Am2626 wrote:MrSparkle wrote:Booker scored 70 points in a game. His fundamentals and moves are all a step above Zach’s. He does not rely on athleticism to get to the rim, and his shot selection is confident. He’s always been a talented scorer; now his defense and overall awareness has improved. Obviously CP3 and the rest of the pickups (Suns are actually a veteran-laden team) pushed them into #1 seed. I didn’t expect things to work as well; was shorting the Suns all season long cause I was annoyed they let down last year after the hot start. Part of me thinks they were due for (playoff) improvement with or without Paul; obviously they don’t knock Lebron out of round 1 without CP3 keeping pace.
Zach has some work in the awareness/off-ball department to catch up to Booker. I don’t think they’re on par. He has a good chance to work on it with Vuc though.
You replace Booker with LaVine and the Suns are right in the same place. They are still in the playoffs because of CP3. I don’t see any difference between Booker and LaVine. The 70 point game doesn’t really mean anything. Jordan’s career high is 69. Does that make Booker a better player? If everything lines up and the circumstances are right any prolific scorer can go off and score a lot of points in a given game.
I disagree. Booker is a fundamentally/technically more advanced player. Zach is way more athletic; his first step is like a jet compared to Booker. If he had Devin's footwork and craftiness, he'd be a superstar. Devin pump fakes, works a give-and-go, knows how to use screens effectively, has a variety of push shots from either side of the court. Makes very quick decisions on and off the ball. Very developed game. These things don't show up on the stat sheet.
Go ahead and watch the videos. It's obvious to me that Zach is a phenomenal athlete and scorer, but he takes longer to make his move and doesn't exactly create easy looks for himself (rather he's excellent at making wildly difficult shots)... whereas Booker's foot work is classic, text book SG - like a Kobe, Reggie, MJ. Booker is noticeably better off the ball in catch and shoot and cutting to the rim. He also has a post game. Just watch the highlight reel from 3:00 on.
I acknowledge that Zach would be in the playoffs with the current Suns, but I don't think they'd be as good. Stats are stats, and Zach had an amazing season in that regard, but he was also sub 500 in a much worse conference. This year's EC was a joke. Suns had to duel with Luka, Lillard, Morant and the Spurs for the play-in. And FWIW, the Suns were a game out of the play-in in the really deep west last year, and Ayton/Baynes missed a ton of games, so Booker was rolling with a less talented team than this year's Bulls (Mikul and Cam were less developed, still coming off bench in low minute roles). Pretty much Rubio, Oubre and Saric.
I'm rooting for Zach to take another step this year. Obviously could fill the stat sheet, and he's developed winning habits. He's not the reason we sucked. But there are things he could do offensively that would make this team better, as opposed to an underachiever (we all agree Bulls really underachieved, right? - besides the fact Zach missed those 2 weeks, where the team actually settled down a bit). Sooner than blaming Donovan's defensive schemes. The big tell for me was that the offense looked like jumbled junk when Vuc first joined. Anybody would've guessed the defense would be really out of sorts, but Zach and Vuc couldn't make any 2-man plays work. I get that there weren't practices, chemistry - but I have a hard time thinking Vuc doesn't know how to function 1/2 of the PnR. A guy who made it work with the likes of Fournier and DJ Augustin.
Suns slowed the pace down a lot with CP3, and it took some adjustment but Booker is fine in tight half court sets. Not sure I can say the same about Zach. We looked WAY worse when we got big at the deadline and slowed it down. Sure- we need a PG. But we got to be careful thinking a PG makes this a top seed. It’d be more of a step forward, then a jump.
