Phoenix Suns star Devin Booker vs the greats

Brandon Roy Phoenix Suns (Photo by Barry Gossage/NBAE via Getty Images)

Career Averages

By this time in their careers, Dwyane Wade had already established himself as one of the greats in the league and leads all three of these players in the three major categories of scoring, rebounds, and assists.

He too was a three-time All-Star, missing out in only his rookie season, and was well on his way to his 12 consecutive that would only finish at the age of 34 with his final appearance in 2015-16.

However, each player were already become accomplished scorers and average at least 20 points per game for their career led by Wade’s 23.8 points per game, then Booker at 21.4 followed by Roy at 20.2.

To have a career average of 20 points per game already after four full seasons in the Association is very impressive, most impressively for Booker who entered the league only barely able to legally vote, let alone drink.

Kobe Bryant, for instance, had only averaged over 20 points per game for the first time in his fourth season, and averaged just 15.9 points per game for his career to this point (although he was a two-time All-Star and probably would have gone three times by that point had it not been for the cancellation of the game in 1999 due to the NBA lockout).

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Wade originally played more of a point guard role with the Miami Heat early on and was surrounded by much more talent than Devin Booker has been to this point. Thus, through four seasons he averaged an astounding 6.4 assists per game, while Brandon Roy lagged behind slightly at 5.0 with Booker coming up last at 4.2 (more on their season high’s on the next page).

Finally, through four seasons, Wade also leads this group with 5.0 rebounds per game, while Roy tore down 4.6 and Book 3.5 per game so far.

One has to wonder though if Booker’s rebounding and assist averages would be much higher (potentially at a Wade-rate) if his teams played more of a run and gun pace where he looked to grab defensive boards and immediately look up the court. Unfortunately, he has yet to play that way throughout his career, especially early on with the absolutely disorganized and disjointed game under Earl Watson.

In terms of shooting, Booker has had the worst FG% of the three by far at this point in their careers, shooting just 43.7% to Roy’s 46.7% and Wade’s 48.4%.

However, this is mostly due to Booker’s propensity to shoot from beyond the arc at a much higher clip than the other two, averaging 5.5 3’s per game in his career to Roy’s 2.9 and Wade’s 1.0, coupled with Wade’s propensity to go to the hole at a much higher rate than the other two: 41.4% of his shots were from within 0-3ft, whereas Roy attempted those 27.8% of the time and Booker 20.6% of the time, so far.

Booker then leads the pack in 3-point shooting percentage at 35.4%, equal to Roy and significantly higher than Wade’s 24.9% – although the tie-breaking nod must be given to Book and his percentage due to his attempting nearly twice as many 3’s per game as Roy.

Book also leads all three in FT% with 85.4%, to Roy’s 79.7% and Wade’s 77.7%.

While one can hardly blame the Phoenix Suns’ lack of playoff appearances since his arrival to the league on Devin Booker, Wade had already won a title by his third season with the help of Shaquille O’Neal appearing in 54 playoff games to that point.

Roy had also played in nine.