Sophmore Summer comparison of Book and Chriss

After a strong (understatement) second half of his rookie season, Devin Booker went into the 2016 Summer League ready to prove that he had taken a step forward in his professional development – and he didn’t disappoint.

Marquese Chriss had a similarly strong second half to his own rookie season and has come into the 2017 Summer League ready too to prove that he has taken a step forward in his young development.

All fans would agree that the next great Suns team will have Book and ‘Quese at the center of it. Booker used his sophomore Summer League to catapult himself into the regular season, one that was even more than we could have expected.

The franchise was going to hold Booker back all-together from the Summer League in 2016 but he was granted the opportunity to play two games so he could run with his best friend, and the team’s new second round pick, Tyler Ulis.

Booker tore it up.

Finishing the tournament with the second highest scoring average with 26.0 points, Booker shot the lights out shooting 47.4% from the field while also dishing out 6.5 assists (also second in the summer) while grabbing 5.0 rebounds and recording one steal. He also, if you recall, took over the in the second half of each game really proving that he was the player we all hoped he’d be, and the closeout scorer that we didn’t even believe would come so soon in his career.

After the second game the Suns decided that he dominated too much and wanted to give the rest of the league a chance (or something like that) and Booker didn’t appear in a game again. And yet he put the league on notice with his two games, and even after a short stint, Suns fans were left salivating.

Unlike Devin Booker who was on a franchise-imposed game limitation, Marquese Chriss has no such rextrication this summer. He will be allowed to play out the prelims and tournament, no matter how far the Suns go – hopefully to their first Championship.

And while Chriss has impressed with his additional weight (it has been said that he has gained 15 pounds), he still has the chance to impress on the court with an upgrade of his game as well.

So far in his first two games Chriss has not produced the statistical renaissance that many fans were hoping would happen. Granted, he is far from the same player, but without a doubt he is one of the most athletically skilled players in the Summer League, not to mention now one of the biggest.

Chriss is thus far averaging 15.5 points, 9.5 rebounds, and one assist. Though excitingly impressive, he has been disappointing in two very key and important categories, and one emotional aspect: turnovers and personal fouls, which is accompanied with complaining.

While he wasn’t asked to take on a leadership role in the offense like has been requested of Dragan Bender, Marquese Chriss is currently averaging 7.5 turnovers. Even Mike James, the Summer League Suns’ starting point guard, is averaging only three per game.

However, above all else, two specific issues that he had as a rookie last season has followed him to the 2017 Summer League with a vengeance.

For starters, Chriss is currently averaging eight personal fouls a game, having been called for nine in his first outing, one off of the Summer League limit before fouling out. What is worse, however, is that he is still complaining a lot, and against Dallas it actually reached an embarrassing level.

While it would be patently unfair to paint Chriss as the only person who has acted like Summer League officiating should be perfect, many of his teammates have taken plays off to either complain about officiating verbally, or by staring down a referee. However, Chriss was called out for one of his moments on national television.

At one point on the offensive end, Marquese believed he was fouled, but the official result was a turnover. The Dallas offense streaked down the court on the fastbreak, while Chriss stopped dead stone and complained to an official. Awkwardly for him, at that very moment the ESPN television crew were interviewing his Head Coach, Earl Watson, who had been talking about maturity. Watson immediately called out Chriss’ complaining as a moment that he and his staff need to work on to curtail come the regular season.

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Chriss’ offensive stats are solid and nearly averaging a double-double would be a very exciting jump in his regular season statistical improvement. And while there isn’t a chance that he would ever average anywhere near seven turnovers in the regular season, the personal foul issue is still something that the franchise and fans alike should be worried about.

Hopefully Marquese Chriss too can have a leap in his game this coming season as Devin Booker had, and certainly regardless of his statistical line is, there is little from the Summer League that will he carry over to the regular season. But if these games can be evidence of an upgraded offensive game, even with the continued over-fouling, the Suns will be better for it, and fans will be one important step closer to finally having a competitive team to cheer for.