It seems silly this outcome was ever in question, but in leading the surprising Phoenix Suns, Devin Booker is proving he’s already an NBA superstar.
For the first four seasons of Devin Booker‘s career, questions persisted about whether he was really a winning player. Sure, he could score, but was he anything more than a volume shooter? Could he actually impact winning? Could he really be the best player on the Phoenix Suns if the ultimate goal was a championship?
It’s still early, but so far in 2019-20, Booker is relishing the opportunity to answer all of those questions with a resolute “duh.”
Through nine games, the 23-year-old shooting guard’s box score averages appear to be down, slightly dipping to 25.8 points, 5.4 assists and 3.3 rebounds a night. But for those tuning in to watch these surprising Suns, Booker is playing the best basketball of his career on both ends.
For starters, he’s posting insanely efficient .545/.532/.929 shooting splits, taking 5.2 attempts per game from downtown. He and Nemanja Bjelica are the only qualified players in the league exceeding 50-50-90 shooting splits right now.
“I would say, I’ve been around a lot of really, really, really good players, Hall-of-Famers, but as far as just pure scorers, I think he’s probably the best I’ve ever seen,” Tyler Johnson said. “I didn’t get to watch D-Wade in his prime, but yeah.”
Booker has been deadly from 3-point range, but he’s also been automatic around the rim, converting 70.6 percent of his looks within five feet of the basket. Among all qualified players averaging at least 5.5 attempts per game in the restricted area, Booker ranks sixth in shooting percentage overall and first among guards.
Aside from being the NBA‘s 12th-leading scorer, Booker is the engine behind the NBA’s third-ranked offense. Alhough Ricky Rubio is the primary playmaker, he’s the definitive cog in a system that leads the league in assists per game (28.1), assist percentage (67.1 percent) and field goal percentage (47.5 percent).
Phoenix also ranks second in true shooting percentage (59.0 percent), fourth in 3-point percentage (38.4) percent), fourth in point differential (plus-7.8) and 11th in defensive rating (103.7). Nine games is a small sample size, but for those still wondering if Booker could be the best player on a winning team, the Suns’ stunning 6-3 start against a brutal opening schedule is providing plenty of evidence.
“I think he’s just tired of the same ol’ same ol’,” head coach Monty Williams said.
Phoenix has posted an eye-opening Net Rating of plus-13.7 with Book on the floor so far, and that number plummets to minus-7.8 without him. The offense dips by a whopping 21.8 points per 100 possessions whenever he takes a breather.
Against the Philadelphia 76ers, Booker dropped 40 points on 15-of-19 shooting in a win over the NBA’s last unbeaten team, peppering in 11 points in the final frame. Against the LA Clippers, he scored 16 of his 30 points in the fourth quarter to put the game away.
“That’s Devin Booker, man,” Kelly Oubre Jr. said afterwards. “I’ve seen it before, and I’m gonna see it again.”
The Suns have been seeing it all season long, small though the sample size may be. Booker ranks 13th in the NBA in fourth quarter scoring, leading the league’s second-highest scoring fourth quarter team. He’d probably rank higher on that list if not for blowout wins over the Sacramento Kings, Golden State Warriors and Brooklyn Nets.
In Sunday night’s game, for example, he had 27 points and nine assists on 10-of-14 shooting, but wasn’t needed for more than two and a half minutes in the fourth quarter of a 138-112 demolition of the visiting Nets.
It’s not just the offensive end where Booker is thriving, however. While the Suns defense is technically stingier without him on the court, it isn’t by much (0.3 points per 100 possessions), and he’s playing with more energy and focus on that end than ever before.
“Monty always says a quote, ‘Everything you want is on the other side of hard,’” Booker explained when asked about his defensive improvement. “I’ve took that quote and embraced it.”
The fact that the Suns are a plus-94 in 309 minutes with Booker on the court, compared to minus-24 in 128 minutes without him, speaks volumes: He’s the best player on a winning team, but he doesn’t have to completely carry them either.
So what’s prompted the drastic improvements in efficiency, team success and defensive intensity? Aside from the gradual progression of a really good young player, he’s not really playing outside himself. In fact, unlike past seasons, where Phoenix’s success was fully reliant on Booker dominating games, he’s been able to pick and choose his spots.
Monty Williams deserves a ton of credit, as does the obvious benefit of having legitimate, NBA-caliber players around him. Booker’s talent was always undeniable, but his accolades and individual success came in a vacuum playing with over-the-hill veterans, rookies and G League-caliber players.
The change in accompanying talent starts with Ricky Rubio, an oddly criticized offseason addition who’s been everything Phoenix wanted and more. Williams said he and Booker have had synergy since training camp.
“I think Ricky has allowed him to be more efficient,” Williams said. “He’s probably fresher, he doesn’t have to dribble the ball as much. Our guys are going to look for Devin, they know he’s our best player, so that’s not something new. But he’s just playing a different style than he’s played in the past, and when he and I talk about it, he tells me, ‘Coach, I’ve always wanted to play like this.’ I hope and I think he’s just going to get better and more comfortable in this system.”
Booker confirmed that having a facilitator like Rubio and a brick wall of a screen-setter like Aron Baynes is exactly what he’s envisioned in this league.
“That’s the way the game is supposed to be played,” he said. “I’ve been a fan of it a long time and this is the way I want to play. Being able to play off Ricky, play off a guy like Baynes coming for dribble handoffs, it makes it a lot easier, conserves your body and it looks good while we’re playing out there.”
Lineups with Booker and Rubio boast a Net Rating of plus-15.3, but what’s even more striking is how much easier the Spaniard — and Williams’ bevy of passers — is making things for such a natural scorer. Last season, only 36 percent of Booker’s field goals were assisted. So far this year, that number has spiked to 54.8 percent.
Again, having legitimate help is a necessity for success in this league.
Playing Booker in more of an off-ball role is something Williams was giddy about coming into the season.
“He can get the ball in live-ball situations and read the defense before stuff happens,” he said. “He had so much pressure on him to bring the ball down the floor, to make a play, get off of it, get it back and then have to make a play? That’s a lot. He still can do that, but he doesn’t have to do it as much with Ricky.”
Opponents used to be able to double-team Booker and live with the results because no one else on Phoenix could really hurt them. With capable drivers, shooters, slashers and playmakers flanking him, that’s no longer the case. And, as it turns out, Booker was already pretty capable of making the right pass out of double-teams without having to work on it in summer pickup games.
“When they blitz us, I think we have the shooting around him that can make teams pay,” Williams said. “I just saw patience and I saw a guy who’s kind of been there, done that. We just gotta be more efficient around him and get to our spots when teams do blitz so he has options.”
In the Brooklyn game, a resounding response from Phoenix’s first true dud of the season against the Miami Heat, Booker was serenaded with serious “M-V-P” chants for the second time this year. While the young superstar said it was nice to hear, he’s more focused on what his pundits have long criticized him for: his team’s success.
“I’m more excited about the fans having something to cheer for, us playing winning basketball and competitive basketball every night,” Booker said. “That’s been the fun part. I think they’re getting ahead of themselves — just out there excited in the mix. At the same time, we just have to keep playing. The rest will figure itself out.”
Nine games isn’t enough to convince anyone the Suns are for real or that Booker is a top-10 player in this league. But for right now, both are decidedly true, and if these early trends hold strong, he’ll not only make his first All-Star Game, but could even be looking at an All-NBA selection and his first trip to the postseason.
It’s silly, in retrospect, that people held it against him for not being able to carry such sorry teams to 30 wins by himself, but now that he’s got a legitimate starting point guard, a deeper bench and stability in the head coach’s chair, he’s showing what should’ve been obvious all along: Devin Booker is an NBA superstar.