Phoenix Suns: 5 early observations from the Jay Triano era

1. Devin Booker making the leap

All summer long, the Devin Booker talk centered around what he needed to do to get better. This, despite Booker joining some elite scoring company before even turning 21 years old:

However, he hadn’t been much of an efficient scorer, he didn’t do much in the other areas of the game and his defense was unequivocally bad on a team looking to him to set the example.

With a 6’6″ frame, high basketball I.Q. and wingspan to be more respectable on that end, Booker’s defensive shortcomings were seen as the biggest obstruction to becoming more than just a high volume scorer.

Playmaking, defense and rebounding were the biggest areas of Booker’s game that needed to evolve for a potential breakout season, and so far, his 2017-18 season has been a slam dunk. Like, this kind of slam dunk:

You wanted more scoring and more efficiency out of Booker? So far this season, he’s averaging a team-high 22.1 points per game on 45.4 percent shooting from the field, 41.7 percent shooting from 3-point range and 87.9 percent from the foul line.

After Triano took over, those numbers leapt to 25.4 points per game on .484/.485/.958 shooting splits. His 34-6-6 game against the Blazers was followed up by a 32-7-4 performance in a win over his buddy D’Angelo Russell.

According to NBA.com, this made him the first Sun to record at least 30 points and six rebounds in consecutive road games since Amar’e Stoudemire.

Okay, so he can score. We all knew he’d assume that role based on the 70-point game alone. But what about the playmaking and rebounding?

Well, Booker is also averaging 5.6 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game through his first eight appearances, which represents a remarkable leap from the 3.2 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game he averaged last season.

His ball-handling looks as crisp as it ever has, which you can just ask Russell about:

His chemistry with Marquese Chriss in the pick-and-roll is worth keeping an eye on, as the two seem to be developing a good rapport when it comes to quickly finding the big man on his dives to the basket for easy alley-oops:

Not only that, but Book has shown substantial improvement on the defensive end. Watch him on most possessions and you’ll notice he’s consistently engaged, chasing ball-handlers around picks and following his man through off-ball screens as well:

It’s not just a matter of effort anymore either, as Booker is generally in the right position too.

"“I knew it was going to come with time,” he said after the win over Utah. “Obviously coming into the summer I knew defense, for me, is something I had to take seriously.”"

His effort hasn’t gone unnoticed by his head coach or his teammates, and it’s that exact kind of effort that signals an expanding leadership role for a kid who just earned the right to legally buy himself a beer.

Between his penchant for making clutch shots on off shooting nights, his improved efficiency, his swagger and his attention to detail in the three key areas he needed to improve, Devin Booker is having the ideal breakout season Suns fans were dreaming of.

Not all the credit goes to Jay Triano on this one, and again, these are exceedingly small sample sizes. The Suns could very well still finish with a bottom-five record just based on their inexperience alone.

Next: NBA Halloween - Playing trick-or-treat with early season trends

But the night-and-day difference in effort, competitiveness and fight is remarkable nonetheless, and as this complete look up and down the roster shows, it’s incredible how one head coaching change has suddenly turned #TheTimeline from a joke into something worth keeping an eye on.