Phoenix Suns: Is Gary Harris better than Devin Booker?
By Luke Swiatek
Off-ball movement and finishing
One needn’t watch a lot of the Denver Nuggets and Phoenix Suns to see who looks like the better cutter and finisher — it’s Gary Harris. As someone who’s not usually the primary playmaker for his team, he has a bit more freedom than Devin Booker does.
Harris is a good shooter who needs to be guarded all the way out to the 3-point line, but that doesn’t mean defenders can rest easy. If they get caught ball watching, Harris will cut backdoor and get a nice easy basket at the rim.
He always knows where to be and his chemistry with Nikola Jokic has made for some downright beautiful assists.
Harris also is a better finisher in close to the basket. Within three feet of the rim, he shots a fantastic 71.8 percent, while Booker’s 61.1 percent is pretty mediocre.
A bit of this discrepancy may be due to Harris getting more assists as previously mentioned, but it’s a significant difference either way.
To be clear, Devin Booker’s off-ball movement is not bad, not at all. Sometimes he looks like J.J. Redick curling around screens, as can Harris.
However, since Booker usually has the ball himself, he doesn’t get the opportunity to cut backdoor or run as many pindowns as he might otherwise do on a better team.
Regardless of that caveat though, there’s still a clear winner here.
Off-ball movement and finishing edge: Gary Harris