Point guard Devin Booker is doing good for Phoenix Suns

Long debated but now finally in action, Devin Booker is doing pretty good for the Phoenix Suns as a point guard.

As the Phoenix Suns inched closer and closer to the start of the regular season without making a move for a traditional point guard, it became more and more apparent that they were either going to have to run with a backup as the starter or use Devin Booker.

The Suns decided to do both: they have started Isaiah Canaan in both of the team’s first two games, while using Devin Booker as the point guard in the fourth quarter.

Prior to the start of the season, Interim General Manager James Jones said that he would feel confident with Booker at point and believed that Book would “relish” the opportunity to play the position. Head Coach Igor Kokoskov has too stated several times too that he is comfortable with Book at point and that that will be his regular position.

Yet many fans were and are worried about Booker at point noting that it is not his “natural” position and that it would be too exhausting for him to have to bring the ball up the court.

So far in two games though, Booker has not only looked really good, he has probably met every expectation and more.

The primary statistic that a point guard is noted for is, of course, the assist, and in an offense such as the one that Kokoskov utilizes, assists should be fairly easy to come by for a point guard – when shots are falling.

This was obvious on opening night when Book recorded 7 dimes, tied for the team lead with Canaan and Trevor Ariza.

But when shots are not falling, assists are still a sign that a point guard is putting his teammates in the right position to get good shots off and Booker once again against Denver was once again able to record 7, this time second only behind Nikola Jokic‘s Wilt Chamberlain-esque 11.

Two games is a very small sample size to really decide whether or not the point Booker experiment is going to work, although statistically so far it has worked out just fine.

(Again it’s still really early, but Booker is tied for 15th in the league in assists per game at 7.0.)

Not to mention, playing point has not hurt Booker’s personal stats as he is still averaging 30 points per game while shooting 50% from the field and 43.8% from beyond the arc (although that is inflated by his other-worldly opening night because the second night against Denver his shots were not falling any more than his teammates).

Hopefully the point Book strategy works out because I believe that putting the ball in his hands as much as possible is the team’s best bet at winning.

If Jamal Crawford works out as a shooting guard  and is able to go on a few scoring tears the way he has been known to in the past, having him on the court with Booker will help out a ton because Book will have a trusty 3-point shooter to find when he needs to swing the ball around – Canaan is a career 35.3% 3-point shooter and is shooting 50% from beyond the arc this season so far, but with his diminutive height, it would be better to have the 6’5″ Crawford on the wing rather than Canaan in most situations.

Booker succeeding might even help James Jones focus more on improving the roster as a whole rather than looking primarily at the one position of point guard. Particularly, if a power forward were to become available, for instance, improving that position might prove to be as valuable as apoint guard, if not more so.