azcentral sports Tue Jan 21, 2014 11:44 AM

Forty-five NBA rookies have played more minutes than Alex Len.

Rookie big men Steven Adams, Cody Zeller, Kelly Olynyk and Mason Plumlee have benefited from larger roles and better health.

In a rush-to-judgment scenario, Len has made the least-applicable rookie case to do so. He is 20 years old. He had two off-season ankle injuries. He missed NBA Summer League and almost two months of the regular season due to rehabilitation or setbacks.

Validation for the Suns’ investment of a No. 5 pick in Len comes down the road and around a few turns.

Len was a sputtering car in his first four NBA appearances, starting and stopping twice through lingering pain in November. He found another gear Sunday night.

A game after rookie point guard Shane Larkin was the difference in Dallas beating Phoenix, Len made a difference in Sunday night’s win over Denver with his best game for points (nine) and rebounds (six). In his eighth consecutive appearance, the 7-foot-1 Ukrainian gave a flash of where his game could be headed.

Able to move free of ankle issues, Len covered the floor like a deer with long, quick strides. He sprinted to guards to set screens and rolled hard with his hands ready. He actively showed to opposing drivers in pick-and-roll defense. He crashed the offensive boards, using his long reach to slap loose balls out to teammates.

Just wait until he actually gets some practice time, something the Suns have not been able to do much since Len got healthy.

“I don’t want to give a secret away, but he’s freaking tall as (expletive),” power forward Channing Frye said. “He is so long and tall that he’s really another addition to our team that’s really big. I think Alex, eventually, once he gets things going, can play the four (power forward). I think you are seeing kind of simple Alex. We just ask him to rebound, roll to the front of the rim, block some shots and play defense. He is extremely talented, and I see why they picked him five. He is just going to be another piece of that bench that is already big for us.”

Len has shooting range for pick-and-pop potential. He has the agility, as a former gymnast, and the quickness for pick-and-rolls once he gets stronger to catch and finish in lane traffic.

In the weight room and on the practice court, Len has shown the work ethic that he promised upon arrival in June, when General Manager Ryan McDonough said “the sky’s the limit” for him.

The Suns outscored the Nuggets 45-30 in the time Len played Sunday. He is not polished, mature or sturdy enough for a major impact, but coach Jeff Hornacek has showed the patience and trust to allow Len to grow into a rotation role for this season’s playoff chase. Already, Len’s length and rebounding focus can help.

He has shown some bite, whether it was saying he respected Nick Young’s retaliation for Len’s flagrant foul last week or popping up to retaliate when he received a flagrant foul Sunday.

Len is hungry to learn, but his on-court development was stunted when he could not work with assistant coaches Mark West and Kenny Gattison because his troublesome left ankle needed rest. Instead, he attacked the weight room like he does the boards with daily sessions for two months.

“How hard he works,” power forward Markieff Morris said of what impresses him about Len. “He’s young and ready to play now.”

When he received chances to play, Len has grabbed 17.3 rebounds per 48 minutes, a rate second only to Utah’s Rudy Gobert among 2013 first-round picks. Len’s 2.3 blocks per 48 minutes is 10th among rookies.

Len’s size puts his defense ahead of his offense, but the scoring potential for a skilled, mobile big man with touch is boundless. Consider that he got a late start in basketball as a teenager and spent one of his two college years at Maryland adapting to a new culture and language.

Yet, he looks natural when he shoots over 7-1 Timofey Mozgov inside for a score, follows a driving guard to slam back his miss or closes Sunday’s game by catching a roll pass high and slamming it seemingly off his toes.

“As we move forward, when he’s going to really be good, is that pick-and-roll to the basket,” Hornacek said. “You can just kind of throw it up by the basket and he just catches it, and he doesn’t even bend and can lay it in or dunk it.

“To get a guy that size and that mobile is good to have, realizing that he’s just starting to play the game at this level and he’s just going to get better and better.”

The Heat Index can be reached at paul.coro@arizonarepublic.com or (602) 444-2470. Follow him on Twitter @paulcoro.