Phoenix Suns: 5 Takeaways From The Lost 2015-16 Season
1. Booker Is The Future
Eric Bledsoe is coming off another meniscus tear; Brandon Knight is injury-prone and flawed; Mirza Teletovic is a sixth man who might sign elsewhere; Tyson Chandler’s play rapidly dropped off after that four-year, $52 million signing; and Alex Len and T.J. Warren still have notable shortcomings in their games despite making progress this year.
And yet, even with the focus being on all these negatives, it’s hard to find a bad thing to say about Devin Booker.
As of right now, Book still has a lot of work to do on his game. He’s a bad defender, he still needs to fill out physically and his perimeter shooting drastically dropped off once he started earning regular minutes.
But for a 19-year-old rookie and the youngest player in the NBA, Booker’s 17.9 points, 3.5 assists and 3.1 rebounds per game since Bledsoe’s season-ending injury in December were pretty darn impressive.
On the season, Booker averaged 13.8 points, 2.6 assists and 2.5 rebounds per game on .423/.343/.840 shooting splits, but he was the efficient perimeter sharpshooter everyone was expecting in his more limited bench role to start the season.
Once injury and necessity thrust him into an expanded role as the team’s No. 1 option, the rookie wall and all that defensive attention accounted for the drop-off in efficiency.
Still, Booker put up a few eye-popping stat lines in a thoroughly impressive rookie campaign. He averaged 22.4 points and 4.9 assists per game in the month of March, reached the 30-point plateau five times and he became the fourth youngest player in NBA history — behind LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Kobe Bryant — to reach 1,000 points.
Even better, Booker has displayed poise, maturity and humility throughout his rise to prominence, making it easy for Suns fans to embrace him as the future of the franchise.
While Knight was busy downplaying the development of the younger players, Booker seemed eager to return next season with a full cast — even if it means being relegated back to bench duty.
"“I’m sure it won’t be as large of a role as I had post-All-Star break,” he said. “No one really has that role [that young], unless it’s like Kobe or LeBron. I know it won’t be that big of a role next year, especially with Eric and Brandon there. We’ll all be able to play off each other, so it’ll be really good.”"
In what should culminate in an All-Rookie First Team selection, Booker’s first NBA season was often the lone bright spot for Suns fans. He finished third in the Three-Point Shootout at All-Star Weekend, one-upped by only the NBA’s two best three-point shooters, Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson.
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He displayed an incredibly advanced knowledge in operating pick-and-rolls as the ball handler, showcased a knack for attacking the basket, knocked down a few big-time shots, earned the respect of his childhood hero Kobe Bryant and lit up a mostly sullen Talking Stick Resort Arena crowd every time one of his highly anticipated three-balls splashed through the net.
After making such a strong, immediate first impression, there will be the pressure of avoiding a sophomore slump heading into 2016-17, especially if the Suns bench/trade Knight to give him the starting job. But, as always, the maturity and future leadership of Devin Booker shone through those potential concerns.
“I’m eager for it, I’m ready for it,” he said. “I had those high expectations. Hopefully I do get acknowledged as one of those [All-Rookie First Team selections], but it’s just going to build on the pressure for me next year and when I say ‘pressure,’ it’s a good pressure to have — to have high expectations. That’s what I have and that’s the way I wanted it, so I can’t wait for next year.”
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Even in a lost season that began with playoff aspirations and ended with a grand total of 23 wins and four injured/traded players, the Phoenix Suns have got to love what they’ve seen in Devin Booker.