What's wrong with Booker?

[1Sun]

While I don't agree CP3 is the savior of the Suns and have never liked him as a fit on this team he's here and I'll get behind him as a fan.

Im not ready to throw in the towel, we are playing like a team that's had 1 month together and doing better than I expected.

Last night was a stinker for sure , it won't be the last. We are a better team than last year and will have to work our asses off to compete.

To be honest im tired of the whole "Booker is gonna leave BS" if he cries and wants out so be it, what could we get in return? Life goes on.

I not so concerned about last night's stinker as I am that this team has been trending steadily in the wrong direction for a week, Booker's play is the worst I have seen, Paul looks like a broken down old man who can't shoot or defend anymore, and Crowder looks like HE can't defend anymore.

 

[GatorAZ]

lol Jordan got washed by Detroit and Detroit wasn’t nearly as good as KD WOYAS. Come on son.

You can’t compare teams from different eras with different rules. Plus if you equalize the NBA landscape who’s to say Jordan doesn’t form a better superteam? Anyway back to regular scheduled programming...

 

[Finito]

lol Jordan got washed by Detroit and Detroit wasn’t nearly as good as KD WOYAS. Come on son.

Oh you talking bout the 2x world champion Detroit team with 3 Hall of Famers? Yeah they sucked. You must be young as hell

young Jordan lost to Detroit until he beat Detroit

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

lol Jordan got washed by Detroit and Detroit wasn’t nearly as good as KD WOYAS. Come on son.

Uh that was pre-championship Jordan.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

You can’t compare teams from different eras with different rules. Plus if you equalize the NBA landscape who’s to say Jordan doesn’t form a better superteam? Anyway back to regular scheduled programming...

True. And while the warriors might be better under current rules, can you imagine KD and steph under those rules? They wouldn’t stand up to the physicality. Draymond would love it. But the warriors two best would be knocked around like ping pong balls.

 

[BC867]

if it isn’t and all Book really cares about All-Star game over WINNING, then we sure as hell dont want him to be the number one player you build around that’s gonna lead you to a title.

And did you actually say we should have stayed with a pure PG? Chris Paul is the DEFINITION of a pure PG.

weird posts man. Weird posts.

Expand your thinking, Cheese! There is more to basketball than play on the court.

DBook was our alpha dog in the backcourt and, even then, he wasn't voted to the
All Star team. Now he is sharing the backcourt with another alpha, CP3. His chance
of being voted an All Star is even less.

Don't you understand that DBook is motivated by fame, such as being a Kardashian?

It is reminiscent of the Suns employing three lead Point Guards a few years ago.
They need a sports psychologist on the staff. One whom Sarver will allow to do his job.

 

[Cheesebeef]

Expand your thinking, Cheese! There is more to basketball than play on the court.

DBook was our alpha dog in the backcourt and, even then, he wasn't voted to the
All Star team. Now he is sharing the backcourt with another alpha, CP3. His chance
of being voted an All Star is even less.

Don't you understand that DBook is motivated by fame, such as being a Kardashian?

It is reminiscent of the Suns employing three lead Point Guards a few years ago.
They need a sports psychologist on the staff. One whom Sarver will allow to do his job.

If he’s motivated by fame rather than winning, he’s a waste of a MAX deal.

and this is NOTHING like the three headed... forget it.

 

[BC867]

...and this is NOTHING like the three headed... forget it.

Again, you missed the point. Too many alpha Guards.

I wish, Cheese, you would back up your denials with
specific responses. Discuss ideas! Why do you think
that two lead Guards is nothing like three?

 

[CardsSunsDbacks]

Again, you missed the point. Too many alpha Guards.

I wish, Cheese, you would back up your denials with
specific responses. Discuss ideas! Why do you think
that two lead Guards is nothing like three?

Because 2 is literally 1 less than 3?

It is easy to find 2 lead guard enough touches in a game, but damn near impossible to get 3 of them enough touches.

 

[Hoop Head]

Again, you missed the point. Too many alpha Guards.

I wish, Cheese, you would back up your denials with
specific responses. Discuss ideas! Why do you think
that two lead Guards is nothing like three?

I'm sorry but this is ridiculous. You are asking the difference between 2 and 3? You need more help than a sports message board can provide.

 

[Cheesebeef]

Again, you missed the point. Too many alpha Guards.

I wish, Cheese, you would back up your denials with
specific responses. Discuss ideas! Why do you think
that two lead Guards is nothing like three?

Jesus Christ... you rag on “Point Book” and then when we get a pure PG, you rag on having two lead guards.

newsflash... CP3 IS the PG. he’s a pure PG who looks for others shots besides his own.

Another newsflash... you can have successful teams with TWO ball dominant players. LeBron/Wade, Pippen/Jordan, LeBron/Kyrie... hell, CP3/HARDEN.

this is NOTHING like 3 PGs, NONE of which were ACTUALLY PURE PGS LIKE PAUL IS.

you literally don’t have a clue what you’re talking about.

 

[Hoop Head]

Jesus Christ... you rag on “Point Book” and then when we get a pure PG, you rag on having two lead guards.

newsflash... CP3 IS the PG. he’s a pure PG who looks for others shots besides his own.

Another newsflash... you can have successful teams with TWO ball dominant players. LeBron/Wade, Pippen/Jordan, LeBron/Kyrie... hell, CP3/HARDEN.

this is NOTHING like 3 PGs, NONE of which were ACTUALLY PURE PGS LIKE PAUL IS.

you literally don’t have a clue what you’re talking about.

He also called for the Suns to get a pure point guard last year also when Rubio was here, claiming Booker was still the starting PG because he'd bring the ball up the court after inbounding it. His definition of pure point guard seems to include that and only that because Rubio and Chris Paul are the most pure point guards in the league.

He's gotten to the point where he complains just to complain, it seems. If he can't find fault in the Suns then he can't blame Sarver for ruining them. Of course he took his Sarver dig at the end of his initial post, saying the team needs a sports psychologist and Sarver needs to let them do their job.

 

[Hoop Head]

Booker had 25 points, shot 9-19 from the field, 6-6 from the ft line, had 7 assists with 0 turnovers, and 2 steals for good measure with a +/- of +5. Hopefully this win against Indiana is the first game he's back on track.

 

[Yuma]

Booker had 25 points, shot 9-19 from the field, 6-6 from the ft line, had 7 assists with 0 turnovers, and 2 steals for good measure with a +/- of +5. Hopefully this win against Indiana is the first game he's back on track.

His free throws being so far off perplexes me. Something was not right in his release. He is adjusting, or getting his legs under him now it seems. We haven't really put together a full game yet, although only 3 turn overs is a great start!

 

[Hoop Head]

His free throws being so far off perplexes me. Something was not right in his release. He is adjusting, or getting his legs under him now it seems. We haven't really put together a full game yet, although only 3 turn overs is a great start!

ESPN said 2 turnovers total, 1 for Paul and 1 for Carter. We won't see many games with that few but Book with 0 is great. Having a short off-season, short training camp, and short preseason has to be a part of the sloppy play. We're 10 games in now, that can't be an excuse any longer.

 

[ArizonaSportsFan]

ESPN said 2 turnovers total, 1 for Paul and 1 for Carter. We won't see many games with that few but Book with 0 is great. Having a short off-season, short training camp, and short preseason has to be a part of the sloppy play. We're 10 games in now, that can't be an excuse any longer.

There was a 24-sec shot clock violation. That is a team TO with nowhere to put it in the box score unless there are attached notes or something. There were 3 TOs.

 

[BC867]

Because 2 is literally 1 less than 3?

It is easy to find 2 lead guard enough touches in a game, but damn near impossible to get 3 of them enough touches.

There is more to NBA basketball than X's and O's.

The point I'm making is about two alpha dogs in the backcourt of the Suns.
Whether it's two or three.

We know that Book wants to be elected to the All Star team. His chance
this year is less than last season (when he was a late addition), sharing
not only the backcourt, but the Point Guard position with a recently
added All Star.

You guys are reacting to my post, but not addressing that point of view.

Sports psychology.

 

[CardsSunsDbacks]

There is more to NBA basketball than X's and O's.

The point I'm making is about two alpha dogs in the backcourt of the Suns.
Whether it's two or three.

We know that Book wants to be elected to the All Star team. His chance
this year is less than last season (when he was a late addition), sharing
not only the backcourt, but the Point Guard position with a recently
added All Star.

You guys are reacting to my post, but not addressing that point of view.

Sports psychology.

The addition of Paul is not really taking the ball out of Bookers hands.

Booker is getting the same amount of touches and has almost exactly the same usage percentage as he did last season.

Booker just hasn't been as effective with the ball this year as he was last year and that likely has a lot to do with still getting used to his new teammates and the fact that he is expending a lot of energy on defense.

As a matter of fact he is starting to come around as it is. In the 6 games following his 8 point performance he is averaging 24 and 5.5 on 50/38/78 shooting splits (84% from the FT line in the last 4 games). I would expect the numbers to increase further as the season progresses.

 

[NashDishesDimes]

People keep sayings its because cp3 is here but im not buying that. He just makes terrible decisions and shoots bad shots...

i hate to put it in the atmosphere but i am afraid it could be the kardashian curse. I even noticed first game of the season Book was super tan. Hes for sure been messin around too much...

whats the remmedy for the kardashian curse? Is it treatable?

 

[Raze]

People keep sayings its because cp3 is here but im not buying that. He just makes terrible decisions and shoots bad shots...

i hate to put it in the atmosphere but i am afraid it could be the kardashian curse. I even noticed first game of the season Book was super tan. Hes for sure been messin around too much...

whats the remmedy for the kardashian curse? Is it treatable?

Book has shown improvement in his last four games.

Shooting: 47/35/84 (pretty close to his career averages 45/35/87)
A/TO: 3:1 (He was absolutely dreadful in his first 6 games at 0.66:1... his career average is 1.5:1)

He's also passing the eyeball test when it's clutch. He did miss the Clippers one, but that was after that huge run after down 31 and playing huge minutes.

All in all, he's getting back to his form. And remember, not a normal preseason this year. Everyone should be given a little slack this year.

 

[Carolinacacti]

When voting for all-star game ends and Suns have top three record no way Booker doesn't make the team. He will be leading the Suns in scoring although it will be less then previous years.

 

[Chris_Sanders]

Book has shown improvement in his last four games.

Shooting: 47/35/84 (pretty close to his career averages 45/35/87)
A/TO: 3:1 (He was absolutely dreadful in his first 6 games at 0.66:1... his career average is 1.5:1)

He's also passing the eyeball test when it's clutch. He did miss the Clippers one, but that was after that huge run after down 31 and playing huge minutes.

All in all, he's getting back to his form. And remember, not a normal preseason this year. Everyone should be given a little slack this year.

He said as much in the pregame before Indiana. This is basically their normal training camp and preseason. 2/5ths of the starting lineup changed.

 

[Hoop Head]

For anyone who thinks Paul is limiting Booker's offense and might keep him from being an All-Star, his usage is very close to last season when he was an All-Star. It was 30% last year and 29.1 this year. His improvements on defense should more than make up for the slight change in usage and I expect his scoring to go up now that he seems to have found his shot.

 

[JCSunsfan]

I think Book is in a slump because he is putting a lot of energy into defense. He is improving, but still not great on D, but he keeps asking for the other team's best player. That's my theory anyway.

 

[95pro]

He just utilizes the clock and possessions all wrong. Over dribbles, passes when he should shoot and shoots when he should pass. He doesn’t get himself and the teams shots within the game. Everything is forced. He’s just not good at running the show most times.

as Mainstreet pointed out, as well i noticed, he tried to get in a pissing match with Beal in the first half tonight.