Phoenix Suns owner Mat Ishbia made it clear that the mission in The Valley remains building around Devin Booker, but the roster construction around his star player leaves a lot to be desired.
“Devin Booker is our franchise player. Devin Booker is everything that we want here in Phoenix as a leader, as the star player, in the community, on the court, off the court,” Ishbia said in April. “We’re gonna continue to build around him exactly as we have been.”
While Ishbia’s commitment to Booker is unwavering, the front office isn’t putting him in the best position to succeed.
The Devin Booker point guard experiment needs to end
While the Suns opted to re-sign breakout guard Collin Gillespie in one of the better moves of the entire NBA offseason, the starting lineup at this stage still appears like it will utilize “Point Book.”
As it stands, the starting five will be Booker at point guard, Jalen Green at shooting guard, Dillon Brooks, the newly acquired Miles Bridges, and Mark Williams. By the numbers, having Booker as the team’s floor general instead of its shooting guard is ill-advised.
According to data from Cleaning the Glass, Booker essentially had a 50-50 split between the two guard spots last season, but his stats in each position were night and day. As a point guard, Booker’s efficiency differential was -0.7 points per 100 possessions. When he played his more natural two-guard position, that number was +9.2 points per 100 possessions.
Additionally, the Suns allowed 117.3 points per 100 possessions when Book was running the point, a number that plummeted to 109.9 points per 100 possessions when Booker was at shooting guard.
Both offensively and defensively, the Suns are a better team when Booker is playing off the ball at shooting guard and not being relied on as the floor general in the point guard spot. Despite that fact, the Suns’ roster construction, with Jalen Green and a lack of point guards aside from Gillespie, is pushing Booker’s minutes into a role where he doesn’t often thrive.
Having a capable point guard alongside Booker has already proven to be the blueprint for success. The Suns reached the NBA Finals in 2021 with Chris Paul as the point guard alongside Book. That tandem went on to win a franchise-record 64 games together during the 2021-22 season.
Obviously, having a future Hall of Fame point guard in the mix raised the team’s ceiling, but even having a clear-cut point guard next to Booker in the backcourt hasn’t been a point of emphasis since CP3 was traded away in the ill-fated Bradley Beal deal.
Jalen Green is clear X-factor for Suns this coming season
The Suns are putting huge faith in Green to have a bounce-back year after he played a career-low 32 games in his debut season in Phoenix due to a slew of injuries. But even if Green makes a leap, the roster construction around Book will remain questionable.
The Suns could opt to move Green into a super sixth-man role and start Gillespie instead. That would slide Booker to two-guard more often, but that wouldn’t solve the lack of a point guard in the second unit if Gillespie’s the chosen starter.
It goes without saying that the X-factor in all of this is Green. The former No. 2 overall draft pick is still just 24 years old, and a number of guys in his draft class (Evan Mobley, Alperen Sengun, Scottie Barnes, Jalen Johnson, etc.) have now made their own All-Star leaps.
If Green reaches a new ceiling, Booker playing out of position may become less of an issue. As it stands, though, Green could soon be on the trade block if his fit on the roster doesn’t start to click in year two with the Suns.
If Phoenix makes yet another big-swing trade, don’t be surprised if it’s Green on the outs in favor of a true point guard to address those roster construction concerns.
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