Devin Booker eats hate for breakfast and turns it into fuel for his game
You have probably all heard the psychological term “projecting” before, but for the sake of argument, allow me to briefly (and non-medially) define it for you: when a person holds an insecurity about an internally known fault, or otherwise places blame on others for their own imperfections or mistakes, they essentially “project” their personal faults on others as a means of passing blame away from themselves.
Devin Booker has received a ton of criticism in his career, stemming from his multiple high-scoring games in losses (Bill Simmons knows this on a personal level), to his double-team complaint in a pickup game with Joakim Noah; and now him being called out for not playing in the FIBA tournament.
Has he once publicly defended himself; more specifically, has he once attempted to deflect criticism by placing blame on his teammates and situation in which he could have accurately complained that he was playing in the NBA on a G-League roster?
Nope.
in fact, he has quietly taken that blame (and while I do not know Devin Booker personally, I too am a competitor and know for a fact that he internalizes the critiques of others like a 90’s era Nike commercial,) and has used it as fuel to become better, and better, and better, year in, and year out.
I can guarantee this: he does not take a step back in 2019-20 following this summer of scorn.
However, do you know who is projecting?
Bill Simmons.
I would not only bet a mortgage payment but the deed to an NBA Franchise that if asked in a private setting who he would prefer on the Boston Celtics, Jayson Tatum or Devin Booker, Simmons would take the star Booker in a heartbeat. Why else would he rail on Book the way he has?
Who averages more points, assists, shot attempts and made, FT%, and has scored 70 points in a game as well as 50 points in back-to-back games?
Yup.