Phoenix Suns: 5 Silver Linings In A Lost Season
1. Booker
The prospect of a top-five pick makes the most sense long-term, but that fleeting, intangible concept hardly provides fans with an incentive to tune in on a nightly basis to watch the actual games. Until June arrives and the Suns are on the clock, rookie Devin Booker will continue to be Phoenix’s little ray of sunshine that helps make up for whatever the scoreboard reads.
At 19 years old, Booker is the youngest player in the NBA. But that hasn’t stopped him from somehow establishing himself as the Suns’ best shooter and perhaps their best overall offensive player.
Against the Indiana Pacers, Booker finished with a career high 32 points, giving him the NBA’s season high in scoring for any rookie.
It also placed him in the esteemed company of LeBron James and Kevin Durant, as he knocked down 9 of his 16 shot attempts, including 6-of-11 from three-point range.
Devin Booker (19 yrs, 81 days) is the 3rd-youngest player ever to have a 30-point game. He joins LeBron James & Kevin Durant. #SunsVsPacers
— Paul Coro (@paulcoro) January 20, 2016
On the season, Devin Booker is only averaging 9.2 points in 20.4 minutes per game. But he’s shooting an absurdly efficient 47.3 percent from the field, 42.7 percent from three-point range and 81.0 percent from the foul line. Booker has now scored in double figures in 12 of his last 14 games, averaging 16.0 points per game on .468/.356/.796 shooting splits in that span.
Booker has become the team’s starting shooting guard with Bledsoe out for the season, being thrust into a larger role than anyone could’ve expected heading into the season.
At this point, he literally can do no wrong. When he succeeds, he exceeds expectations and wins the fans over even more; on the rare occasions he disappoints, you can simply chalk it up to him being the youngest player in the NBA who will learn from his mistakes.
Devin Booker can sincerely do no wrong w/ me at this point. I checked the box score, saw he's 4/15 & thought "oh I'm glad he shot 15 times)
— Scott Howard (@ScottHoward42) January 24, 2016
With Devin Booker looking like a franchise cornerstone moving forward, perhaps this lost season is a blessing in disguise, providing this 19-year-old with invaluable experiences that will put him even further ahead of the NBA learning curve than he already is.
More hoops habit: NBA Power Rankings: Midseason Grades
The losses are hard to stomach, but every time Devin Booker launches one of those picturesque rainbow threes, every Suns fan in the Valley is more than willing to hop on and look for the pot of gold at the end of it.