Valley of the Suns Season Awards
By Lucas McLean
Most Improved Player
Honorable mentions: Harrison Barnes (15), Gordon Hayward (10), D’Angelo Russell (10), Andrew Wiggins (5), Seth Curry (5), Bradley Beal (5), and Nikola Jokic (5)
3rd Place
Devin Booker (27)
| Minutes | Points | Rebounds | Assists | Steals | Blocks | FG% | TS% |
| 35 | 22.1 | 3.2 | 3.4 | 0.9 | 0.3 | 42.3% | 53.1% |
What more can be said about the Suns 20-year-old sensation. The accomplishments just keep on piling up:
- Most three-pointers made before the age of 21 (241)
- Most consecutive 20+ point games before the age of 21 (16)
- 3rd youngest to score 50
- Youngest to score 60
- Youngest to score 70
- 5th youngest to average 20 points per game
Furthermore, Booker is on pace to be 4th youngest to score 4,000 points as well as 4th in most points scored before the age of 22 – the accolades could go on and on and on. Most of the time sophomores do not get nods towards the Most Improved Player award but Booker might be the exception. Booker was able to ascend from a promising 19-year-old to Rising Star to future All-Star and possible MVP candidate in a few years down the road.
Booker went from averaging 13.8 points and prospect of being a good number three or four option on a good team his rookie year to 22.1 points and becoming one of the best offensive threats in the NBA. Oh, has it been mentioned yet that he scored 70 points in a game? He’s not even of legal age to drink and he’s already better offensively than 95% of the NBA.
At the end of last season the argument that in a redraft Booker would go somewhere between 4-6. In the same category of D’Angelo Russell and Myles Turner. But now Booker has supplanted himself at number two only behind Karl Anthony-Towns.
Is this a homer pick? Possibly. But we are Valley of the Suns and our favorite players come first.