Phoenix Suns 2021-22 player previews: The next step in Devin Booker's evolution

Devin Booker’s progression to NBA stardom has been nothing short of astounding since he first entered the league. Once tabbed as a Klay Thompson-esque spot-up shooter and little else, each new season in the pros has unlocked a new layer of his game.

When they labeled him as a catch-and-shoot guy, he proved he could score from anywhere on the court. They called him inefficient, so he bumped up his true-shooting percentage to career-high levels. When they said all he could do was score, he upgraded his ball-handling and passing, averaging nearly seven assists a night as the Phoenix Suns’ de facto point guard.

And when they said he didn’t actually make his teammates better, that he wasn’t a winner and that his defense was a major flaw, well…the last two seasons have been spent busting those myths too.

Coming off an NBA Finals run that included several unforgettable performances, no one can play ignorant to Devin Booker’s status in this league anymore. The question is — and it’s one that stumps even head coach Monty Williams — what’s the next step in the evolution of a stone-cold killer?

“I don’t know,” Williams said bluntly. “That’s a hard one. It really is.”

A LOOK AT DEVIN BOOKER SO FAR

When trying to project where a player like Booker will end up, it’s useful to examine where he was last year. His individual numbers took a slight hit as he averaged 25.6 points, 4.3 assists and 4.2 rebounds per game, but that was to be expected with the arrival of someone like Chris Paul. Book still posted a 58.7 true-shooting percentage, which was the second-highest mark of his career and fairly impressive for a guy who only made 34 percent of his 5.5 attempts per game from long range.

As a playmaker, Booker’s 20.0 assist percentage in non-garbage time minutes placed him in the 94th percentile among all shooting guards, per Cleaning The Glass. He was hyper-efficient in that department despite having less responsibility as a creator, ranking in the 79th percentile in assist points per 75 possessions, 99th percentile in potential assists per 75 possessions and 96th percentile in passing creation quality, per The Bball Index.

Not bad for a guy who didn’t like being double-teamed in pickup!

As a scorer, Book was as deadly as ever:

• True-shooting percentage: 80th percentile
• Points scored per 75 possessions: 98th percentile
• Points over expectation: 92nd percentile
• Points per possession (PPP): 80th percentile
• Pick-and-roll ball-handler PPP: 100th percentile
• Post-up PPP: 100th percentile
• Cut PPP: 98th percentile

How on earth do you stop a player who can score in so many ways?

“He doesn’t have a weakness in his offensive game,” Williams said. “He plays on every level, uses both hands, is a much better defender than people give him credit. He’s a willing passer and an accurate passer, has a high IQ for the game.”

Despite the arrival of a ball-dominant guard like CP3, Booker made the most of his reduced touches. According to NBA.com, despite ranking 78th in the NBA in touches per game, he led the league in points per touch (0.455), edging the NBA’s second-leading scorer, Bradley Beal (0.454).

It was actually the second year in a row Book ranked first in that category among all players who got a minimum of 50 touches per game. His absurd efficiency here traces all the way back to his breakthrough season in 2016-17:

• 2016-17 stats: 57.9 touches per game, .375 points per touch (9th in the NBA)
• 2017-18 stats: 67.2 touches per game, .375 points per touch (6th)
• 2018-19 stats: 75.7 touches per game, .351 points per touch (16th)
• 2019-20 stats: 60.2 touches per game, .442 points per touch (1st)
• 2020-21 stats: 56.2 touches per game, .455 points per touch (1st)

For reference, Chris Paul averaged 77.4 touches per game last year. Booker didn’t get as many touches as he probably should have, but he still made them count. It’s why no one batted an eye when, after being eased back into training camp and missing the Suns’ first three preseason games, he dropped 17 points on 6-of-10 shooting in just 18 minutes against the Portland Trail Blazers.

For a kid who doesn’t turn 25 for another two weeks, it can be easy to forget Devin Booker still has room to grow as an NBA superstar.

“I think Devin’s done so much at such a young age, it really puts expectations on him that most guys his age wouldn’t have, you know what I’m saying?” Williams said. “I think he welcomes it, but I think winning is the thing that he wants to add to his resume, and he’s doing it now. He’s winning games, added a gold medal, he’s got a Western Conference championship, and so I think that’s what he wants to add to his legacy along with the stuff that he’s already done.”

The winning finally came last year. Phoenix rode the momentum of that 8-0 bubble run into a 51-21 record, the second-best mark in the league. The Suns ranked in the top-10 for both offensive and defensive rating, fourth in point differential and posted the NBA’s best record against winning teams. Their road to the Finals was easier than expected due to opposing injuries, but they were no fluke, and Booker quickly proved he’d been preparing for that moment his whole life.

Casual narratives like “empty stats” and “he doesn’t play winning basketball” were put to sleep quick when a 3 level scorer with a polished skill set and an old school competitive spirit got on this stage and shined right away. Devin Booker is one of the best in the world. pic.twitter.com/688gHdbMfL

— Ball Don't Stop (@balldontstop) October 18, 2021

Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups, who used to watch Book’s father, Melvin Booker, has been watching the young Suns guard for a long time and is a big fan of his progression.

“I just think Devin’s a winner, he’s all about the right things,” Billups said. “What’s impressed me the most about him is him coming in the league so young and having four or five different coaches in as many years. Most of those guys are lost most of their career mentally because they don’t really know what to believe, who to look up to, what to do, and they pick up so many bad habits. They become very selfish, and it’s tough to reel them in. This dude did all of that, got Monty here and he just locked right in.”

All this glowing praise, however, doesn’t mean Devin Booker is done growing as a player.

WHAT’S NEXT FOR DEVIN BOOKER TO IMPROVE ON?

Even after a Finals run, a gold medal in the Olympics and an excruciatingly short offseason, Booker has still impressed Williams with a few new additions to his bag.

“As far as his game is concerned, I see a few things that he’s trying to do that I hadn’t seen in years past,” he said. “Maybe I wasn’t paying attention, but I see it now because we’ve been together for year three.”

The biggest area for growth in Booker’s game is, ironically, the very trait he was pegged as elite heading into the draft back in 2015: 3-point shooting. He only shot 34 percent from beyond the arc last year and is a career 35.2 percent 3-point shooter. Through six NBA seasons, he’s only had one where he made more than 38 percent of his 3s and only two where he topped 36 percent.

Williams pinpointed a quicker release as one area where Book has added to his arsenal.

“It may be something that I just haven’t seen and he had it in his bag, but I’ve seen him get his shot off a bit quicker in catch-and-shoot situations,” Williams said. “He’s always got one or two guys running at him. A lot of times, guys have a chance to set their feet, gather, get to their L [shooting motion], shoot it. I’ve seen him shoot a couple of shots if not more than a couple where he’s just catching and just going straight up.”

Everyone knows Booker can shoot. As a midrange assassin who took 50 percent of his shots from that area of the floor, per Cleaning The Glass, he made a staggering 50 percent of those shots, ranking in the 97th percentile. But if he can extend that efficiency and unstoppably quick release to beyond the 3-point line, defenses will have no chance of stopping him.

Book made 37.8 percent of his catch-and-shoot 3s last year and 51.4 percent of his corner 3s, so Phoenix generating more open looks for their star would help. That’s difficult to do for a player who commands so much attention, but if he can also improve that 30.8 percent mark on pull-up 3s, a career scoring year could be in store.

More than anything, it’s the sting of that Finals loss and a desire to prove he’s a championship-caliber winner in this league that fuels him now.

“We take that day-by-day approach, but I’m glad the narrative changed to if we feel like we’re going to the Finals rather than making playoffs,” Booker said. “I feel like that’s the standard we all hold ourselves to in here. I feel like that’s the standard that Monty has developed throughout this culture, in us as a team. Through our continuity and spending time with each other, we know we understand we’re trying to play to win it and that’s the only reason we play.”

He may have averaged a career-high 36.8 points per 100 possessions last year, but nobody can do it alone. Having actual point guards like Ricky Rubio and CP3 over the last two seasons was eye-opening for the Booker critics, and now that he has help, Williams said he’s seen him step forward as even more of a leader.

“He’s been a ton more vocal in this camp than the last two camps because I think, one, he’s confident about what we’re doing, but he’s helping guys more than I saw last year and especially the first year,” Williams said. “Three years into it, I’ve seen him just pulling guys to the side, talking about rotations, backside defense, a wrinkle to an offensive play that some of the new guys may not know — he’s helping guys out. So that’s not something added to his game, but I think it’s added to his leadership profile.”

As Chris Paul shifts into the twilight of his career over the next few seasons, more of the scoring, playmaking and leadership load will fall on Devin Booker. In the meantime, he still has room for growth as a 3-point shooter, foul-drawer, defender, vocal leader and all-around winner if he can take the Suns to the promised land.

Given every new step in his evolution to this point, there’s little reason to continue doubting him now.