Bourguet Breakdown: The evolution of Devin Booker as a masterful manipulator of double-teams

Much like the summer of 2019, the biggest topic surrounding Devin Booker right now is double-teams. Or at least, it should be.

But unlike those mind-numbingly stupid arguments about what should and shouldn’t fly in open gyms, this new narrative is a positive one: Book has mastered the very traps that inspired all those doubly lame jokes in the first place.

It’s been years since anyone doubted Book’s scoring ability, and for good reason. The eighth-year Phoenix Suns star is averaging a career-high 27.4 points per game, which ranks 12th in the NBA, on 47.8 percent shooting overall and 37.5 percent from 3-point range.

But lost in that scoring prowess has often been his playmaking, especially since Chris Paul’s arrival. Booker is only averaging 5.8 assists per game, 28th-most in the league, but with CP3 taking a step back this year (and missing 14 games due to right heel soreness), the 26-year-old has taken on more ball-handling duties.

Booker’s usage is slightly down, but according to The BBall Index, his “ball dominance” has jumped from 24 percent last year to 30.7 percent so far this season — a massive increase. And with Book operating more on the ball, his ability to orchestrate offense in the face of constant doubles is shining through.

“It’s an evolution of not just him, but how he’s allowed his teammates to be a part of it all,” coach Monty Williams said. “The great ones do it.”

According NBA CourtOptix tracking data, Booker has been the sixth-most double-teamed player in the NBA this season. The Suns have scored 1.25 points per possession when he’s been doubled — the second-best mark among the league’s 20 most-trapped players.

15 most double teamed players in the league + points per possession when they’re double teamed

What stands out? pic.twitter.com/NZEukCLlD1

— NBA University (@NBA_University) December 14, 2022

“Handling double-teams” is the latest new tool Booker has added to his bag. As a student of the game, it’s not surprising he’s added something new with each passing season.

“That’s been my only way through my whole life,” he explained. “It’s something I took pride in at a young age. I eat, sleep, think this game, and I wouldn’t want it any other way. This is where I’m happiest.”

The question is, how exactly has he improved in this area that used to be a widely publicized weakness? For the latest Bourguet Breakdown, here’s how Devin Booker has grown into an expert manipulator of double-teams (with video below in case reading’s not your thing!).

Devin Booker is too good to not trap

For the NBA’s most prolific scorers, no matchup or defensive coverage will throw them off for long. The best defenses mix things up to keep superstars on their toes, and Booker is the type of high-caliber scorer that requires multiple looks.

After leading the league in points per touch over the last three seasons, Booker currently ranks sixth in that category among all players with at least 1,000 touches, per NBA.com. He’s averaging the third-most pull-up field goal attempts and makes in the association, speaking to his ability to get to his spots at any time. He’s in the 81st percentile in isolation points per possession, according to The BBall Index.

So if you don’t send a double, he’s going to pull up from long range, slither his way into his patented middy or forcefully maneuver his way to the basket:

“The really good teams will switch different defenders and throw multiple defenses at you all the time, but some teams will come in and just stick with one game plan, and that’s to get the ball out of my hands,” Booker said. “And I’m fine with that.”

As a guy who’s placed in the 97th and 99th percentile in scoring gravity over the last two seasons, soft traps won’t cut it against Booker either. Give him too much time or space to assess the floor, and he’ll dissect the defense with a pocket pass, a quick swing to the open man or an avenue to attack off the dribble.

Because of this, and because the Suns run so many pick-and-roll actions to maximize the gravity of Booker, Paul and Deandre Ayton on his dives, opponents have resorted to hard trapping Booker as the ball-handler coming off screens.

It’s not really working. According to NBA.com, Booker ranks in the top-15 players for both pick-and-roll ball-handler possessions and points scored, placing him in the 74th percentile. On The BBall Index, he ranks in the 87th percentile in points per possession as the pick-and-roll ball-handler.

“It’s been cool to watch Book, ’cause everybody sees the 50- and 40-some-point games, but they’re not watching the reads that he’s making, the passes that he’s making when he comes off a ball screen and he hits the weak-side corner or he’s hitting the shakeup guy,” Paul said during his time on the sidelines. “I think what’s cool about watching and me being out is that he’s able to score as many points as he wants to, but he still plays the right way.”

Booker has years of chemistry with Ayton on the screens, but he’s effective in pick-and-rolls no matter which big he plays with, hitting them in stride with a pocket pass or a short lob over the top. From there, the roller can either attack, pull up for the immediate floater, or locate shooters on the second side (as DA, Jock Landale and Bismack Biyombo all demonstrate in the clip below):

“It’s easy when they’re putting a lot of guys on Book,” Torrey Craig said. “A lot of times, they’re doubling Book, so the first pass out of the double-team, he’s just being aggressive because you know you have numbers on the back side.”

Getting off the ball quicker is the ultimate sign of trust

In the Suns’ season-opening win over the Dallas Mavericks, Booker was double-teamed on the game’s finale possession. He found Damion Lee, who hit a ridiculously tough baseline jumper that proved to be the game-winner.

In the Suns’ second loss of the season to the Portland Trail Blazers, Booker was doubled and hit a cutting Mikal Bridges, who was called for a travel.

Two similar scenarios, two different results. But Booker said the exact same thing after both games: He was doubled, so he made the right play and trusted the open teammate. It doesn’t seem like much, but that trust speaks to just how far his supporting cast has come…and how much Booker has evolved as a leader in Monty Williams’ own image.

“That’s just the type of basketball we play and always have,” Booker said. “We take a lot of pride in it. I take a lot of pride in when teams double me, like, I get off it quick. We have weapons and options, and I always say it, but it wasn’t always that way for me. So I have a lot of respect for everybody in this locker room, and they take it as disrespect when teams double-team — as they should — and they’ve been making them pay.”

Booker says the Suns expect and drill for the extra attention he receives, and it’s “the best feeling” to be able to trust this superior supporting cast when opponents force the ball out of his hands. The biggest area where he’s improved on that front? Simply getting it out of his hands even quicker.

“It’s something that we’ve scouted, we’ve schemed,” Booker said. “You know teams are gonna throw different defenses at me, and the quicker I can get off the ball and the quicker they can attack it, it’s the advantage for our team.”

It’s one thing for lead offensive creators to talk about trusting their teammates and another for them to actually do so, but Booker has the numbers to back up these recurring talking points.

Heading into Wednesday’s slate of games, Booker was tied for the second-most secondary assists in the entire league with 31. He also ranked 10th in potential assists with 313, trailing only lead playmakers like Tyrese Haliburton, Trae Young, Luka Doncic, Kyle Lowry, Nikola Jokic, Russell Westbrook, Tre Jones, Draymond Green and Jalen Brunson.

Williams has frequently referred to Booker as a top-10 player and one of the most complete stars in the game, and it’s due in no small part to his willingness to get off the ball and make everyone around him better.

“I think when you get in that realm of player, or players, it’s probably an appreciation for how they make everybody else better,” Williams said. “Usually those guys are seeing a double-team every night, so they free up other guys to get open shots. When they have the ball, they draw double-teams, so they’re kicking it to guys and those assists doesn’t typically count. You know, it’s usually a hockey assist. I think that’s how you have to start measuring those guys, because they draw so much attention.”

Weaponizing Devin Booker’s growth against traps

Passing out of doubles on pick-and-rolls is one thing, but the Suns have actively weaponized Devin Booker’s new penchant for handling traps too.

According to The BBall Index, Devin Booker ranks in the 98th percentile in a statistic called “box creation,” which is an estimate of open shots carved out for teammates by drawing defensive attention. That elite mark speaks to his ability to not only harness gravity to his advantage, but channel it through his teammates as well.

“Oh man, it makes it easier for all of us, ’cause when somebody steps up, then we throw the lob or hit the corner and find guys and just play from there,” Craig said. “So that actually helps us when they [trap Booker].”

One way the Suns deploy Booker’s gravity to their advantage is by creating situations where defenses feel obligated to double in order to keep up with their frenetic pace. Phoenix loves curling Book around staggered screens near the top of the key, forcing communication and multiple hedges, recoveries or outright switches for the defense.

When Book gets the ball with a handoff from his big near the top of the arc, defenders practically leap at him to cut off the action, frantically following him even as he draws them further away from the basket.

It’s all by design: Booker eyes the rolling big who set the second screen, which sucks the first screener’s defender into the paint, before quickly targeting his first outlet option on the left wing, usually a shooter lifting from the corner after setting the initial screen.

From there, it’s either an open 3, a second/skip pass to the corner, or a feed to the rolling big, at which point the Suns’ ball movement can result in highlight plays like Landale’s alley-oop to end this clip:

The Suns also don’t mind screening with a shooter like Landry Shamet if they know the blitz is coming, opening up simple but backbreaking pick-and-pops:

The way Booker is slinging the ball in those situations, it’s not surprising he ranks in the 88th percentile in assist points per 75 possessions, 89th percentile in passing creation volume and 99th percentile in potential assists per 100 passes.

“Sometimes it’s tough to keep getting double-teamed every time and keep giving it up, but I think he does a great job and then finds his ways to maybe split it or attack whoever the weakest defender is doubling,” Mikal Bridges said. “He’s been great at just trusting everybody else to go make a play.”

Baiting and manipulating double-teams

Reacting to doubles with a pass out of the trap is good, and so is having sets designed to turn a defense’s aggression into a disadvantage. But ending the conversation there would deprive Booker of his due credit for being able to manipulate blitzes on his own.

Getting off the ball quickly helps, but the best defenses typically try to cover that first outlet. This is where Booker really shines, as Dwane Casey — Detroit Pistons coach and a fellow Kentucky alum who’s watched Book since his college days — explained.

“He’s tough because, one, he’s a willing passer,” Casey said. “One thing he does do, he sees the floor well. People think, ‘Okay, he’s just a scorer, just a shooter.’ No. He’s a passer. He’s an excellent shooter, great scorer, but he can see the floor. He sees that corner as well as anyone when he sees double-teams or sees traffic.”

Booker has seen almost every defense that opponents can throw at him by now, which is probably why he now has the presence of mind to stay composed in those situations and create extra breathing room with a simple step backward.

It may not sound like much, but that additional space and time to survey the floor helps Booker navigate paths to feed his rolling screener, kick a quick pass to his nearest lifeline on the perimeter that allows teammates to capitalize against a scrambling defense, or fire absurd, pinpoint lasers to the weak-side corner:

“He just does a really good job of dealing with double-teams, and not just that, but seeing the backside of it,” Williams explained. “Sometimes people think of it only in terms of the blitz or the trap, but when you’re that guy, you have to look and see where the ball’s gonna go and who’s around the ball.

“He’s basically looking at three guys — two on him and the one that may take the pass away. So that part is a big-time skill, and since I’ve been here, it’s just evolved into a weapon for us.”

Despite being put in harrowing situations that require quick decision-making, Booker is in the 91st percentile in passing efficiency, per The BBall Index. At this point, he’s actively goading teams into doubling him.

“Some guys pull the double-team towards them to make it a longer rotation for the trapper,” Williams said. “Some guys do it to bait.”

Last season, Booker placed in the 48th percentile in drive assist rate. This season, he’s jumped all the way to the 73rd percentile. He’s proven effective at driving to the midrange, drawing in the weak-side defender with a pump fake, and then dishing a quick dime to the corner for 3.

The impressive thing is it doesn’t have to be the strong-side corner for him to scope out his snipers; just watch him weave through the paint, probing the defense before firing a skip pass to the weak-side corner, where a shooter (usually Bridges) is patiently waiting:

That ability to serve as bait isn’t lost on Williams, Booker’s teammates…or, apparently, Book himself.

“It drives him nuts, but I’ll draw up a play and I’ll be like, ‘Book, I want you to be a decoy here,'” Williams said with a laugh. “He’s like, ‘That’s an expensive decoy, coach.’ You know, he’ll say something typical Book, but because he can do that, it opens up the floor for other guys.”

The scary thing is, every single clip in this long-winding article only includes plays where the Suns scored. Now imagine how many more examples there were to sift through where Booker made the right read and Phoenix just missed!

There is no perfect metric to accurately capture a player’s impact, especially as it pertains to double-teams or directly vs. indirectly creating offense. But there’s a reason The BBall Index’s “total offensive load” stat has Booker at a whopping 49.6 percent. There’s a reason Booker ranks 17th in assist points created this season, and there’s a reason he’s in the 90th percentile in high-value assists per 75 possessions.

If the advanced statistics aren’t enough, the eye test confirms that Devin Booker has turned weakness into strength, mastering the art of reading defenses and picking apart double-teams with ease — and in NBA regulation games where it actually matters, not meaningless summer pickup runs.

“If you look at all those guys in the top-25 players, they typically are in a place where they make other players — and I hate that word, how they make ’em ‘better,’ ’cause players are good,” Williams said. “I think it’s how they open up the game for those guys, at least on the offensive end. And I think that’s where a lot of Book’s value is.”