Phoenix Suns: Devin Booker, The Rookie Everyone’s Overlooking

Driving

Booker is a tremendous spot-up shooter, but he’s not a one-dimensional player by any means. Making 17 of his first 23 three-point attempts obviously boosts his field goal percentage, but it’s worth mentioning that Booker has converted 22 of his 35 attempts at the basket (62.9 percent) — an impressive percentage for any player, let alone a rookie.

With a 6’6″ frame, a quick first step and surprising strength attacking rim protectors, Booker is not afraid to put the ball on the floor. That’s a particularly useful trait for a player who can capitalize on defenders frantically trying to recover to him on the perimeter.

“When you’re a shooter, you don’t get open looks,” Hornacek said. “As he was growing up going through high school and even the one year at Kentucky, guys are gonna try to run him off there so you learn how to drive it. Again, he’s smart, so we figured he would know how to mix it up.”

Booker ranks fifth among all rookies in field goal percentage at 54.2 percent, and all four players ahead of him are frontcourt bigs who have attempted far fewer shots. Booker knows his role, and he has a terrific sense of when to shoot from deep, when to drive and when to pull up. Hornacek says that in addition to his developing floater, Booker is an underrated passer as well.

“He’s poised and he doesn’t play at a panicked speed out there; if he’s got the shot, he takes it, if he’s got a drive he’ll drive it, if he’s got a pass, he makes a pass,” he said. “[In the Chicago game] he made some great passes to I think Alex [Len] and Jon [Leuer] coming off the screen, just a little drop pass for those guys to get an easy layup. It’s just making the simple little game plays.”

Next: Defense