Devin Booker

PackersSunsRoma · Post #981 » by **PackersSunsRoma** » Sat Dec 31, 2016 12:33 am

Booker will be alright. I'm not worried but I'm not expecting him to be a superstar either but he'll get to be an All Star someday.

Frank Lee · Post #982 » by **Frank Lee** » Sat Dec 31, 2016 12:51 am

Booker is playing on a stinky team. He is developing a chucker mentality to offset the chucking going on around him. You can see it when he just decides he is going to get 'his'. He forces things. Seems like it's usually in the third quarter when he has seen about enough of Knight, Bled, and Barbs doing their ISO thing.

I'm not worried about his % regression, as it seems like it is a biproduct of the over all poor play. Losing is taking its toll. Nobody looks like they are having fun.

carey · Post #983 » by **carey** » Sat Dec 31, 2016 1:54 am

Frank Lee wrote:Booker is playing on a stinky team. He is developing a chucker mentality to offset the chucking going on around him. You can see it when he just decides he is going to get 'his'. He forces things. Seems like it's usually in the third quarter when he has seen about enough of Knight, Bled, and Barbs doing their ISO thing.

I'm not worried about his % regression, as it seems like it is a biproduct of the over all poor play. Losing is taking its toll. Nobody looks like they are having fun.

He is on a stinky team. I'm also not sure he's regressing in so much as I don't think he's improving like we hoped he would.

Below are his stats as a starter last year compared to his stats as a starter this year. Nearly identical across the board except for a slight uptick in 3P% and a slight downtick in FT%. Conclusion? He just needs time and he'll likely break out in his 3rd year like most stars seem to.

2015-16 - 34.1 Min, .412 FG%, .302 3P%, .850 FT%, 17.4 Pts, 3.0 Reb, 3.5 Ast
2016-17 - 33.1 Min, .411 FG%, .329 3P%, .816 FT%, 19.2 Pts, 2.9 Reb, 3.2 Ast

Bogyo · Post #984 » by **Bogyo** » Sat Dec 31, 2016 8:36 am

carey wrote:
Frank Lee wrote:Booker is playing on a stinky team. He is developing a chucker mentality to offset the chucking going on around him. You can see it when he just decides he is going to get 'his'. He forces things. Seems like it's usually in the third quarter when he has seen about enough of Knight, Bled, and Barbs doing their ISO thing.

I'm not worried about his % regression, as it seems like it is a biproduct of the over all poor play. Losing is taking its toll. Nobody looks like they are having fun.

He is on a stinky team. I'm also not sure he's regressing in so much as I don't think he's improving like we hoped he would.

Below are his stats as a starter last year compared to his stats as a starter this year. Nearly identical across the board except for a slight uptick in 3P% and a slight downtick in FT%. Conclusion? He just needs time and he'll likely break out in his 3rd year like most stars seem to.

2015-16 - 34.1 Min, .412 FG%, .302 3P%, .850 FT%, 17.4 Pts, 3.0 Reb, 3.5 Ast
2016-17 - 33.1 Min, .411 FG%, .329 3P%, .816 FT%, 19.2 Pts, 2.9 Reb, 3.2 Ast

Especially if we have another reliable scorer (heck, this could even be TJ if healthy and improves a bit), and a better distributor.
If we have some inside scoring (Chriss? Bender?) it s all gona be gravy.

garrick · Post #985 » by **garrick** » Sat Dec 31, 2016 12:15 pm

I just watched the last game versus Toronto and yes he did take a log of tough mid range shots which hurt his percentage, the thing is though with our crappy offense if he just camped out at the 3 point line how effective would he be?

He definitely does need to get stronger as is often out muscled and he looks like he has to work extra hard to get his shots which is probably one reason he bricks his shots so often, still he is very young and it would be foolish to expect too much out of him so soon.

GMATCallahan · Post #986 » by **GMATCallahan** » Sat Dec 31, 2016 11:37 pm

Frank Lee wrote:Booker is playing on a stinky team. He is developing a chucker mentality to offset the chucking going on around him. You can see it when he just decides he is going to get 'his'. He forces things. Seems like it's usually in the third quarter when he has seen about enough of Knight, Bled, and Barbs doing their ISO thing.

I'm not worried about his % regression, as it seems like it is a biproduct of the over all poor play. Losing is taking its toll. Nobody looks like they are having fun.

... yeah, but Booker was basically doing the same thing last season as a starter (I have shown how his numbers as a starter this season and last season are almost identical, especially in terms of shooting, and carey just showed them again), when Bledsoe and Knight were injured and Barbosa was on Golden State's roster. Of course, when Booker was playing with Archie Goodwin and whomever, Phoenix did not possess many other options.

Booker may just have too much of an "If I can take it, I can make it" self-assured mentality. Hopefully he will become more discerning and disciplined in time.

LacosteM · Post #987 » by **LacosteM** » Sun Jan 1, 2017 1:13 pm

I sincerely hope Watson let him know how idiotic his alterfication with Gobert was, even if they both got technicals. You simply don't throw the basketball at an opposing player with 30 secs left in the game... That's just low basketball iq.

Post #988 » by **Qwigglez** » Sun Jan 1, 2017 1:36 pm

LacosteM wrote:I sincerely hope Watson let him know how idiotic his alterfication with Gobert was, even if they both got technicals. You simply don't throw the basketball at an opposing player with 30 secs left in the game... That's just low basketball iq.

Watson "In the grand scheme of things everyone in the NBA is family so we shouldn't fight with family."

Damkac · Post #989 » by **Damkac** » Sun Jan 1, 2017 9:16 pm

I wish he would be passing more. He got high bb iq and nice vision but he prefers to play in Kobe Mode.

thamadkant · Post #990 » by **thamadkant** » Mon Jan 2, 2017 12:59 am

Frank Lee wrote:Booker is playing on a stinky team. He is developing a chucker mentality to offset the chucking going on around him. You can see it when he just decides he is going to get 'his'. He forces things. Seems like it's usually in the third quarter when he has seen about enough of Knight, Bled, and Barbs doing their ISO thing.

I'm not worried about his % regression, as it seems like it is a biproduct of the over all poor play. Losing is taking its toll. Nobody looks like they are having fun.

Agreed.

As I mentioned, this team has veterans worried about box scores and looking good individually.

Booker has adopted that "I'm getting my 20 points win or lose" mentality... He learned that from Bledsoe and Knight.

Chriss... A high potential player who is highly impressionable due to him still learning the game since he only played organize basketball well into his teens is also picking up bad attitude and habits.

I've never seen a team fight each other for rebounds as much as this current suns team. Chandler wants his 10 plus, Len wants his, Bledsoe and Tucker also wants theres and they fight for it.

Ultimately... I want Booker to become Ginobili v2.0. Ginobili is all about IQ and selflessness... Flopping aside... He is an amazing player who can do it all but smart decision making you can always trust him with.

GMATCallahan · Post #991 » by **GMATCallahan** » Tue Jan 3, 2017 7:43 pm

LacosteM wrote:I feel like Booker got handed the key to a team's offense too soon. His FGA's have increased from 11.4 to 17.1 and freq of his iso plays has tripled down , from 6 to 18 percent. He's also leading the team in FGA's . Perhaps a bit of a harsh transition for a 20 year old. Like Ettoreform already said, I'd rather simplify his role on offense and increase his efficiency and than hand him the key when he proves he can be a leader on offense.

At the moment 75% of his 3PA's are open or wide open and he's shooting only 34% on them. That's a very underwhelming percentage for someone who was considered a sharpshooter coming out of college. Maybe getting him more shots of the screens and making him move more off the ball (sort of like Thompson, Reddick, Korver) could get him going.

I agree that 17.1 field goal attempts per game are too much for Booker right now. Do you know who never averaged that many field goal attempts in an NBA season? Kevin Johnson, Jason Kidd, Steve Nash, Jeff Hornacek, Dan Majerle, Wesley Person, Quentin Richardson ...

Okay, some of those guys were point guards, but Hornacek and Majerle were All-Star shooting guards for Phoenix who never even came that close to 17.1 FGA per contest.

I actually would not mind seeing Watson replace Booker in the starting lineup right now with Brandon Knight. You never want to hurt the confidence of a young player, but Booker may possess too much confidence and the Suns need to try and restore some trade value to Knight.

Post #992 » by **bwgood77** » Tue Jan 3, 2017 8:33 pm

GMATCallahan wrote:
LacosteM wrote:I feel like Booker got handed the key to a team's offense too soon. His FGA's have increased from 11.4 to 17.1 and freq of his iso plays has tripled down , from 6 to 18 percent. He's also leading the team in FGA's . Perhaps a bit of a harsh transition for a 20 year old. Like Ettoreform already said, I'd rather simplify his role on offense and increase his efficiency and than hand him the key when he proves he can be a leader on offense.

At the moment 75% of his 3PA's are open or wide open and he's shooting only 34% on them. That's a very underwhelming percentage for someone who was considered a sharpshooter coming out of college. Maybe getting him more shots of the screens and making him move more off the ball (sort of like Thompson, Reddick, Korver) could get him going.

I agree that 17.1 field goal attempts per game are too much for Booker right now. Do you know who never averaged that many field goal attempts in an NBA season? Kevin Johnson, Jason Kidd, Steve Nash, Jeff Hornacek, Dan Majerle, Wesley Person, Quentin Richardson ...

Okay, some of those guys were point guards, but Hornacek and Majerle were All-Star shooting guards for Phoenix who never even came that close to 17.1 FGA per contest.

I actually would not mind seeing Watson replace Booker in the starting lineup right now with Brandon Knight. You never want to hurt the confidence of a young player, but Booker may possess too much confidence and the Suns need to try and restore some trade value to Knight.

It's amazing he is averaging more shots than all those others EVER did, particularly since he has had a few games where he didn't shoot much at all. We do probably have fewer offensive options than in those old days, and of course pass first PGs who got everyone involved.

Phoenix-Sons · Post #993 » by **Phoenix-Sons** » Tue Jan 3, 2017 8:43 pm

We need a better coach for Devin. I'm quite convinced now

GMATCallahan · Post #994 » by **GMATCallahan** » Tue Jan 3, 2017 8:45 pm

1UPZ wrote:Agreed.

As I mentioned, this team has veterans worried about box scores and looking good individually.

Booker has adopted that "I'm getting my 20 points win or lose" mentality... He learned that from Bledsoe and Knight.

Chriss... A high potential player who is highly impressionable due to him still learning the game since he only played organize basketball well into his teens is also picking up bad attitude and habits.

I've never seen a team fight each other for rebounds as much as this current suns team. Chandler wants his 10 plus, Len wants his, Bledsoe and Tucker also wants theres and they fight for it.

Ultimately... I want Booker to become Ginobili v2.0. Ginobili is all about IQ and selflessness... Flopping aside... He is an amazing player who can do it all but smart decision making you can always trust him with.

Throughout his career, Ginobili has been prone to throwing some reckless passes and committing some reckless turnovers. Overall, he has constituted a terrific player, though.

But I do not see Booker in that mold, and he does not possess that kind of background. Coming out of Argentina and debuting in the NBA at the age of twenty-five after having already helped lead his country to a FIBA World Championship, Ginobili had developed an approach to the game that you do not see in many high-ranking American prospects from recent times. Plus, he was (and to some extent remains) such an idiosyncratic, dynamic player that he has always thrown off defenders in a way that Booker probably will not.

Booker can be very good, but he probably will not be analogous to Ginobili.

GMATCallahan · Post #995 » by **GMATCallahan** » Tue Jan 3, 2017 8:56 pm

bwgood77 wrote:It's amazing he is averaging more shots than all those others EVER did, particularly since he has had a few games where he didn't shoot much at all. We do probably have fewer offensive options than in those old days, and of course pass first PGs who got everyone involved.

Booker is also averaging more FGA than a couple of other former Phoenix guards—the late Dennis Johnson (Hall of Fame) and Danny Ainge (All-Star with Boston)—ever averaged. Even when Ainge spent a year and half with an awful Sacramento team and averaged 18.5 points and 6.2 assists with the Kings, he never quite averaged that many FGA. Rex Chapman, meanwhile, only averaged that many FGA once, as a twenty-two-year old second-year shooting guard playing for a terrible second-year expansion team.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/c/chapmre01.html

Actually, Chapman—another University of Kentucky alum—provides some hope in the sense that you can see how inefficient he proved early in his career as a young player with the Hornets and how he improved later on, going from a .486 True Shooting Percentage over his first four seasons to a .543 mark over the next six years. But Chapman was also a freak of nature with the kinds of shots that he could hit; Booker is not. Chapman got off the ground much better, too.

Jarlaxle0204 · Post #996 » by **Jarlaxle0204** » Tue Jan 3, 2017 9:15 pm

I loved watching Rex Chapman. That guy could shoot. Just wanted to say that.

I think Booker will be fine and will get better as the team gets better. I'm not too worried.

LacosteM · Post #997 » by **LacosteM** » Tue Jan 3, 2017 10:04 pm

Injuries that happened last season were both blessing and a curse for Booker imo. Because of them he got to showcase his talent and establish himself as the "hope of the franchise". However it appears his rushly exposure made him pick up quite a lot of bad habits.

With 49.4 TS% and atrocious defense he's not looking nearly as promising as he did last year. I mean he's still young ,but the more bad habits he picks up now, more harder will be for him to fix them later. Just my 2 cents.

flowa · Post #998 » by **flowa** » Fri Jan 13, 2017 7:29 pm

Read on Twitter

MilotheSlayer · Post #999 » by **MilotheSlayer** » Fri Jan 13, 2017 10:51 pm

That's the one that stuck out to me last night as well. When the kid is on he's incredible. Just need more nights like this and needs to work on starting out strong.

Post #1000 » by **Qwigglez** » Sat Jan 14, 2017 8:02 am

Just so everybody is aware Booker over the last 4 games is averaging:
29 points, 2.5 board, 2.8 assist, 1 steal on 55 FG%, 61 3FG%, 65.7 TS%

Here are the highlights:
Miami-

Mavs-

Cavs-

Mavs-

He also was wearing his brand new shoes in the Mavs game
http://arizonasports.com/story/988832/nike-devin-booker-2017-zoom-rev-player-exclusive-suns/

When will Booker hit 8,000 career points?