Meet your NEW Phoenix Suns
By Adam Maynes
Devin Booker
What more is there to say about Devin Booker other than he is great. The kid is really, really, good, and is markedly better every year.
And what’s important to note is that it is obvious that he wants to be great and does not appear to take any shortcuts in his development.
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As the Phoenix Suns enter the start of 2019, Devin Booker enters the year as with the franchise’s eighth-highest single season scoring average in history (25.1 points per game). He is a volume shooter (20.0 attempts per game), but his 44.9% FG% is nothing to scoff at, and if he can raise his 3-point shooting levels again to near 40% (last season he shot 38.3% from beyond the arc in conjunction with winning the All-Star Weekend 3-point shooting contest), he’ll be that much more of a dominating and imposing offensive scorer (I firmly believe that if he has a solid ball-handler next to him that his shooting percentage will rise again as he will receive far more open shot-attempts off of screens and quick catches).
But Booker isn’t a selfish player. In fact, he is playing more like James Harden than we could have ever imagined, and this season is the first time that he has actually made an attempt at being a full-time distributor.
Averaging a career-high 7.1 assists per game through January 1, Booker is the first Phoenix Suns player to average at least 20 points and 7 assists a game (presuming the stat carries throughout the year) since Stephon Marbury put up 22.3 points and 8.1 assists for the Suns in 2002-03. (Marbury did it the following season as well, but was traded after 34 games).
That type of offensive production is so rare to the Suns as a franchise, that only Charlie Scott in 1972-73 (25.3p/6.1a) and Paul Westphal in 1978-79 (24.0p/6.5a) have averaged at least 24 points and 6 assists in a season for the Phoenix Suns.
Even if Booker slips statistically a little bit, he’ll still be in rarefied air.