Phoenix Suns: 5 Early Season Takeaways

1. Booker Adjusting To Being A Franchise Player

Eric Bledsoe’s return, Brandon Knight’s adjustment to sixth man duty, Jared Dudley’s role as mentor, Alex Len’s contract year, T.J. Warren’s hot start and the new rookies have all been Suns storylines to keep an eye on early in 2016-17. But let’s be honest: Devin Booker is really the reason to watch this team night in and night out.

After such a remarkable rookie year that earned him verbal and non-verbal compliments from the likes of Dwyane Wade, LeBron James, the USA Basketball Select Team and Drake, Booker’s early numbers would indicate to the outside world that a sophomore slump is coming.

Fortunately, as off as he’s looked at times early in 2016-17, that’s not the entire story.

Through 15 games, Booker is leading Phoenix in scoring with 19.9 points per game, but he’s shot only 41.9 percent from the floor and 32.9 percent from three-point range. Keep in mind, the 13th overall pick in last year’s draft was supposed to be the best shooter in his rookie class.

More from Hoops Habit

• The 5 most dominant NBA players who never won a championship
• 7 Players the Miami Heat might replace Herro with by the trade deadline
• Meet Cooper Flagg: The best American prospect since LeBron James
• Are the Miami Heat laying the groundwork for their next super team?
• Sophomore Jump: 5 second-year NBA players bound to breakout

But even if Booker’s long range efficiency has been surprisingly underwhelming, the couple of rough nights he had early in the season could be attributed to the toe injury he was playing through, aside from the obvious fact that he’s only 20 freaking years old and his head coach is not exactly putting him in position to succeed with easy looks.

Booker is rapidly becoming a dangerous post-up option thanks to his 6’7″ frame and footwork/shot release that’s growing eerily reminiscent of Kobe.

Games like his clutch 38-point performance in an overtime win over the Pelicans, a 39-point outing the following game in Los Angeles, and another 30-point night in Washington on Monday show just how advanced he is for his age. It’s only a matter of time before he’s an elite scorer in this league, but it’s not going to happen overnight either.

There will still be growing pains, such as his 5-for-18 shooting night in a loss to Brooklyn, his 6-for-18 performance in a loss to the Warriors and his 4-for-13 outing in a loss to the lowly Sixers.

But those struggles are to be expected from a 20-year-old growing accustomed to being a full-time starter and trying to fill some pretty big shoes as the next savior of the franchise.

Next: 2016-17 NBA Power Rankings: Week 5

As long as he continues to stay healthy, string together big-time performances with a little more consistency and, most important of all, put in more effort on the defensive end, Booker will be just fine in the long run — even if the outside world makes the mistake of calling this a “sophomore slump.”