How good is Booker?

[Chris_Sanders]

That’s what convinced me, he hasn’t. Not once.

Yes I noticed this as well

 

[Hoop Head]

Back on track regarding Devin Booker. Here is a recent interview with Devin Booker conducted by Chris Broussard. It was recorded about a week or two ago and is a fun interview to listen to. Posting the link to it from Youtube but there really isn't a need to watch the video, just listen to it. In it he talks about his upbringing, his dad, his time in Kentucky, his 70 point game, playing against Kobe, and more. Definitely something Suns fans should check out. I'll post some things that stood out to me...

xc_hide_links_from_guests_guests_error_hide_media

He grew up in Michigan but moved to Mississippi in High School and that helped build his toughness. Growing up in Michigan is why he was a Pistons fan though and Rip Hamilton was his favorite player growing up. That surprised me since everything I've read before implied that Kobe was his favorite player. He's a big Kobe fan but the Pistons were his team. He talked about how he watches a lot of film to better his game and the player he watches the most and models his game after is Kobe, which is probably why I thought Kobe was his favorite player. Maybe he can throw some more Rip in there because from what I recall Rip was great at moving without the ball in his hands in addition to being a really good perimeter defender. Rip and Kobe had a great matchup during the 2004 finals, Booker was only 7 when that series took place. He did acknowledge that by watching Kobe though it's like watching Jordan because Kobe borrowed a lot of his moves from Jordan. He watches Kobe for his footwork and he said Kobe's style fits the current NBA better.

He talked a bit about Earl Watson. I was kind of surprised how he talked about him, since he was the coach earlier this season and Booker clearly looks up to him as a person but he didn't seem to have any sort of regret, remorse, or awkwardness to talking about his time with Watson as the coach. It seems he's still friendly with him though and they discussed some exchanges they had, Watson was a guest on Broussard's show just recently so he brought up some things about Booker that Watson told him. Like apparently Booker said he's better than Michael Jordan. He explains how he knows he's not but that's his competitive nature, he won't admit anyone is better than him, not even MJ. That shows his confidence is sky high. Watson also said that Booker could be the best Phoenix Sun ever and Booker agreed and said that's what he's trying to become. Broussard said Barkley was and Booker said Nash was, there wasn't a debate they just sort of casually mentioned that as they were talking about who Booker had to take that spot from.

While talking about Watson he mentioned that Watson was his player development coach back when Hornacek was here and Watson was an assistant. I wasn't aware of that before but I guess Watson worked with him since he joined the league. Watson taking over for Hornacek as the interim coach makes more sense now. Booker always looked good but definitely didn't look like a star in the making under Hornacek's time as coach. He did look much better in the 2nd half of that season when Earl took over and he discusses how Watson gave him free reign, to get him used to being "The Man" on the team and to help him develop into that role early on. Seeing or listening to interviews like this I think you can catch some of what the coaching staff saw in terms of a player who is determined to be the best player on the floor every night. He's got the attitude of a star and that hasn't changed throughout his time in the league so I can see why he was afforded some of the opportunities he was early on.

They got into talking about Harden some and if Booker wanted to be a player like that, who handles the ball more and is sort of a combo/point guard and Booker said he does that some now and he's fine with that but he prefers playing off the ball as a SG. He acknowledged the way the NBA is changing though you have to be able to do everything like that and he knows he'll need to do a bit of everything, be a playmaker and scorer. He's most comfortable as a SG though. This is around the 15 minute mark.

Talking about his 70 point game he mentioned how the Celtics and Brad Stevens were mad he was still in the game, they were mad at him and Watson, but he felt they should stop him if they didn't want him to score like that. He's cocky but it's not arrogance, I like it. He goes into more detail on the 70 point game. I didn't even cover half of it here. I like him even more as a player though after listening to it, he seems like a good kid who is dead set on being a superstar and he isn't happy just being as good as he is now or being just an All-Star player, he wants to be great.

 

[SirStefan32]

Starting at 20 minutes or so, he talks about "Super-teams". It was very interesting. He said he personally doesn't want to do that, but at the same time, you want to win. Losing is very tough on him. I hope that Sarver and McD listen closely to what he is saying. He seems very loyal, but he's not gonna put up with losing for long. He is far too competitive to do that.

 

[Raze]

Back on track regarding Devin Booker. Here is a recent interview with Devin Booker conducted by Chris Broussard. It was recorded about a week or two ago and is a fun interview to listen to. Posting the link to it from Youtube but there really isn't a need to watch the video, just listen to it. In it he talks about his upbringing, his dad, his time in Kentucky, his 70 point game, playing against Kobe, and more. Definitely something Suns fans should check out. I'll post some things that stood out to me...

xc_hide_links_from_guests_guests_error_hide_media

He grew up in Michigan but moved to Mississippi in High School and that helped build his toughness. Growing up in Michigan is why he was a Pistons fan though and Rip Hamilton was his favorite player growing up. That surprised me since everything I've read before implied that Kobe was his favorite player. He's a big Kobe fan but the Pistons were his team. He talked about how he watches a lot of film to better his game and the player he watches the most and models his game after is Kobe, which is probably why I thought Kobe was his favorite player. Maybe he can throw some more Rip in there because from what I recall Rip was great at moving without the ball in his hands in addition to being a really good perimeter defender. Rip and Kobe had a great matchup during the 2004 finals, Booker was only 7 when that series took place. He did acknowledge that by watching Kobe though it's like watching Jordan because Kobe borrowed a lot of his moves from Jordan. He watches Kobe for his footwork and he said Kobe's style fits the current NBA better.

He talked a bit about Earl Watson. I was kind of surprised how he talked about him, since he was the coach earlier this season and Booker clearly looks up to him as a person but he didn't seem to have any sort of regret, remorse, or awkwardness to talking about his time with Watson as the coach. It seems he's still friendly with him though and they discussed some exchanges they had, Watson was a guest on Broussard's show just recently so he brought up some things about Booker that Watson told him. Like apparently Booker said he's better than Michael Jordan. He explains how he knows he's not but that's his competitive nature, he won't admit anyone is better than him, not even MJ. That shows his confidence is sky high. Watson also said that Booker could be the best Phoenix Sun ever and Booker agreed and said that's what he's trying to become. Broussard said Barkley was and Booker said Nash was, there wasn't a debate they just sort of casually mentioned that as they were talking about who Booker had to take that spot from.

While talking about Watson he mentioned that Watson was his player development coach back when Hornacek was here and Watson was an assistant. I wasn't aware of that before but I guess Watson worked with him since he joined the league. Watson taking over for Hornacek as the interim coach makes more sense now. Booker always looked good but definitely didn't look like a star in the making under Hornacek's time as coach. He did look much better in the 2nd half of that season when Earl took over and he discusses how Watson gave him free reign, to get him used to being "The Man" on the team and to help him develop into that role early on. Seeing or listening to interviews like this I think you can catch some of what the coaching staff saw in terms of a player who is determined to be the best player on the floor every night. He's got the attitude of a star and that hasn't changed throughout his time in the league so I can see why he was afforded some of the opportunities he was early on.

They got into talking about Harden some and if Booker wanted to be a player like that, who handles the ball more and is sort of a combo/point guard and Booker said he does that some now and he's fine with that but he prefers playing off the ball as a SG. He acknowledged the way the NBA is changing though you have to be able to do everything like that and he knows he'll need to do a bit of everything, be a playmaker and scorer. He's most comfortable as a SG though. This is around the 15 minute mark.

Talking about his 70 point game he mentioned how the Celtics and Brad Stevens were mad he was still in the game, they were mad at him and Watson, but he felt they should stop him if they didn't want him to score like that. He's cocky but it's not arrogance, I like it. He goes into more detail on the 70 point game. I didn't even cover half of it here. I like him even more as a player though after listening to it, he seems like a good kid who is dead set on being a superstar and he isn't happy just being as good as he is now or being just an All-Star player, he wants to be great.

That was a fun interview. He's extremely thoughtful and humble for a young guy. Thanks for the post.

 

[Cheesebeef]

Please Lord, don’t let him become another Amar’e who was blessed with enough talent to be a top 3 player in the league if his knees hadn’t gone out.

Just one... give the Suns ONE of those all-timers... who was here for his entire career and not at age 30 like Nash/Barkley.

 

[JCSunsfan]

Booker is the second in scoring among shooting guards. He only trails Victor Oladipo and only by .2 of a point. He will soon be the leading scorer in the league among 2's.

https://www.espn.com/nba/statistics/player/_/stat/scoring-per-game/position/shooting-guards

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

Booker is the second in scoring among shooting guards. He only trails Victor Oladipo and only by .2 of a point. He will soon be the leading scorer in the league among 2's.

https://www.espn.com/nba/statistics/player/_/stat/scoring-per-game/position/shooting-guards

Oladipo is theding scorer among sGs?!? Never woulda thunk it. Wait, what the hell is harden averaging? He’s a sg, particularly playing alongside a true pg like cp again.

 

[JCSunsfan]

ESPN has him as a pg.

 

[SirStefan32]

Holy crap, look at Oladipo's shooting too! 42% on 6.5 attempts per game.

 

[GatorAZ]

Please Lord, don’t let him become another Amar’e who was blessed with enough talent to be a top 3 player in the league if his knees hadn’t gone out.

Just one... give the Suns ONE of those all-timers... who was here for his entire career and not at age 30 like Nash/Barkley.

Amare had top-3 ability even with his knee issues. He blew off his microfracture rehab and never cared for defense/rebounding.

If Booker doesn't reach his ceiling it won't be for lack of drive to be the best player possible. He's a rare breed like Kobe.

 

[SirStefan32]

Amare had top-3 ability even with his knee issues. He blew off his microfracture rehab and never cared for defense/rebounding.

If Booker doesn't reach his ceiling it won't be for lack of drive to be the best player possible. He's a rare breed like Kobe.

That was the most frustrating part about Stoudemire. No defense, poor rebounding, and yelling "and one" instead of getting back to defense. That kid had so much talent. Outside of adding a jumper to his arsenal, he never really added anything to his skill set.

 

[Cheesebeef]

Amare had top-3 ability even with his knee issues. He blew off his microfracture rehab and never cared for defense/rebounding.

If Booker doesn't reach his ceiling it won't be for lack of drive to be the best player possible. He's a rare breed like Kobe.

He blew off his micro-rehab? He did everything he could to get back on the court and the Suns rushed him back in the same season he had the micro.

 

[GatorAZ]

He blew off his micro-rehab? He did everything he could to get back on the court and the Suns rushed him back in the same season he had the micro.

According to Jack McCallum's book he was skipping rehab sessions throughout the year and was no where near ready to play during that brief return stint.

 

[Ronin]

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[Ronin]

SLAM Magazine‏Verified account@SLAMonline 3m3 minutes ago
21-year-old savage. http://bit.ly/2ENsFC5

 

[SirStefan32]

Tied for seventh place in scoring now. Tied for third place in fourth-quarter scoring too.

 

[unseenaz]

Tied for seventh place in scoring now. Tied for third place in fourth-quarter scoring too.

he's taking more shots than all but 2 in the top 7, but he's the suns number 1 option and is constantly double teamed. they have to scheme just to get him open.

 

[CardsSunsDbacks]

he's taking more shots than all but 2 in the top 7, but he's the suns number 1 option and is constantly double teamed. they have to scheme just to get him open.

Just goes to show just how impressive it is that he has been as efficient as he's been. Just look what happened to Warren in the 9 games that he was the top scoring option and was treated as such by the other team. It truly is remarkable what this guy is doing with so little help around him.

 

[Hoop Head]

Does anyone have any doubt or reservations in the Suns offering Booker a max extension?

 

[Cheesebeef]

Does anyone have any doubt or reservations in the Suns offering Booker a max extension?

I think this may be the one thing on this forum every member is in agreement on:

Pay dat man hees money.

 

[Phrazbit]

Does anyone have any doubt or reservations in the Suns offering Booker a max extension?

Absolutely not. Imo he's already top 5 at his position. Extend him for max money and years the instant you can.

 

[GatorAZ]

Does anyone have any doubt or reservations in the Suns offering Booker a max extension?

He's not a max player right but you're paying him to be one starting in two years. That's age 23 and beyond.

There's no reason to think he won't keep getting better. He does need to start developing his body like Kobe did before the 01' season.

 

[TJ]

Does anyone have any doubt or reservations in the Suns offering Booker a max extension?

He gets the max and a seat at the table for future roster moves.

Kid has earned it. Will be the face of the franchise during its next playoff run

 

[Hoop Head]

He's not a max player right but you're paying him to be one starting in two years. That's age 23 and beyond.

There's no reason to think he won't keep getting better. He does need to start developing his body like Kobe did before the 01' season.

I'm curious who you consider a max player right now, that plays SG in the NBA currently.

 

[pokerface]

I think max money is based on a lot of factors...

Current production
Potential upside
Age (younger the better)

Then some more intangibles like player image (face of the franchise)...chemistry... value to the team.

I think Booker gets max or near max in almost every criteria. He's an extremely young scoring phenom with a good guy demeanor and a perfect image for a franchise. He can anchor this team for the next decade (contract willing).