in Vegas, following the flashes he showed for the team down the stretch of the regular season.
I’d like to see Ish Wainright play in Vegas as well, though to this point, there’s been no news on that front yet. Suns hold his restricted free agency rights for this summer, given a $1.6 million qualifying offer.
Suns will join the 29 other NBA teams in Vegas for the Summer League from July 7th through 17th. Rosters are expected about a week prior at the latest.
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