The 2024-25 season to this point has been a strange one for Devin Booker. On the one hand he's remained healthy and has had some massive games to help his team win games, all while sliding back into the more familiar off-guard role that has brought him so much joy in the past.
With Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal both missing time throughout the first-quarter of the season - and Booker being pipped to an award despite being called upon so often - sections of the fan base have been looking for somebody to blame for the team's struggles. Some have pointed to Booker, despite giving the Suns a shade under 25 points plus 6.4 assists each night.
Now head coach Mike Budenholzer has come under fire.
It is somewhat surprising that it has taken this long for coach Budenholzer's name to get brought up as a reason for the Suns' struggles this season. It's probably unfair too, as this group has looked like legitimate contenders when fully healthy. It is not his fault that Durant is 36-years-old or Beal is an injury-prone star.
It would also be a lot to expect the organization to turf him out after this season either - not that this is going to be the case - having had a difficult one year experience with Frank Vogel last time out. You need some form of continuity to win championships, and the prospect of a third year coach in as many years - when Budenholzer hasn't done much wrong - is not a promising sign.
But perhaps where coach Budenholzer does deserve some criticism is on his love of shooting 3-pointers. Or to be more specific, his love of certain players taking so many shots from deep. The league has obviously trended massively in that direction, and this roster did need to take more each night to remain competitive. But why does that have to include Devin Booker?
Anonymous NBA Executive About Devin Booker's Recent Struggles:
— Ahmed/The Ears/IG: BigBizTheGod 🇸🇴 (@big_business_) December 11, 2024
"Mike Budenholzer has ruined Devin Booker. What made him a tier one shooting guard in the league was his playmaking and getting in rhyme with his midrange shots, he's shooting more 3 pointers recently when he's a… pic.twitter.com/1mU9sYjNjn
Could the above from an "anonymous source" be completely made up? Sure, but that's not the point here. It is undeniable that Booker is taking a career high 7.7 attempts from deep so far this season, and he has connected on only 33.5 percent of these. That is the second lowest mark of his career, and there is no doubt it is taking away from his elite offensive game.
Booker is at his best when he's in the flow of a game and taking whatever it is defenders give him. On top of that, he's also able to bend opponents to his scoring will, and that usually includes some tough shots from the midrange and difficult adventures to the basket. Once those have been completed, he then begins to sprinkle in the 3-point shots, the final step in breaking the will of defenders.
Yet so far this season - and with Durant often not out there alongside him - Booker is settling for these longer attempts far earlier in a game, and it may be coach Budenholzer who has instructed him to do so. Consider what he has also tried to turn center Jusuf Nurkic into, and that is a discount version of Brook Lopez of the Milwaukee Bucks.
It is great to try and extend the range of a plodding center, so as to breathe new life into their career and offensive sets. But at only 29 percent on just under three attempts per game, it would be fair to say this experiment has failed to spark to life. Perhaps if the Suns had time and Nurkic was a younger player, this would be a venture worth continuing.
Instead it feels like coach Bud is forcing Nurkic to take these shots because we all know he is going to be open a ton when sharing the court with even Booker and Beal. If the memo is to have your center do this, then surely expecting a top 15 player in the league who is an offensive juggernaut when he gets going is what is being asked of Booker.
Is it not best to leave the long-range shooting to Grayson Allen - who only led the league in this category last season - and sixth man Royce O'Neale? Even point guard Tyus Jones is making an impressive 41.3 percent of his attempts, and that is again on a career high 5.5 shots each night.
The Suns rank an impressive eighth in 3-point shooting (37.8 percent), and are taking around eight more shots from this area compared to last season. That shows growth, but allowing Booker to go back to scoring his way - and doing so while being the alpha scorer at least while Durant is out - could provide the happy medium and allow coach Budenholzer to escape "anonymous source" criticism.