Phoenix Suns: The pros and cons of starting Devin Booker at point guard

Con: The physical toll

Taking over ball-handling duties and operating with the rock in his hands is one thing, but being a full-time point guard is another entirely. Even if the Suns left Daniels on the bench, starting Jackson at the 2 and letting the rookie defend the opponent’s starting point guard, playing the 1 would take a tremendous toll on Booker.

Considering he’s already 27th in the league at 34.2 minutes per game, with a usage rating (30.6) that ranks ninth in the association, asking Devin Booker to do too much more, even for a 17-31 team, might be too much.

The physical toll of asking him to create for himself and for others at point guard seemed to be Triano’s concern when he first started experimenting with Booker at the 1.

"“I think teams were early in the year making it tough for him to get the ball, so if you give it to him right off the bat then he doesn’t have to work to get it,” Triano said. “At the same time, handling the ball and teams picking him up and trying to wear him down is something we have to be concerned about because we don’t want him getting worn down just to get the ball over half-court. It’s a fine line.”"

There’s no question the defense would suffer with Jackson attempting to guard stars like Russell Westbrook, Chris Paul or Damian Lillard out West, and even on the nights where Phoenix could get away with hiding Booker on a lesser backcourt threat, dealing with constant double-teams at the point of attack would take a lot out of him.

Phoenix’s offense is already bad enough with Booker averaging 24.8 points and 4.7 assists per game on .435/.376/.891 shooting splits. Forcing him to do more than that might borderline on unfair unless Triano were able to find the perfect rotation to spread the floor around him and make sure the bench drop-off isn’t too steep.