What's Devin Booker's ceiling?

[B-Ball Freak]

And to think this kid is not even 20 yet

[Willarmm]

I hope this kid becomes religiously obsessed with working out with Kobe post retirement, the sky is the limit if he can develop that work ethic that Kobe has. I know you have to have the hunger but he would be putting himself in the best position possible if he did

[JMac1]

So part one of this post is "everyone quit acting like a bunch of irritating children." Seriously. Have a civil conversation or leave this thread, because this is just tiresome. Contribute, or be quiet. Do not be a pest to your fellow posters, or you will be gone.


As to the actual topic...

It's wicked-early to say ANYTHING about Booker. He was a late lotto selection, he's 19 years old, and was playing under 20 mpg for like the first 30 games of the season. Since then, his 3 has vanished but he's showing some impressive passing acumen and sufficient size/athletic ability to be of interest. He's not handling the increased load well as a shooter; he's been WAAAAAY worse since he became a starter, but he's 19 and now he's getting a chance to show the breadth of his game a little more, which is maybe more important. Also, it is worth noting that he was in the .200 range in terms of draw rate before the new year. Since then, closer to .33.

Anyway, he's a teenager who was thrust mid-season into a more prominent role with more than 50% of then minutes load he was playing over the first half of the season. It was always gonna be rocky. LEBRON was a terrible scorer as a rook, as were Durant and Melo. They got slapped into volume roles and struggled. Booker is a lower-tier talent, so this isn't surprising, but he HAS been showing various signs of promise. As long as you're not expecting Jordan 2.0, I'd be reasonably excited at this stage. We'll see what his sophomore season brings in terms of adaptation and evolution, but he's flashing enough that at least for a teenage rookie, he looks pretty interesting.

Well Said!!

[tsherkin]

Well Said!!

Heh, thanks.

I think the biggest thing is to recognize that major role adaptations are hard, for anyone. When you're a teenage rookie who went from a < 20 mpg bench player to a 33+ mpg starter who is at the focal point of the offense, it's inevitable that your stats won't be hot, particularly lacking bash-you-over-the-head-dominant physical tools. He looks like on the virtue of his PnR play alone, he'll be good, and he was flashing the catch-and-shoot 3 earlier in the year for quite some time, so as he settles and finds ways to off-load ball-handling duties and get more of those assisted looks, the 3pt shot will come back. It's just soooo early to judge him, so this season, we should just look for reasons to be happy and save his second season for critiques, I think. That's my evolving policy on rooks who don't happen to be stunning in year one. Evaluate age, evaluate role and consistency thereof over the year, see what they ARE showing and what they are doing poorly and just sort of decide from there.

Booker looks like he'll be a useful player as his floor. He's got an intriguing upper bound, too.

[Freddie Mitch]

Definitely better than Hezonja. Magic must be kicking themselves.

[SlovenianDragon]

Suns have a decent future with Bledsoe/booker/Warren/whatever/Len....

Only problem is we have to get rid of Knight and Chandler

We will trade them for a used washing machine....any1 interested?

[Dan Z]

In a re-draft where do you think Booker goes? My guess is 5th.

[Revived]

In a re-draft where do you think Booker goes? My guess is 5th.

3rd.

[rmfc]

Suns have a decent future with Bledsoe/booker/Warren/whatever/Len....

Only problem is we have to get rid of Knight and Chandler

We will trade them for a used washing machine....any1 interested?

Knight for Meeks+Tolliver.

[skones]

I hope this kid becomes religiously obsessed with working out with Kobe post retirement, the sky is the limit if he can develop that work ethic that Kobe has. I know you have to have the hunger but he would be putting himself in the best position possible if he did

To be fair, VERY FEW players have that type of work ethic. The sky is the limit if he has x type of worth ethic is a bit blanked. The same can be true with any young player with good skill level and physicality. The reality is, they usually don't.

[Dan Z]

In a re-draft where do you think Booker goes? My guess is 5th.

3rd.

You think he gets picked over Russell and Okafor (who gets unfair criticism)?

[Revived]

Spoiler:

In a re-draft where do you think Booker goes? My guess is 5th.

3rd.

You think he gets picked over Russell and Okafor (who gets unfair criticism)?

Yes.

[Revived]

How bout an Alex Len ceiling thread? He's been awesome since the ASB.

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