The case for Pat Beverley
Like Teodosic, Pat Beverley is on an expiring contract. He’s only a year younger at 30, so it’s a bit debatable if he could be a long-term answer either. He also suffered a meniscus injury that kept him out of all but 11 games last year, so he’ll have a bit of work to do to return to form.
However, Beverley’s game is the perfect fit next to Booker’s. He’s an above-average shooter from deep, and he locks down opposing point guards.
Some pundits, including this author, have made comparisons between Booker and James Harden in the past. If Booker can model his game after his fellow defensively challenged combo guard, he too can be an MVP-caliber player someday.
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Beverley has already proven his ability to fit alongside Harden, back when both were members of the Houston Rockets. It doesn’t take any projection at all to see that he’d fit equally well with Book.
On offense, Beverley spotted up to allow Harden to dominate the ball, and when necessary, he was a secondary ball-handler in the offense. On defense, he locked down the other point guard and allowed Harden to cover the (usually worse) shooting guard.
Now, he’s not a perfect player. At 6’1″, he can’t usually cross-match to guard wings, which limits his overall defensive effectiveness. It also means he’s not as useful in a switch-heavy scheme.
He’s also not the passer or creator that Teodosic is. Starting him along with other one-dimensional players like Trevor Ariza and Ryan Anderson would put a very heavy burden on Booker to generate all the offense.
Of course, perhaps that could be a good thing as well. It would give Booker a trial-by-fire of sorts, and force him to become a distributor as well as a scorer. That’s what happened to Harden, and he turned out to be a superstar.
Surrounding Booker with high quality role players like Anderson, Ariza, and Beverley (who have all been regular starters for the Rockets in the past few years) would really make the Suns become Houston West. Even though Beverley may not be a perfect fit, he’s the best option here.