It was announced on September 9, that Devin Booker will have hand surgery on his shooting hand, the same one that he injured late last season. Regardless of the severity, should the Phoenix Suns sit him for most of this season?
Devin Booker is the future of the Phoenix Suns. He is the central piece in a core of young players expected to be a part of the next great Suns team. His health and mental state are key to the team’s development and any hiccup can be detrimental to the youth’s growth.
So when it was announced that Booker will have surgery to help repair his broken hand, a thought came to my mind that I hadn’t thought of before: if the Phoenix Suns aren’t expected to contend for a playoff spot this season, should they do everything in their power to baby their star player’s health until the team is finally and fully ready to compete?
Before you just shout out “NO!” take this into consideration: the Philadelphia 76ers have done the same thing with Joel Embiid.
Management knew that the team was not ready to compete for a playoff run until the 2017-18 season, so they babied Embiid every step of the way. If Embiid merely sneezed during practice, he was sat out in case he was on the verge of the cold.
The 76ers recognized the great importance of their star player’s health when it truly mattered (in seasons when they were fighting for a chance to play for a championship, and during the playoffs itself). Then by the 2017-18 season, playing Embiid in games that could be won without him, or for stretches where the overall competitiveness of the roster was able to overcome Embiid’s absence for some time, was not pressed until they were necessitated by the end of the season.
The Phoenix Suns should treat Devin Booker the same way.
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Injuries to the shooting hand of a star player (especially when that star player is a shooter) can be detrimental to his success as his game is predicated on shooting and he is hampered by the pain cause by even bouncing the ball.
Certainly we all hope this this particular injury will not either cause him to miss much time or to even linger for very long. While the headline of the report is that he is out “indefinitely” although the story theorizes that he could potentially be back after missing part of training camp, and the hope is that he’ll be back for the start of the season (he missed 19 games last year).
But while the Phoenix Suns and it’s fans obviously want to see their star player on the court winning games as much as possible, there is the general expectation that the Suns aren’t going to be any good this season once again. Even with the addition of several veterans plus the addition by subtraction of several others, even if the Suns’ regular season winning percentage doubled over last year, there is almost a guarantee that at least two above .500 teams aren’t going to make the playoffs this year.
So why not let Booker rest as much as possible. Baby him and his healthy like they have been with Tyson Chandler, and let the team mature for one more season, potentially landing a good lottery spot, and use this upcoming season to bolster the roster through trade and free agency then make an honest and legit run in 2019-20.
There is no reason to ever risk Booker’s health as he is only 21-years-old and with very possibly 15 years of prime ahead of him, resting him now and keeping his body as healthy as possibly before the many years of grueling playoff runs which then will certainly add wear-and-tear to his body, is essential.
In other words, if Booker’s timeline for a return on his hand is a week, make it two weeks.
If it’s a month, make it two.
Let the other young and still undeveloped Suns play as Booker did his first two seasons, and get the minutes that he would normally receive building the mental callouses that he has, will make them all the better in the future.
Of course this is not an advocation of Booker sitting out the entire season, as that would be silly beyond belief. I would expect that unless he has a truly heinous injury at some point, that even if he is out for extended periods he could still play in at least 50 games (he played in 54 last year).
But for now, so long as he is injured, especially in situations like this one in which he will need surgery, let him rest until he doesn’t feel even the slightest tinge of tightness. Let him take his time. Let his hand, his ankles, his back, anything that could ever possibly effect his game, rest.
The Phoenix Suns are going to lose a lot of games in 2018-19, so if they can strategically rest Devin Booker and guarantee that he is fully healthy when he is 22, 23, 24-years-old and so on, they need to do whatever they can to guarantee he is going to be ready to go.
Oh, and if they tank one more time, they should get a good draft pick. That pick can either be used on a star player (like Zion Williamson), or use it to trade for a veteran (like – Damian Lillard).
As much as I hate to think about it, tanking for one more season might actually make the Phoenix Suns better in the long run. Not just in Booker’s health, but in the ability to utilize their assets to get even better for the future.