Against the Detroit Pistons, the Suns collapsed down the stretch, dropping one of the more heart-breaking games of the season. However, rookie shooting guard Devin Booker shined, continuing to build on what has already been a pretty solid rookie campaign, given his age and where he was drafted.
Booker finished the game with 18 points on 5-of-6 shooting (3-of-3 from three), while staying turnover-free in 23 minutes. For the game, he posted a plus/minus of +4, adding one rebound and one assist to round out the night.
Obviously, he was most effective as a scorer, and he continued to show flashes of the type of player he might become; let’s go to the film…
While Klay Thompson seems to be popular comparison for Booker, another player for Booker to watch is J.J. Redick — at least when it comes to scoring around the perimeter.
Redick is one of the best players in the NBA at using screens to get himself open, and he’s also more than capable of knocking down shots from the outside.
On this play, Booker takes the handoff from Bledsoe and curls around a screen from Mirza Teletovic. However, as you may notice, the ball never touches the ground, as he tosses the ball ahead to Teletovic and receives it back as a handoff.
This allows Booker to keep his hands up the entire time and set his feet for the shot, rather than having to pull up off the bounce.
To the credit of Jeff Hornacek, the Suns have done a really strong job of getting Booker involved in the offense when he’s on the court. It seems like the team consistently tries to get him the ball and run him off screens, with the occasional dribble pitch.
And on Tuesday, that was certainly the case all night.
Now, one area Booker can really differentiate himself from a player like Redick would be in driving to the rim. Booker has decent size at the 2-guard spot, and because he’s such a threat behind the line, should have plenty of opportunities to drive the ball into the paint, especially when the defender is trailing after going over the top of a screen.
Here, the Suns reverse the ball to Booker, who curls inside off a screen from Teletovic. At the top of the GIF, you an see T.J. Warren and Ronnie Price back out behind the three-point line, which opens up the paint for the drive.
Booker drives to rim and finishes over Aron Baynes. Really, it’s a nice play, and Booker attacks quickly enough that the Detroit wings aren’t able to slide over to help to slow him down. Really, the only person that comes over is Baynes, and if he was out further, trying to take a charge, Booker could’ve just dropped off the ball to Len for an easy dunk — maybe he should’ve anyway.
This next play is almost identical to the first play in this article. Booker gets the handoff and curls around Leuer, but this time, the defense is almost impeccable, getting over the screen to keep Booker from firing away for another three.
This time, Booker drives to the rim, and takes a wide enough angle that Anthony Tolliver can’t step up and disrupt the drive until he’s already picked up his dribble and is pretty much committed to shooting. Really, the only other play Booker could’ve made would’ve been throwing it back out to the wing, but in order to do that he probably would’ve had to been looking back while he was driving, which doesn’t make much sense at all.
This set seems like it’s kind of the generic, base-play for Booker, and really when there are other shooters on the floor it’s difficult to guard because pretty much three — and sometimes four — of the off ball defenders are forced to stick with their man on the outside, which leaves space in the paint for Booker to attack if he isn’t open off the initial screen.
That’s also the case when the Suns go small.
On this play, back in the first quarter, Booker is still playing the two, with P.J. Tucker and T.J. Warren at the three and four. With one of the Suns faster lineups, the ball moves around really well, and almost works similar to a 5-out offensive set. Because of the movement, basically everyone is scrambling to help and recover, so after Booker sets the screen — or attempts to set the screen — he’s wide open, and he has time to take a couple of steps back and knock down a three.
Everyone is basically incapable of making a play because of how the Suns set up the look.
The defender at the top of the key is glued to Teletovic, while two of the other three players are on the other side of the court. Really, the only way for Detroit to defend this would’ve been for Drummond to step up on Tucker earlier, but that would’ve required him stepping further outside of the paint, and Warren would’ve been able to swoop behind him for the basket.
Finally, the last play I highlighted was one of the more intelligent plays I’ve seen a Suns player make this year. Booker recognizes that the defense is in a zone, goes to an area on the court he knows will be open momentarily.
The Suns work the ball around along the three-point line, and when Booker gets the ball, it seems like the obvious play would be to throw it to Leuer, but instead Booker dribbles out, knowing when the defense moves back over, Tolliver will likely drop into the paint to stay with Leuer.
Booker throws the ball back over to Knight, who drives, sucking in two defenders as he heads toward the free throw line.
Knight drives into the paint and really has two options; he can kick it out to either Booker or Teletovic, both of whom are capable of knocking down a three-point shot. In this instance, he passes it to Booker, who knocks it down with the purest jumpshot in all of basketball, a big part of why he is shooting 66.7 percent from three on the season.
Next: Film Room: T.J. Warren, The Scoring Magician
All in all, it was a really strong game for Booker. At this point, one might even wonder what it would be like if Booker were on a team like the 76ers and was playing a lot more. His efficiency might be down, but he might also be good enough to put up numbers that would have him in the Rookie of the Year conversation in a different year, as Towns, Okafor and Porzingis are obviously way ahead of everyone else this year.