Roster Swap: Phoenix Suns and Sacramento Kings. Would you do it?
By Adam Maynes
Shooting Guard
Devin Booker vs Buddy Hield, and Bogdan Bogdanovic
Now, biased Phoenix Suns fans (such as myself) would hands down take the single player of Devin Booker over the duo of Hield and Bogdanovic.
And yet it should not be ignored that last season Hield broke the 20 point scoring average for the first time in his career, he averaged 42.7% from beyond the arc (on a very impressive 7.9 attempts per game), and Bogdanovic is a fantastic reserve shooting guard himself, something the Phoenix Suns do not have.
On the surface, if the Suns and Kings made a two-for-one swap of Booker for Hield and Bogdanovic alone, both teams would likely improve as the super-powered backcourt of Fox and Booker would easily be one of the best in the league, while the additional shooting of and depth at the position of Hield and Bogdanovic would definitely play very well with a pass-first point guard in Rubio.
That said, Devin Booker has never player with a pass-first point guard, nor has he played with such an exceptional head coach as he will under Monty Williams – two facts that cannot be ignored.
While Booker shot a career low from beyond the arc last season at only 32.6%, much of that can be attributed to his having to take such a heavy offensive load while playing out of position due to the lack of talent around him, and while I personally do not fault Igor Kokoskov, the offense was consistently dis-jointed which only made things more difficult for him.
Thus, as I fully expect Booker to take his game to a whole new level this season playing with Rubio and under Monty Williams, and I expect him to also play at a level the league has not yet seen from him and we therefore have not even come close to knowing his ceiling.