Devin Booker - The Kaiser of Empty Stats

[YourCellarDoor]

I hate this type of threads.... What he does now does not mean what he did 2 years ago wasn't the case back then.

Also: where where they last year at this time without CP3?

the empty stats narrative was bad from the moment it started. and last year without CP3 they were a middling team fighting for a playoff spot in a brutal western conference. getting a competent roster around him and seeing that translate into wins is not an indictment of booker, that's a garbage argument.

[AingesBurner]

I hate this type of threads.... What he does now does not mean what he did 2 years ago wasn't the case back then.

Also: where where they last year at this time without CP3?

the empty stats narrative was bad from the moment it started. and last year without CP3 they were a middling team fighting for a playoff spot in a brutal western conference. getting a competent roster around him and seeing that translate into wins is not an indictment of booker, that's a garbage argument.

The Suns success has to do with CP3.

[YourCellarDoor]

I hate this type of threads.... What he does now does not mean what he did 2 years ago wasn't the case back then.

Also: where where they last year at this time without CP3?

the empty stats narrative was bad from the moment it started. and last year without CP3 they were a middling team fighting for a playoff spot in a brutal western conference. getting a competent roster around him and seeing that translate into wins is not an indictment of booker, that's a garbage argument.

The Suns success has to do with CP3.

the suns success has to do with both of them. this is an overly simplistic take ignoring that the suns were decent last year and that the roster has improved even outside of CP3. yes adding CP3 has turned them into the team with the 4th best record in the league, but that's because we already had a solid core built that was just missing a couple pieces.

if CP3 was playing with last year's roster and we subbed out book for whatever the ricky rubio shooting guard equivalent would be, we would have been more or less in the same place, a middling team trying to grab the 8/9 spot. of course having booker and CP3 is what makes the team good, that doesn't mean people were right about the brain-dead empty stats meme.

[MrBigShot]

He's a fairly solid passer but for the most part his contributions are as a scorer, and he doesn't impact the game defensively. "Empty stats" is one of the laziest and commonly thrown around phrases in basketball. Eventually if a team doesn't start winning, even if their roster sucks, someone putting up stats will be dubbed as an empty stats guy. Empty stats = combination of black hole and/or inefficient. Andre Drummond in cleveland right now is a good example of empty stats...nearly 18/14 in 29mpg but he is incredibly inefficient and stops the ball to take dumb shots on offense.

Booker is a very efficient scorer who can score within the flow of the offense and can play on or off ball. At his best (like in the bubble) he is a prolific scorer who can carry a team offensively. The criticism he gets is in large part because people focus on what he's not (a superstar) instead of appreciating what he is, a really good player.

[Pg81]

Funny how Booker has gleaguers as teammates for multiple years and he is an empty stad padder. Luka is put with much better talent than Book had from year 1 but is excused from criticism when his flaws are shown. Lmao.

Luka is on a different planet than Booker as a player. You're wasting your time comparing them.

They are. One was pampered since he came to the league and had a legit NBA team around him. The other had to work hard to earn his due and played with a horrible roster while putting elite efficiency scoring.

[IzzyT]

A lot of his skills are marginalized in this new NBA. He’s a guy who actually has post game. He can attack from the mid-range with a variety of moves. He’s got tricks in the bag for days. Super high skill player.

He does struggle with reads and he struggles when he’s hit with unexpected or unconventional doubling strategies. He’s prone to rushing and to making a decision about what he’s going to do with the ball before he makes his move versus reading and reacting. He’s not quite a good enough facilitator to run an offense by himself. He’s the prototypical two-guard, though. He can do it all offensively as far as scoring goes.

His skills don’t translate into the impact level you’d expect. I think a big part of that is that he’s just not quite good enough at making reads to be a dominant on-ball player. There are too many sloppy turnovers and, in general, he forces action. But when you take him off ball, you neutralize some of his best skill.

And he’s just not a good defender even though he has okay physical tools. The instincts aren’t there. You have to hope some coach can come along and at least get him to be a neutral defender someday.

I see his role at his peak as something similar to a Kyrie Irving. He’s not going to play like Harden or Luka, or any other ball dominant guy, but he has the skill set to (help) close games if playing alongside another elite perimeter facilitator.

To make the next jump, and achieve super star impact, he needs to get to neutral/slight positive defensively on a consistent basis and he has to be able to play make out of doubles more reliably. If he does that, you’ll see a huge bump in impact without much improvement in his box score line.

[ThomYorke]

Brilliant thread.