Phoenix Suns: Is Gary Harris better than Devin Booker?

Defense

It’s a bit reductionist to boil defense down to just one slide after expanding on offense so much, and while defense is probably less important than offense (at least if you ask Jabari Parker), it’s still deserves more than one slide.

As such, we’ll separate it into two slides, but the latter is far more important than the first.

For the sake of argument, let’s say there’s three main components of defense: perimeter defense, post defense/rim protection, and rebounding. Two of the three don’t really matter a ton here and are quickly summarized, and that’s why we’ll put these two on their own slide.

In terms of rim protection, neither player really ever does that. Booker averages 0.3 blocks a game for the Phoenix Suns, Harris averages 0.2. Woof. The difference is negligible.

It is probably worth noting that the extra two inches Booker has on Harris probably make him slightly more switchable and therefore better if mismatched against bigs down low, but still, let’s just call this a wash.

Rebounding is of some importance, even for guards, but it is too easy to analyze to deserve it’s own slide. Booker averaged 4.5 rebounds while Harris averaged 2.6, despite the fact that Harris actually spent much more time as a small forward than Booker did.

Booker is the better rebounder.

Again, no one would really say these are major arguments for or against a player, but in order to do a holistic comparison, everything must be mentioned.

Rim protection and rebounding edge: Slightly Devin Booker