2. Shooting guard Devin Booker, Phoenix Suns
If you told me in March that the NBA would finish its season at Disney World and that the Phoenix Suns would be the best team in the eight seeding games, I’d think that you were using hallucinogens. There was very little expectation that any team would go 8-0 in the Orlando bubble after four months off, let alone the second-worst remaining team up to that point.
Alas, 2020 has been an unlikely year and Suns star Devin Booker was tired of waiting for his moment.
His shooting was streaky and the coaching staff deserves a ton of credit, but Phoenix would never come close to this record without Booker leading the way. The 23-year-old put up 30.5 points and six assists per game on 50.3 percent shooting in Orlando. There’s a perception by those who don’t know his game that he’s a 3-point specialist, but Booker’s skillset is way more complex than that.
Devin Booker in the Bubble:
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) August 13, 2020
27 PTS - 7 REB - 5 AST
35 PTS - 9 REB - 7 AST
35 PTS - 5 REB - 4 AST
35 PTS - 3 REB - 6 AST
20 PTS - 3 REB - 10 AST
35 PTS - 4 REB - 8 AST
30 PTS - 3 REB - 4 AST
27 PTS - 5 REB - 4 AST
Suns 8-0...Superstar pic.twitter.com/XS2t4r2dl3
Booker is a master of the forgotten zone of the modern game: The mid-range. He took and made more middies than any player through the eight seeding games, knocking them down at 56.8 percent. His mastery of the pick-and-roll has become increasingly valuable, adjusting to whatever coverage is thrown at him by attacking bigs and breaking down guards.
In the past, Booker was forced to isolate and buy a bucket for himself, but head coach Monty Williams has put him in a position to succeed. Using the “Point-Five” system inspired by the ghost of Spurs past, Williams has his players moving off the ball and making quick decisions in an up-tempo offense. Therefore, Booker is playing in a competent and helpful team set for the first time in his career and it’s paying off in boatloads.
Booker heard all of your criticisms about his “empty stats on a bad team” and used them as motivation. He’s the surefire leader of the only team to win-out in the Orlando bubble and now, he’s heading into the offseason knowing that there’ll be new expectations.
The 2020-21 season is going to be a very exciting one for one of the league’s best-kept secrets from the last five years.