As the Phoenix Suns embark on their last real road trip of the season, they are down a ton of production, meaning their remaining star needs help.
We fans of the Suns all know – or at least we are assuming – that the team will have a chance at the NBA title when Kevin Durant comes back and can play consistent minutes. However, Phoenix needs to hold its positioning in the standings to reach the point when KD can return, which is still at least two weeks away. With big-man Deandre Ayton also missing at least Sunday’s match-up with Oklahoma City, the burden on Devin Booker to carry the load is increased.
With growing demands on our one remaining superstar – sorry, Chris Paul is no longer in that classification – the team needs to work to make his job easier, and the good news is it is not all that difficult.
Booker has been carrying a lot for the Suns since his return from injury
Devin Booker has played in 14 games since returning from his groin injury, which kept him out for about eight weeks. In those 10 games, his overall scoring has increased, as has the percentage those points represent for the team.
Booker is averaging 27.6 points on the season, and the Suns are averaging 113.3. Those 27.6 points represent 23.8% of the Suns’ scoring average.
Since returning from injury, over 14 games, Booker increased his scoring to 29.4 points per night, and the Suns have likewise gone up to 115.6 points per contest. However, those increases are not proportional, and Booker has carried 25.4% of the scoring load since his return.
Those numbers are even more exacerbated since the All-Star Break and the loss of Mikal Bridges and Cam Johnson from the team. Over the last 10 games since the break, Booker scored 31 points per game, 26.5% of the team’s 116.8 points per night.
The scoring load has been made even more difficult because Booker is doing more of this on an un-assisted basis.
In the 10 games since the break, 69.1% of DBook’s two-point field goals have been unassisted. This is up almost seven percent on his season total, where 62.8% of his two-point field goals are unassisted.
In other words, Booker is doing more on his own, which is not necessarily problematic unto itself; however, with the playoffs coming and back from a major injury, Phoenix has to do better to protect Booker and make his scoring easier than it has been, and these three ways will help.
With many unassisted buckets coming in a greater volume, the Suns need to make some changes sooner than later to make things easier for Booker and the team. This starts with Booker’s role in the offense.
Phoenix needs to run some plays for Booker
To date, the idea is Devin gets the ball, beats his man, and scores his buckets, which works; the man averages almost 28 points per night on the season. However, it is much easier to score when plays are being run for you; ask Bridges.
Before the Bridges trade, we made a similar observation about how Bridges had not picked up his scoring load because he was not getting easy looks, just a lot of volume. Then the Suns started running more plays to get Bridges open looks in positions where he felt comfortable, coming off screens near the foul line extended, and his scoring went up.
The Suns should do the same for DBook and work to get him more open looks. Booker shoots best when taking zero or one dribble. This is easier when a player comes off of screens and has his number called in the set of the half-court.
We know Booker is getting his fair share of looks and is getting his number called, it is just too much on him and not in the flow of the offense, and that needs to change. Even two or three plays per night can make a big difference as his minutes continue to grow. This is especially true at the three-point range, where Booker shoots 47% on catch-and-shoot opportunities versus just 32% on pull-up attempts. Which would you rather see Booker take?
DBook has served as the Suns’ point guard and primary playmaker at different points in his career. While I’m not suggesting Booker take on the point guard role and bring the ball up the court, I am suggesting having the ball in his hands in a decision-making position in the half-court.
Phoenix needs to get back to Booker, the playmaker
We know one-on-one Booker is talented, and getting him some easy buckets by running some plays will help. Another thing that will help is getting others involved when Booker does have the ball, and you do this by putting Booker in the pick and roll.
CP3 does not have to be the only Suns player with the ball and gets a screen, making the other team think.
Screens are about more than making the defenders swap; it is about making those defenders think and react and respond. That happens when you attack out of the pick-and-roll.
The Suns’ current pick-and-pop action – is about all we get from CP3, and Ayton does nothing to scare the defense. However, Booker being more involved on either side of that equation will help make the offense more dynamic, get more people involved, and get Booker more open-looks.
If the Suns run a few more plays for Booker off the ball and then have him more involved in the pick-and-roll on the ball, it should create easier looks and put more pressure on the defense.
Can we get Booker the ball on the block, please?
All that said, Booker is still an excellent one-on-one player, and no matter how many more plays are run, we know it is likely that 50% of the time, Booker will be working in isolation. The question is where the isolation will take place. Will Booker be isolated out on the wing, 20+ feet away from the basket, or can we get him isolated down on the block and baseline, closer to 10-12 feet away?
Booker shoots over 60% on the season when 10 feet or closer to the basket. Would it not make more sense to get him more shoots in this range?
How often do we see Booker in the post on the block or baseline? How often did we see Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant in those positions? Jordan and Bryant dominated from the baseline with their backs to the basket. I’m not saying Booker is either, but he has similar moves with the ball.
We know Booker has a great jab-step and a wonderful triple-threat game. However, he is also 6’5″, over 200 pounds, and a beast on the baseline. Why not start incorporating more of a post-game into the Suns’ arsenal for Booker? Maybe that will encourage other players to post up more.
Post-ups are passe in today’s NBA, but inside-out games happen when you have an inside game, which Booker can help bring to some extent and will be needed, especially with Ayton out.
Ultimately, the Suns will only go as far as DBook can carry us, especially until Durant returns. The least the team can do is help carry Booker a little by playing to his strengths and doing more to make his day just a little easier. Will things change when Durant returns? Yes, just as they should until he does return, and those changes should be designed to make Booker the best he can be.