Devin Booker

[mbsnmisc]

An aspect of Booker's game that a lot of people don't realize is that he is a surprisingly "bouncy" athlete. He is also quick. I was watching him last year and assumed he was an average or below average athlete. I was wrong.

He is a keeper.

[bhawk]

A quick look at the players who were drafted ahead of Booker...

http://www.nbadraft.net/nba_final_draft/2015

When he was drafted nobody saw this coming... why has he been successful when others have not? I think it is competitiveness, work ethic, love-of-the-game, skill, and under-rated athleticism.

[NTB]

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[gaspar]

Read on Twitter

[NTB]

Lol slightly late gaspar

[TKainZero]

A quick look at the players who were drafted ahead of Booker...

http://www.nbadraft.net/nba_final_draft/2015

When he was drafted nobody saw this coming... why has he been successful when others have not? I think it is competitiveness, work ethic, love-of-the-game, skill, and under-rated athleticism.

And to think...
He was the 4th Kentucky player drafted in that draft!!!!

Not only did a dozen guys go before him, so did more than half the dudes he started with!!!

[nevetsov]

A quick look at the players who were drafted ahead of Booker...

http://www.nbadraft.net/nba_final_draft/2015

When he was drafted nobody saw this coming... why has he been successful when others have not? I think it is competitiveness, work ethic, love-of-the-game, skill, and under-rated athleticism.

And to think...
He was the 4th Kentucky player drafted in that draft!!!!

Not only did a dozen guys go before him, so did more than half the dudes he started with!!!

I didn't think Book started at Kentucky...?

[Damkac]

That's probably why he was drafted so low.

[NTB]

I was waiting for this Mike Korzemba video.

Watch on YouTube

[jcsunsfan]

I was waiting for this Mike Korzemba video.

Watch on YouTube

boy. this dude loves Booker.

Hey Devin. Kobe was a top defender. Put that on your list of goals and then we will talk about becoming Kobe.

[Mulhollanddrive]

How do we find the next guy with Booker's mentality, even in his draft interviews he just talks differently compared to other players, he sounds like the basketball terminator.

[GMATCallahan]

The difference between Kobe, MJ, Hakeem, etc.

Defense.

Booker has to step up that part of his game.

If Devin Booker reaches the level of, say, Reggie Miller or Allan Houston (or, heck, Jeff Malone or Rolando Blackman), I would be more than satisfied. Just because he scored 70 in a game does not mean that he is going to be analogous to Jordan, Olajuwon, or even Bryant (not that you are necessarily saying that; I am just making a point). Truth be told, even after his phenomenal performance versus the Celtics, Booker is still shooting under .450 from the field on two-point field goal attempts, which is not good, especially since he is a high-volume three-point shooter. His passing also needs to become much more consistent, to say nothing of his defense.

Of course, given his age, one has to like Booker's chances of improving in all these areas, although he lacks the athletic tools to dominate on defense like the players that you mentioned. (Not that Bryant, or almost any major offensive guard outside of Jordan, actually dominated on defense on a perennial basis.)

Booker and Chriss give the Suns a promising foundation moving forward. Now they need to draft well this June, see what they have in Bender next year, and decide how to move forward at point guard and center.

For now, I think that Jeff Malone is a good model for Booker to aspire to. Given the different era, Malone did not really use the three-point shot (0.4 attempts per game), but despite modest athleticism, he constituted a pure-shooting scoring machine who made multiple All-Star Games in Washington and then went to Utah later in his career and helped the Karl Malone/John Stockton Jazz improve in the playoffs, beating the (banged up) Suns in 1991 and reaching the Western Conference Finals in 1992.

(Then, when Utah swapped J. Malone for Jeff Hornacek in February 1994, the Jazz became even better.)

But see how Malone shot .489 for his career on two-point field goal attempts (.492 if you throw out his rookie season and his final season) despite obviously shooting a fair amount of long two-pointers because he hardly ever attempted a three.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/m/malonje01.html

First and foremost, two-point field goal percentage is where Booker needs to improve his consistency.

Watch on YouTube

http://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/198901060WSB.html

If one views the video, one will see how much Malone moves off the basketball to help free himself for opportunities. Booker is a better ball handler than Malone and most shooting guards of that era, but if he can work on moving without the ball and using down screens more often in order to become more efficient, that two-point field goal percentage could rise.

When the Suns traded for Kevin Johnson in February 1988, Jeff Hornacek had mainly been a point guard for Phoenix. With Johnson's presence, Hornacek became a guy who primarily played off the basketball, running off down screens for curling catch-and-shoot jumpers (or drives) from eighteen-to-twenty feet, and he became a master at that play. As K.J. stated last year:

Jeff’s improvement coming off the screen, catching and shooting improved year after year.

http://nypost.com/2016/05/26/ex-teammate-jeff-hornacek-makes-perfect-sense-for-knicks/

At the same time, Hornacek's ball-handling skills made him more versatile offensively than most other pure-stroke shooting guards of his era—including Jeff Malone. Joe Dumars in Detroit was much the same way: really dangerous with and without the basketball. (Scarily enough, the same was true of Michael Jordan.)

[NTB]

GMAT you are making me sad.

[GMATCallahan]

How do we find the next guy with Booker's mentality, even in his draft interviews he just talks differently compared to other players, he sounds like the basketball terminator.

The fact that his father played professionally (briefly in the NBA) made a big difference, I am sure. Think about it: Kobe Bryant was basically the same way.

Or consider, say, Barry Bonds and Darryl Strawberry in baseball.

Bonds: son of a three-time All-Star outfielder (Bobby Bonds), godson of arguably the greatest all-around player ever (Willie Mays), middle-class upbringing, programmed for success, will destroy or ignore anything in his way.

Strawberry: grew up in Crenshaw, sensitive, bothered by criticism, likes to please, constantly succumbs to (recreational) drugs in New York and his native Los Angeles.

Obviously, not everything is that simple, but as a baseball player, you would rather have Barry Bonds' or Ken Griffey Jr.'s (also the son of a three-time All-Star outfielder) upbringing rather than Darryl Strawberry's. As a basketball player, you would rather have Devin Booker's upbringing rather than, say, Richard Dumas' background.

[sunsbum]

Bottom line for me, I don't need a bunch of basketball armchair GM's to back up my feelings on Devin Booker when Kobe Bryant is shouting his praises from the rooftop.

[bwgood77]

The difference between Kobe, MJ, Hakeem, etc.

Defense.

Booker has to step up that part of his game.

If Devin Booker reaches the level of, say, Reggie Miller or Allan Houston (or, heck, Jeff Malone or Rolando Blackman), I would be more than satisfied. Just because he scored 70 in a game does not mean that he is going to be analogous to Jordan, Olajuwon, or even Bryant (not that you are necessarily saying that; I am just making a point). Truth be told, even after his phenomenal performance versus the Celtics, Booker is still shooting under .450 from the field on two-point field goal attempts, which is not good, especially since he is a high-volume three-point shooter. His passing also needs to become much more consistent, to say nothing of his defense.

Of course, given his age, one has to like Booker's chances of improving in all these areas, although he lacks the athletic tools to dominate on defense like the players that you mentioned. (Not that Bryant, or almost any major offensive guard outside of Jordan, actually dominated on defense on a perennial basis.)

Booker and Chriss give the Suns a promising foundation moving forward. Now they need to draft well this June, see what they have in Bender next year, and decide how to move forward at point guard and center.

For now, I think that Jeff Malone is a good model for Booker to aspire to. Given the different era, Malone did not really use the three-point shot (0.4 attempts per game), but despite modest athleticism, he constituted a pure-shooting scoring machine who made multiple All-Star Games in Washington and then went to Utah later in his career and helped the Karl Malone/John Stockton Jazz improve in the playoffs, beating the (banged up) Suns in 1991 and reaching the Western Conference Finals in 1992.

(Then, when Utah swapped J. Malone for Jeff Hornacek in February 1994, the Jazz became even better.)

But see how Malone shot .489 for his career on two-point field goal attempts (.492 if you throw out his rookie season and his final season) despite obviously shooting a fair amount of long two-pointers because he hardly ever attempted a three.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/m/malonje01.html

First and foremost, two-point field goal percentage is where Booker needs to improve his consistency.

Watch on YouTube

http://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/198901060WSB.html

If one views the video, one will see how much Malone moves off the basketball to help free himself for opportunities. Booker is a better ball handler than Malone and most shooting guards of that era, but if he can work on moving without the ball and using down screens more often in order to become more efficient, that two-point field goal percentage could rise.

When the Suns traded for Kevin Johnson in February 1988, Jeff Hornacek had mainly been a point guard for Phoenix. With Johnson's presence, Hornacek became a guy who primarily played off the basketball, running off down screens for curling catch-and-shoot jumpers (or drives) from eighteen-to-twenty feet, and he became a master at that play. As K.J. stated last year:

Jeff’s improvement coming off the screen, catching and shooting improved year after year.

http://nypost.com/2016/05/26/ex-teammate-jeff-hornacek-makes-perfect-sense-for-knicks/

At the same time, Hornacek's ball-handling skills made him more versatile offensively than most other pure-stroke shooting guards of his era—including Jeff Malone. Joe Dumars in Detroit was much the same way: really dangerous with and without the basketball. (Scarily enough, the same was true of Michael Jordan.)

70 points is a phenomenal achievement, but those types of games are feeding the guy who gets hot. But no matter how you think about it, at 20 years old, it's great. Even if it was just 59.

But what scares me about how much he is overhyped, is that he may not focus on improving his defense. Sure, great players don't play great defense, like Harden for example, but expectations should be in check.

I do think the sky is the limit for Booker and I won't put a ceiling on where he can go, but I hope he doesn't consider himself as a finished prospect or a guy who already has it all (I don't think he will, for the record), but some of thoe players mentioned were very good players.

I love the positivity, buzz and atmosphere here though, and I hope it continues and Booker becomes great defensively, more consistent, cuts down the turnovers and works hard to improve these areas. He is still very young, and I think there is a good chance he will, but you never know where a guy's head is at and if he thinks he still needs to REALLY put in work on the defensive end to become truly special.

[GMATCallahan]

70 points is a phenomenal achievement, but those types of games are feeding the guy who gets hot. But no matter how you think about it, at 20 years old, it's great. Even if it was just 59.

But what scares me about how much he is overhyped, is that he may not focus on improving his defense. Sure, great players don't play great defense, like Harden for example, but expectations should be in check.

I do think the sky is the limit for Booker and I won't put a ceiling on where he can go, but I hope he doesn't consider himself as a finished prospect or a guy who already has it all (I don't think he will, for the record), but some of thoe players mentioned were very good players.

I love the positivity, buzz and atmosphere here though, and I hope it continues and Booker becomes great defensively, more consistent, cuts down the turnovers and works hard to improve these areas. He is still very young, and I think there is a good chance he will, but you never know where a guy's head is at and if he thinks he still needs to REALLY put in work on the defensive end to become truly special.

I understand what you mean, but I feel that Booker is level-headed enough where he will improve in these areas—his assists-to-turnover ratio, which is pretty poor for a guard right now, will improve; he will become smarter defensively; his two-point field goal percentage should surpass .450, and so forth. But the question is what his upside will be—is he essentially a 3-rebound/3-assist-type of guy, like some of the shooting guards that I cited, or can he be a 5-rebound/5-assist-type of guy, like Hornacek? Booker has the ball-handling skills to create, so I would certainly not dismiss the latter prospect, but I am not sure. Can Booker become analogous to Jeff Malone—another shooting guard without much explosiveness or power who nonetheless managed to shoot a very good percentage on two-point field goal attempts? If Malone could do it, then Booker should be able to do it—but he has a long way to go.

I am pretty sure that Booker will never be an All-Defensive type of player (regardless of whether he receives the honor). Obviously, I could be wrong, but while Booker does feature some deceptive quickness, at times flashes a dynamic standstill first step, and can generate serious downhill momentum once he gets going (kind of like Jeremy Lin), he does not bring any major athletic or physical advantages to the floor. Listed at 6'6", he is probably much closer to 6'4", and he does not possess great agility or strength. As I wrote several weeks ago, his actions and fakes are sometimes reminiscent of Larry Bird, and you saw that attribute against the Celtics. But on defense, trickery will only get you so far. And of course, he is not going to focus on defense or reserve his energy for that side of the court like a Bruce Bowen-type specialist.

Of course, Booker does not need to become an elite defender. Rather, he needs to improve from his current standing as the ninetieth best defender among ninety-nine shooting guards according to Real Defensive Plus-Minus.

http://www.espn.com/nba/statistics/rpm/_/page/3/sort/DRPM/position/2

[Zelaznyrules]

Bottom line for me, I don't need a bunch of basketball armchair GM's to back up my feelings on Devin Booker when Kobe Bryant is shouting his praises from the rooftop.

Yeah, I agree. We all have our own opinions but I find far more substance in the comments from Kobe and Wade not to mention Tyson Chandler who predicted that he'll be a top 10 scorer all time if he stays healthy.

[bwgood77]

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[King4Day]

Can't recall where I found this but apologies if someone posted it and I stole it from you .

http://www.espn.com/video/clip?id=19011240&sf65969335=1