Devin Booker is vital to the Phoenix Suns’ success, and it’s because he provides something no one else on their team can.
Phoenix’s roster is currently lacking scoring. Eric Bledsoe is an underrated player at the league’s deepest position, but he has a lengthy injury history. Tyson Chandler and Jared Dudley are solid vets, but not anchors of a good team. And for all of the young players they’ve collected in the last two years — Josh Jackson, Marquese Chriss, Dragan Bender — none of them are players who can carry an offense.
It helps that Booker does a little bit of everything on offense. He doesn’t have one singular skill yet like Stephen Curry’s shooting, James Harden’s ability to draw fouls or Kyrie Irving’s dribbling that allows him to overwhelm defenders. Instead, he attacks in a number of ways.
For starters, he’s excellent coming off of screens. Those possessions accounted for 18.1 percent of his shots last season, and he shot 35.6 percent on catch-and-shoot 3-pointers. When watching film on how Booker operates off of screens, it’s easy to see why he excels at getting his shot off at the perimeter.
Here, when he’s being tracked by San Antonio Spurs forward Kawhi Leonard, he does everything correct. He pops back once the screen is set in an effort to give himself just a little bit more space. Because he’s not moving all that far, he knows he has to get his shot off quick or risk Leonard’s freakishly large hands poking the ball away. He does just that, and leans back just a bit for some extra room:
And here, when he was being chased by the Oklahoma City Thunder’s Andre Roberson, Booker reads the situation correctly. Not only does he speed through the screen — his one advantage against the larger, stronger Roberson — but catches and shoots in one motion, all while staying square to the basket. His motion is a tad slow, but it’s so technically sound that it doesn’t really matter.
Booker also excels at pull-ups, a shot that accounts for the largest portion of his shots. In transition, he’s able to collect himself quickly and use his 6-foot-6 frame to his advantage:
Booker uses those same instincts out of the pick-and-roll. He’s not a great passer out of the pick-and-roll — although he flashes some solid feel and vision — but he can find space to get his shot off.
Booker even has a nifty pull-up fadeaway shot he can get off even against bigger defenders:
He’s still developing, too, because he’s 20-years-old and won’t turn 21 until the end of October. This makes having Bledsoe on the team particularly valuable, as it doesn’t force Booker into a situation where he has to do everything with no safety net. Even if they share point guard duties this year, Booker can still be eased into the larger role he’ll likely take on for the Suns when he hits his prime or if Bledsoe leaves. Right now, Booker is a pure scorer. The next level for him involves becoming a more willing passer that sets up teammates like Jackson and Chriss who may never create their own shots.
As polished as he is in some areas, Booker is still out of control in others. Here, for instance, he shows off a solid floater (and draws a foul, another skill he’s good but not great at), but he could get there a bit cleaner:
When he posts up, he’s still figuring out how to best manipulate those situations. Because he wants to attack immediately, he has a tendency to dribble into a shot too fast, sometimes leading into him misreading the defense. It’s telling that, for better or worse, Booker most often shoots within 2-6 seconds of touching the ball.
Even when he converts, it just looks like he’s making the process too difficult:
How the Suns build around him this year is likely the defining story of their season. In no way is this a team ready to make a playoff push and they shouldn’t be in a rush to get there. All of their young players — including Booker — need time to grow. Even if he wants to be the face of the franchise, and is drawing Kobe Bryant comparisons from teammates, he deserves time to round out his game.
Next: Is Booker the next Kobe Bryant?
For Booker, that means spending this year further rounding out his repertoire on offense. He has the skills to be a lead scorer on a good team, whenever the Suns get there again. And as he does that, he figures to be in the middle of everything the Phoenix does on offense.