(PHOTO CREDIT: AP.)
Right now, I’m thinking to myself, “I can’t believe I’m writing about this.”
You know what I NEVER understood? When NBA writers/analysts said that Devin Booker was NOT a good NBA player (or, sometimes, the simpler “not a good basketball player”; don’t they hear themselves??).
We’re in an era now where scoring is just not looked at as important as being efficient. And I do get that in a way. But not everyone can score nearly 25 points per game in the NBA. That was what Booker did last season. Heck, this is the same guy that scored SEVENTY POINTS in an NBA game.
I also think people have to realize that, sometimes, scorers like Booker are stuck in a team that are not very good. The Suns were last in offensive rating last season. It didn’t help that the team was in a constant state of flux with all the turnover. The Suns trotted out a total of 22 players throughout the season.
But some people are going to give us “Devin Booker is not good” because he’s not efficient (and that he’s not a good defender). And that he’s putting up bad shots. Well, did the Suns have any other choice? Yeah, T.J. Warren was there. Sure, maybe Josh Jackson. But other than that, it was tough to go away from the #1 option when they didn’t have much else. Would you feel comfortable giving Marquese Chriss 15 shots a game?
And it’s not like Booker was bad from three. He shot at a .383 clip, which was pretty above the average in the NBA. And yeah, people want to look at his eFG and his two-point percentages but, once again, who could they go to? Only very good players have the energy to play that many minutes and that many shots. And they go to him because he’s decidedly better at getting his own shot. But ya know, let’s forget about context. If he was so bad, name me other players that scored 70 in an NBA game. Were they “bad players”, too?
So maybe some of the same people are praising Devin Booker now after that breakout fourth quarter he had against the Mavericks last night. He scored 19 of his 35 points in the final seven minutes. Could they have relied on someone else to do that sort of scoring binge? Probably not. Defensive stops are another story but those can be neutralized by schemes or his personal growth on that end, which can very well be possible.
But you know what also helped? Now they have some players in Trevor Ariza and DeAndre Ayton (let’s not take away on how he played last night). The aforementioned Warren and Jackson played well, too. It opened up things for Booker and wouldn’t you know it? He scored a lot of points and was efficient doing it. Maybe this won’t happen as often as Suns fans would like but it’s what we could see if Booker gets surrounded with better talent.
And maybe some people can finally appreciate how “good Devin Booker is.”
Rey-Rey is on Twitter at @TheNoLookPass.
His podcast is at Rey-Rey Is Fundamental.