Phoenix Suns: Devin Booker proving he’s more than just a scorer
Devin Booker’s critics were quick to point out his flaws through his first two seasons with the Phoenix Suns. In Year 3, they’re running out of material fast.
Devin Booker may have been the fourth-youngest player in NBA history to reach 3,000 career points, he may have been the youngest player to ever score 70 points in a single game and he may have been on a scoring pace matched only by greats like LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Carmelo Anthony, but through his first two years in the league with the Phoenix Suns, there was still plenty to criticize.
Devin Booker is a horrible defender. Devin Booker doesn’t make his teammates better. Devin Booker is just an inefficient scorer.
Those things were arguably true through his sophomore season. In Year 3, those critics are running out of material, and fast.
True enough, the Suns are an unimpressive 5-9. Two routs by 42+ points through their first three games got head coach Earl Watson fired, and there are some nights where Booker still looks like a 21-year-old in a grown man’s game.
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But here in his third season, the newly minted 21-year-old is making great strides to address the biggest — and oft-publicized — flaws in his game.
Devin Booker is a horrible defender? Though his defensive rating of 108 isn’t pretty, the Suns’ defense has actually been 4.8 points per 100 possessions stingier with him on the floor this year, and games like Saturday — where his positioning and effort where clearly visible as he held Jimmy Butler to 5-of-17 shooting — are becoming more common.
Devin Booker doesn’t make his teammates better? With only a Summer League standout and a second-year point guard to look to at the 1-spot, Book has assumed more playmaking and pick-and-roll duties than ever, and his 4.0 assists per game — a solid increase from his 3.4 assists per game last year — don’t even tell the full story.
Devin Booker is just an inefficient scorer? How does 22.3 points per game on improved shooting splits of .448/.366/.904 sound? Or a career-high 5.2 free throw attempts per game?
The scary thing is, thanks to a couple of stinkers here and there in a small 15-game sample size — most of which involved late-game gunning to try and jumpstart Phoenix’s heart back into contests that were already over — have hurt his percentages.
Booker is also pulling down 4.9 rebounds per game, he’s taking pride on the defensive end despite still being prone to the occasional mental lapse, and he’s starting to assume the role of a more complete player to answer the Suns’ seven-year call for a franchise savior.
In their best win of the season against the Minnesota Timberwolves Saturday night, the Suns trailed 103-97 with 4:46 to go. From there, Booker simply took over on both ends. Following a T.J. Warren bucket to pull Phoenix within four, Book nailed a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to one.
He helped the Suns restore the lead when the team came up with a steal and Booker found Warren ahead of the pack in for an easy dunk in transition.
Following a turnover from Butler, Booker expertly weaved his way through the pick-and-roll for a cruel pull-up jumper from his comfort zone in the mid-range. That had the Suns up by three with 2:51 to play, but he wasn’t done yet.
On the next possession, Jeff Teague came away with a demoralizing offensive rebound right when Phoenix was ready to close out a defensive stop. But Booker played tight on-ball defense on Jimmy Buckets, forcing him into a last second heave from 30 feet that had no chance.
"“I think the biggest thing that we’ve been preaching is how well he defends,” interim coach Jay Triano said. “Again, tough matchup for him tonight, and I thought he did a real good job. He’s been buying in at the defensive end. He’s had a couple games where he wasn’t quite as good, but tonight he was right back on track, and that’s how we go. He leads us at both ends of the floor.”"
Warren got the rebound off that Butler miss, Tyler Ulis redeemed his turnover on the play by stealing the ball back from Teague, and at the end of the possession, Booker put his team up five with 1:25 to go on a gorgeous floater.
After a 3-point miss from Karl-Anthony Towns, Booker iced the game by zipping a perfect pass to Marquese Chriss in the corner for the dagger 3. He finished the game with 35 points, nine rebounds and six assists, all while shooting 13-of-22 from the field and 5-of-9 from the foul line.
Considering he put up a 35-9-6 stat line, all while playing 39 minutes and hounding Butler on the defensive end, it may have been one of the more complete games of Booker’s young career.
"“He’s such a gifted player, we’re just trying to create different ways for him to have the ball,” Triano said. “We know he’s good enough to make plays for other people, he’s good enough to score.”"
This isn’t the first well-rounded game he’s had this season, however. He dropped 30 points and six dimes on the Miami Heat, though he didn’t shoot the ball well that night.
Booker also finished with 34 points on 10-of-19 shooting in a loss to the surging New York Knicks, notched a 34-7-4 line in a win over the Brooklyn Nets and racked up a 34-6-6 line in a competitive loss to the Portland Trail Blazers.
Oh, and he was also two assists shy of a triple-double in that embarrassing loss to the Los Angeles Lakers.
By now, the critics’ ears have perked back up. Sure he’s putting up better numbers across the board, but his team is still losing!
Well, yeah. Duh. Have you seen the talent in Phoenix right now? Booker just turned 21 years old and the rest of the starting lineup consists of T.J. Warren, a 20-year-old power forward who can’t stop fouling, a 35-year-old Tyson Chandler and either a point guard on a two-way contract or a 21-year-old in his second year in the league. Of course they’re not winning games yet.
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The truth is, the Suns need Warren to provide a secondary scoring punch, they need a legitimate starting point guard (Luka Doncic, anyone?), they need Marquese Chriss and Dragan Bender to grow into their supporting roles and they need Josh Jackson to be a two-way stud.
Criticizing Devin Booker for not carrying this young team basically amounts to criticizing him for not being a LeBron James or a Kevin Durant; there’s only been a select few players in NBA history who were capable of carrying their teams to victory at such a young age.
However, even as his supporting cast experiences its growing pains in 2017-18, Booker is already showing signs of making the leap in Year 3.
His numbers will take a hit in garbage time losses, he’s not a lockdown defender by any means and he’s not going to be the next 2-guard to make a revolutionary James Harden-type switch to point guard.
Booker also won’t be truly viewed as elite until he establishes himself as a two-way player capable of carrying his team to wins against good teams when the Suns need it most.
That’s perfectly fine. That’s how all NBA superstars should be judged.
Next: Phoenix Suns - The good and bad of Josh Jackson so far
But then again, even if it was only one result in another losing season, isn’t that kind of what Devin Booker did with his Saturday night?