Trevor Booker

[SUPERBALLMAN]

Booker is looking like an excellent backup PF right now. Really an awesome guy to have come off the bench. For his draft slot, that's a pretty good outcome.

(Posted this on the game thread, but here again if missed)

Got Booker's nickname... The Plumber

He comes in the game and cleans your pipes.

Gotta admit it's pretty good.

[tontoz]

Booker is looking like an excellent backup PF right now. Really an awesome guy to have come off the bench. For his draft slot, that's a pretty good outcome.

(Posted this on the game thread, but here again if missed)

Got Booker's nickname... The Plumber

He comes in the game and cleans your pipes.

Gotta admit it's pretty good.

I don't know if he would appreciate that. When i think of a plumber i think of some fat guy leaning over with his butt crack showing.

Booker would probably prefer Mr T lol.

[montestewart]

Booker's a pretty cool name by itself. Sounds pretty bada$$ without trying.

[nate33]

Bump for his recent string of good games:

In his last 8 games, Booker is averaging:
31 minutes
12.8 points
7.3 boards
0.9 assists
1.5 steals
1.5 blocks
1.0 turnovers
.643 FG%
.706 FT%

Per 36, that's 15 points, 8.5 boards, 1.8 blocks and 1.8 steals while shooting 64% and playing real good D. It's also nice to see that his FT% is respectable and he's hitting a few shots from the perimeter.

[closg00]

Booker's a keeper as a bench/role-player.

Ernie's gamble has paid-off Rico , even-if the guys picked after him show-up in a few years.

[nate33]

Booker's a keeper as a bench/role-player.

Ernie's gamble has paid-off Rico , even-if the guys picked after him show-up in a few years.

There's no doubt he's a quality role player. He's 20 games into his second season and he's already good enough to earn significant minutes off the bench for just about any team in the league.

I'm still not convinced that he has reached his ceiling though. The guy is a very hard worker. He has obviously improved his post game and his jumper is showing some improvement as well. Karl Malone went from being a non-shooter to an automatic shooter from 18 feet. If Booker gets a reliable jumper, he could be a 17 point, 9 rebound type of player with good D. That's a starter.

[tontoz]

^ I think rebounding is the key issue for him to be a starter. Hopefully today wasn't an anomoly. With his athleticism and activity level there is no reason for him not to be a strong rebounder.

[closg00]

Booker's a keeper as a bench/role-player.

Ernie's gamble has paid-off Rico , even-if the guys picked after him show-up in a few years.

There's no doubt he's a quality role player. He's 20 games into his second season and he's already good enough to earn significant minutes off the bench for just about any team in the league.

I'm still not convinced that he has reached his ceiling though. The guy is a very hard worker. He has obviously improved his post game and his jumper is showing some improvement as well. Karl Malone went from being a non-shooter to an automatic shooter from 18 feet. If Booker gets a reliable jumper, he could be a 17 point, 9 rebound type of player with good D. That's a starter.

One thing weakness in Booker's game is that once he is passed the ball, he cannot start dribbling with the ball, he freezes. A couple of times he was able to hit shots from that frozen position, but he missed some as-well.

[no D in Hibachi]

I think it's safe to say that Booker has been the best success story of the season for the Wizards. It's enjoyable watching him play like he did tonight.

[Ruzious]

Booker's a keeper as a bench/role-player.

Ernie's gamble has paid-off Rico , even-if the guys picked after him show-up in a few years.

There's no doubt he's a quality role player. He's 20 games into his second season and he's already good enough to earn significant minutes off the bench for just about any team in the league.

I'm still not convinced that he has reached his ceiling though. The guy is a very hard worker. He has obviously improved his post game and his jumper is showing some improvement as well. Karl Malone went from being a non-shooter to an automatic shooter from 18 feet. If Booker gets a reliable jumper, he could be a 17 point, 9 rebound type of player with good D. That's a starter.

The odds are really stacked against him. He's a guy that in limited minutes can play all out and contribute, but he just doesn't have the skills and fluidity to his game. Remember Etan Thomas had some good games, showed some good power moves, and people jumped to the conclusion that he could be starting material. More minutes exposed him. Booker's a little better than Etan, but there's a parallel in their limitations and contributions.

[7-Day Dray]

I think people are really underrating Booker's skill set offensively. He's not just the athletic, hustle big role player that doesn't have any skills. He's probbably the Wizards most efficient post scorer. I've seen him power dropstep, show nice touch on his hook shot with either hand, and has counter moves. And his jumper has been getting better each game. It's gotten to point where defenders can't just sag off him, and have to repect his jumper. He does a great job of using the jab step to create space.

[hands11]

Booker's a keeper as a bench/role-player.

Ernie's gamble has paid-off Rico , even-if the guys picked after him show-up in a few years.

There's no doubt he's a quality role player. He's 20 games into his second season and he's already good enough to earn significant minutes off the bench for just about any team in the league.

I'm still not convinced that he has reached his ceiling though. The guy is a very hard worker. He has obviously improved his post game and his jumper is showing some improvement as well. Karl Malone went from being a non-shooter to an automatic shooter from 18 feet. If Booker gets a reliable jumper, he could be a 17 point, 9 rebound type of player with good D. That's a starter.

I hope not. I hadn't even considered that he had reached his ceiling.

Actually last night was the first time I saw him taking outside shots with some confidence. Booker adding an outside shot was something this team desperately needed. If he can do it, he can put up points because if they play him closer, he can go around players with this strength and quickness. And he is a willing passer. Lets not forget, he is the fastest player on the team and he has amazing leaps.

One of the reasons we haven't seen him attempt more shots is because he is a team player who doesn't force things like so many other on this team. Wall, Craw, Nick, Lewis, Dray, etc would always take shots instead of him. He knew he wasn't a reliable outside shooter so he didnt take many.

I'm glad he is starting so he can establish his game without Dray or Lewis out there.

Also Booker gives Wall at least one player who is younger that he can count on who he knows will play a reliable game of effort, hustle and smarts. Team ball.

Now they have to figure out what to do with Singleton. He has not been measuring up to expectations. They need a SF who doesn't only defend, but can score. Not having that is a real shortcoming for the team. Singleton right now is a role player off the bench. And they need help at SG. Nick posted ok numbers but didn't play a good game. His dribbling is killing the offense. Nick's game just doesn't fit here as a starter.

The easiest move for this team right now would be to cut Mason and bring in another SG. Someone who can shoot a long set shot. I would consider going back to Crawford starting because he has better moves, passing and handles then Nick does. Nick is playing himself out of a contract like he wanted. Those who said mid level for him got it right. I expected him to actually improve this year. Instead, he had regressed.

[closg00]

The odds are really stacked against him. He's a guy that in limited minutes can play all out and contribute, but he just doesn't have the skills and fluidity to his game. Remember Etan Thomas had some good games, showed some good power moves, and people jumped to the conclusion that he could be starting material. More minutes exposed him. Booker's a little better than Etan, but there's a parallel in their limitations and contributions.

I tend to agree, that's why I placed Booker in the role-player/bench role. Jason Maxiel 2.0 if you will, not a bad thing to have on your bench.

[GhostsOfGil]

Since his statistical performance surge, book has quietly raised his per up 17 on 58 ts%

[tontoz]

Last night Monroe was scoring routinely until they put Booker on him. After that he didn't do much inside.

[tontoz]

How about Booker playing center, against Howard no less?

[nate33]

Last year, Booker shot 0.6 jumpers (from 15-23 feet) per game (16.4 minutes per game) and hit just 18% of them. This year, Booker is shooting 1.4 jumpers per game (22.1 minutes per game) and is hitting 30% on them. Basically, he's doubled his jumpers attempted per minute while almost doubling his shooting percentage. That's some quality improvement.

30% on jumpers isn't quite good enough to force teams to guard him out there, but it's close. If he can get that up to about 37% or so, he'll force defenses to respect him enough that they won't be able to help out on Wall's penetration.

[tontoz]

Several of the jumpers he has taken lately have been desperation shots when guys throw him the ball at the end of the clock. I think his jumper has improved a bit more than those numbers indicate.

He actually seems to look better on a jumper than he does from the foul line.

He makes good decisions with the ball, rarely forcing things. You can tell he has been working on his moves around the basket as well. And when he is involved with a pick and roll he knows how to roll with authority.

It was fun watching him work his ass off playing D on Howard. I bet Howard was glad to get that game over with.

[hands11]

The Beast is one of the more fun players to watch on this team.

Interesting watching him get some minutes at center and nice to see him taking more shots from outside. His outside shot no longer look terrible like it did last year. This was one of my keys to the season. On a team that didnt add outside shooting, other players needed to add at least a mid range. Booker was one of them.

[Rafael122]

If I had to pick 5-6 guys to build around, Booker would be one of them, along with Wall, Singleton, Vesely (if we can get an outside shooter, I think this will do wonders for Jan), and Mack.