Devin Booker will not have to share the scoring duties this year... Or the ball-handling duties... Or really any of the duties that are expected of him this year. With Kevin Durant gone, Booker's role is clearer than ever; do everything. That could be looked at as a positive, as Booker will be fully unleashed. It could also be looked at as a negative because, well, one player is expected to do everything and if he can't, there aren't many reliable options elsewhere.
It's not like things went poorly between Phoenix's two stars last year. When Durant and Booker were on the floor together last season, they had a plus-0.5 net rating. It's not astounding, although it's much better than the team's overall minus-3.0 net rating it posted for the season at large.
Still, the entire time Durant was in Phoenix, there was sort of a disconnect between him and Booker; an unwillingness by either to fully accept the role of go-to guy. One star has to be selfish, and neither Booker nor Durant is selfish by nature, so despite both players being phenomenal, it always felt a bit like they were being great by themselves.
Now there are no questions. But is a fully unleashed Booker — and a worse team around him — a net positive for the Suns? Probably not, unfortunately, because now Booker has to really be great by himself. There is a fine NBA roster around him, but that might be the ceiling for this team — a fine NBA squad.
But it's still going to be an impressive feat to behold.
Devin Booker could be in line for career year
And he's had some stellar years in his career already. He's averaged over 25 points per game each of the past seven seasons and over six assists in four of those. There's no reason to think that volume will drop at all, even with a new head coach running the Suns.
At 28 years old, Devin Booker is squarely in his peak. And an All-NBA-caliber season from him could well be in the cards. How he's only made two All-NBA teams is beyond me, frankly. I had to double and triple-check that that was true because I couldn't believe it.
So while it probably won't fully compensate for what will likely be an uneven and sometimes frustrating first year post-Kevin Durant... Devin Booker going bananas and putting himself in the MVP discussion would still be pretty cool. Just like old times, right?
Unfortunately... Right.