Is Devin Booker a Bona Fide Superstar Now?

[Sicnarf]

To me, he is already a superstar at age of 20 (quite impressive) and definitely the best player in the Suns and a clear Finals MVP candidate...

Advanced stats are way overrated as much as Book is underrated... You actually have to watch the games to enjoy and see how good he is.

He is 24 currently, good sir. Or are you making the argument that he was a superstar 4 years ago?

Just a typo my dear.. I hate writing with the mobile... LOL

[saintEscaton]

Strictly offense but a better scoring Paul Pierce? Booker scores as well as any in the comp. Not a superstar (Top 5 ish is superstar range for me) but he’s a damn good player I’ll tell you that much.

I don't think he is even truly a special or league-best scorer he is just a reliable volume scorer who will get you buckets if you feature him and contend for a scoring title. I thought Booker would be the next Klay with more off the bounce skill and shot creating skils and dynamism after winnng the 3 point contest, but beyond the arc shooting doesn't even seem to be his bread n' butter he makes his living with the mid-range now where he thrives and is a gamebeater.He has become more of a tough shot maker than a pure shooter as his dip in TS% this year clearly indicates. His extrapolated numbers are league average to below average. Booker improved vastly as an on ball defender but that is virtually irrelevant given how atrocious of an off ball and team defender he is geting eviserated by screens and actions. He's not even top 40 in 3PA per game this season and his eFG% was also well below league average and PPP(points per possesion) iis 1.04 n the halfcourt which was also paltry. This regular season he was an awful off the dribble shooter and doesn't take many catch and shoot 3s and regressed to a 30% three point shooter. . This year without facing double or triple teams every member of the Suns starting lineup (except Ayton) is outshooting him from three by a wide margin and he still regressed from last year

[Saberestar]

He's already a first option on a team that is 2 wins away from winning it all. He's been one of the better defenders in the playoffs this year. He has a better defensive rating according to the NBA.com advanced stats this post season than Lebron, AD, Patrick Beverly, Durant, Kawhi, Simmons, etc.

Come on.

I am relieved that Book is playing both ends of the court when we need him the most at the highest stage of the game but do you really think this defensive performance is replicable and he is comparable to those elite two-way players you are listing?

Didn't Monty bench him in the clutch just last night when the Suns were playing D lol?

Yeah...you did not watch the game.

[Saberestar]

Abysmal? Keep digging the hole!

Booker took a huge step back this regular season and was a net negative or barely neutral by almost all advanced metrics

https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/b/bookede01.html#all_advanced-playoffs_advanced

Limited Skill Set? Huge Step Back? You really have no credibility.

Word.

[DCasey91]

Strictly offense but a better scoring Paul Pierce? Booker scores as well as any in the comp. Not a superstar (Top 5 ish is superstar range for me) but he’s a damn good player I’ll tell you that much.

I don't think he is even truly a special or league-best scorer he is just a reliable volume scorer who will get you buckets if you feature him and contend for a scoring title. I thought Booker would be the next Klay with more off the bounce skill and shot creating skils and dynamism after winnng the 3 point contest, but beyond the arc shooter that doesn't even seem to be his bread n' butter.He has become more of a tough shot maker than a pure shooter as his dip in TS% this year clearly indicates. His extrapolated numbers are league average to below average. Booker improved vastly as an on ball defender but that is virtually irrelevant given how atrocious of an off ball and team defender he is geting eviserated by screens and actions. He's not even top 40 in 3PA per game this season and his eFG% was also well below league average and PPP(points per possesion) iis 1.04 n the halfcourt which was also paltry. This regular season he was an awful off the dribble shooter and doesn't take many catch and shoot 3s and regressed to a 30% three point shooter. . This year without facing double or triple teams every member of the Suns starting lineup (except Ayton) is outshooting him from three by a wide margin and he still regressed from last year

I don’t pay too much attention to 3 ball spam from non great shooters.

His whole playoffs so far reads out: 27/6/5

377 FGA’s for 490 (1.3 basically) points is steady to very good imo. He’s consistent at what he does.

44.3 FG% 35.3% 3 ball and 92% FT rounded to 7 at the charity stripe per game. So he does tick the scoreboard over at a very good rate constantly.

Also I’d say 2 games against the Clippers he did have his nose smashed in and wearing protection so it would have affected him.

The whole team setup for me since early on for me has been the most perfectly balanced to max out each other strengths and minimize weaknesses. The GM should really be the runaway GM of the year.

They have a great great record these past 100+ games. So there’s concrete evidence this certainly ain’t a flash in the pan team.

I’m just talking strictly scoring and what he does for a team not defense. Like top 20-23 in the comp I wouldn’t bat an eyelid at the fair est.

[saintEscaton]

Strictly offense but a better scoring Paul Pierce? Booker scores as well as any in the comp. Not a superstar (Top 5 ish is superstar range for me) but he’s a damn good player I’ll tell you that much.

I don't think he is even truly a special or league-best scorer he is just a reliable volume scorer who will get you buckets if you feature him and contend for a scoring title. I thought Booker would be the next Klay with more off the bounce skill and shot creating skils and dynamism after winnng the 3 point contest, but beyond the arc shooter that doesn't even seem to be his bread n' butter.He has become more of a tough shot maker than a pure shooter as his dip in TS% this year clearly indicates. His extrapolated numbers are league average to below average. Booker improved vastly as an on ball defender but that is virtually irrelevant given how atrocious of an off ball and team defender he is geting eviserated by screens and actions. He's not even top 40 in 3PA per game this season and his eFG% was also well below league average and PPP(points per possesion) iis 1.04 n the halfcourt which was also paltry. This regular season he was an awful off the dribble shooter and doesn't take many catch and shoot 3s and regressed to a 30% three point shooter. . This year without facing double or triple teams every member of the Suns starting lineup (except Ayton) is outshooting him from three by a wide margin and he still regressed from last year

I don’t pay too much attention to 3 ball spam from non great shooters.

His whole playoffs so far reads out: 27/6/5

377 FGA’s for 490 (1.3 basically) points is steady to very good imo. He’s consistent at what he does.

44.3 FG% 35.3% 3 ball and 92% FT rounded to 7 at the charity stripe per game. So he does tick the scoreboard over at a very good rate constantly.

Also I’d say 2 games against the Clippers he did have his nose smashed in and wearing protection so it would have affected him.

The whole team setup for me since early on for me has been the most perfectly balanced to max out each other strengths and minimize weaknesses. The GM should really be the runaway GM of the year.

They have a great great record these past 100+ games. So there’s concrete evidence this certainly ain’t a flash in the pan team.

I’m just talking strictly scoring and what he does for a team not defense. Like top 20-23 in the comp I wouldn’t bat an eyelid at the fair est.

He reversed the tide and managed to recover in the postseason. I'm talking strictly regular season where he was awful at everything except midrange shooting.

[DCasey91]

I really don’t take much from the regular season to be honest it’s just not that valuable to me. Names are made in the playoffs and rightfully so. This is what any team in any sport plays for. It’s all for keeps now.

[Han Solo]

Yes.

[Hobo4President]

Not even close. He's a star for sure but superstar is reserved for guys like KD, ie prime all-time greats.

[ThatBoyNick]

He's only 24 turning 25, most stars take another step between this time and 30, I bet he becomes a 30 ppg, 8 assist a night guy, and at that point, the answer will be undoubtedly yes

[Pelly24]

He's a top 20ish player, but you have to remember, in other circumstances you might think he was a much worse players. He needs to get his defense up to neutral at least a whole year and be a more consistent scorer in the regular season. There's a reason he didn't make initial all-star cut.

[TheBoi10]

His advanced stats are very mediocre, he's a really good chucker (scorer)

[ken6199]

Remember Jimmy Butler.

[DroseReturnChi]

he is a superstar as of now but im worried if he can maintain after cp3 is gone.

[DroseReturnChi]

The only way I can answer this is putting together a list of players I have better than him:

Giannis
KD
Bron
Curry
Leonard
Harden
Embiid
AD
Joker
Dame
Luka

Eh... I can't put him as a Superstar yet. That's a lot of people who I have clearly better than him. That's before we start mentioning people who can make a debate at being better.

bron, leonard, kawhi, harden, curry is soon done. embiid has like 3 yrs left.
He is likely 2nd tier after luka, giannis, Joker.

[ken6199]

I really don’t take much from the regular season to be honest it’s just not that valuable to me. Names are made in the playoffs and rightfully so. This is what any team in any sport plays for. It’s all for keeps now.

Why do we always have to do this? To highlight the importance of post season, why do we have to talk trash to the regular season as if it's worthless? This is almost to a point that is is so disturbing because "blah blah blah I don't give a crap to the regular season" narrative always comes out during the post season, after a relatively mediocre regular season player has a great run. Last year it was Butler, this year it was Booker and Ayton.

Regular season has much bigger sample size, testing player's durability and consistency. Teams play different teams on a nightly basis unlike in the post season they heavily game plan against each other in a short period of time. Players like Kawhi was never a historically great RS player because of his injuries. On the other hand, you have Harden who put up monster numbers in RS but didn't live up to that expectation in the post seasons due to his game planned against relatively easier compared to some other players (except for this year with the Nets). They are different.

You can say Booker is great this year, Ayton is great this year, but to say 16 Curry, 17 Westbrook, 18 Harden 19 Giannis' regular seasons don't mean much, man you are just being lazy on your narratives here. You don't have to beat down one thing to hype up another. Players are made through regular seasons AND post seasons.

[DCasey91]

I really don’t take much from the regular season to be honest it’s just not that valuable to me. Names are made in the playoffs and rightfully so. This is what any team in any sport plays for. It’s all for keeps now.

Why do we always have to do this? To highlight the importance of post season, why do we have to talk trash to the regular season as if it's worthless? This is almost to a point that is is so disturbing because "blah blah blah I don't give a crap to the regular season" narrative always comes out during the post season, after a relatively mediocre regular season player has a great run. Last year it was Butler, this year it was Booker and Ayton.

Regular season has much bigger sample size, testing player's durability and consistency. Teams play different teams on a nightly basis unlike in the post season they heavily game plan against each other in a short period of time. Players like Kawhi was never a historically great RS player because of his injuries. On the other hand, you have Harden who put up monster numbers in RS but didn't live up to that expectation in the post seasons due to his game planned against relatively easier compared to some other players (except for this year with the Nets). They are different.

You can say Booker is great this year, Ayton is great this year, but to say 16 Curry, 17 Westbrook, 18 Harden 19 Giannis' regular seasons don't mean much, man you are just being lazy on your narratives here. You don't have to beat down one thing to hype up another. Players are made through regular seasons AND post seasons.

Well where I come from there is an old saying

“Time to separate the men from the boys”.

Seen, been a part of, and played/experienced it. It’s different.

Reg stuff is fine no troubles with it. But sport is sport. Once you’re playing for keeps the level goes up gears.

You gain massive or lose respect from you peers and elders if the pressure swallows you.

[Hardenstepback]

Eh…no. That’s largely dependent on what happens after this series. If the Suns win and he truly take that next leap next season is when the debate begins. But if your asking me is he a superstar now that the Suns have made the finals?? No

[Pablo Escobar]

Bad defender, weak vision and handles and his 3pt shot isn't as strong. He's a good player but has a ton to work on to be considered a superstar.

[rickxdel]

No he's somewhere between 15-25th best player, an all-star guard

His offense does remind me of a less athletic Kobe, but he has lower killer instinct & much worse defense compared to Mamba