The Devin Booker non-appreciation thread.

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newBluePlanet

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I was just mocking the churlishness of the thread title. Booker has never been my favorite Suns player, because when he was young, he turned me off with his "that's my mother******' shot" showboating; but I appreciate him...

...Booker is so quiet, so un-Barkley-like, that I honestly don't know just how egotistical Booker is; and if he is egotistical...most players in most sports are...

regarding the churlish title, the admin kicked me out of the "Booker is the Greatest..." thread because i was, essentially, "not allowed to post criticism in the APPRECIATION thread" so i created this non-appreciation thread

indeed, a bloated ego drive applies to anyone who rises to NBA level, but i see it clearer in him than any Sun ever, despite how well he keeps it under the radar and keeps his reputation clean. He strategically kept his mouth shut when he should have spoke up, like others, about Sarver. He quietly threw his last coach under the bus, and, likely, many of the 7 others who probably dared to ask him to play different. Ott knows what's up. He goes out of his way to hail the face of the Suns, because he knows his job depends on it.

he got depressed last season when it became clear it was more Durant's team. He was fine with CP3 as long as the team was rockin'. But, in both cases, at the end of 2 years, you could tell he wanted the reigns back -- though he will never have what it takes to lead a team.

as you can see, it's still his "MFing shot" in crunch-time despite his record being awful at it -- he just learned to not say it into a microphone now. He knows where his bread is buttered -- and he got rewarded for his community marketing sense, not his on court bb iq. Good luck to Ott, and us. We're gonna need it.
 
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newBluePlanet

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the best thing about the prior blowout, was that it wasn't close enough for Booker to blow it in the end, which might have made it 6 straight crunch collapses, whilst fighting for a playoff spot

on a less snide note, both Book and Green scored before that, but, as i said, the math doesn't work out. Booker and Green's offense is less productive than the better defense we have without them.

it was the same last season with the Booker and Durant offense. And, btw, we're now only 4 games ahead of last season, and without Brooks, our record is actually worse than last season
 

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the best thing about the prior blowout, was that it wasn't close enough for Booker to blow it in the end, which might have made it 6 straight crunch collapses, whilst fighting for a playoff spot

on a less snide note, both Book and Green scored before that, but, as i said, the math doesn't work out. Booker and Green's offense is less productive than the better defense we have without them.

it was the same last season with the Booker and Durant offense. And, btw, we're now only 4 games ahead of last season, and without Brooks, our record is actually worse than last season

Without 2/5ths of our starters we're struggling? What a revelation.
 
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newBluePlanet

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Without 2/5ths of our starters we're struggling? What a revelation.
like there weren't significant injuries last season. and the one before that. AND to most of the opponents we've been playing?

but, indeed, the Brooks injury was key. We did have a great, unexpected first half of the season. Because the team was imprinted with his energy and grit. But this second half was worse than last season.

and what's insulting to the community is how everyone pretends they don't know what the problem is. Just heard on the radio, talk about how we're losing the games in clutch, and Booker saying, "we just need to get over the hump" and the coach saying, "we just need to pound it." I can't blame Ott for playing dumb. He knows his job depends on keeping Booker happy. But regarding the local analysts, announcers, and fanboys, the only acceptable explanation to me is that they ARE stupid, because them just playing stupid is more aggravating than us losing games.
 

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John Voita, III
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Devin Booker in the clutch since February 1:

❄️1-8 record
❄️25 FG%
❄️-45 +/-
❄️0.6 AST:TO Ratio
❄️-53 Net Rating
❄️22.6 TO%
34.6 Usage %
 
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newBluePlanet

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it's uncanny how the announcers and analysts will find any way around Booker blame. First it was "lack of talent around him" then it was Aydon, then it was CP3's age, then it was Nurkic and Beal, then it was that Durant wasn't a leader. We actually started last season hot when it seemed to become Durant's team, which caused Booker to sulk and then they soured Durant by openly trying to trade him.

eventually, it was, as usual, the coach's fault, so they fired Booker's 7th coach

this season started out great. It was becoming Brook's team and we were, like, 4th in defense and in the top at closing out games. Eventually Booker ball kicked in again.

now that we're back to our losing ways, Suns TV announced they will be focusing on Booker climbing the NBA's scoring list! :biglaugh:
 
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newBluePlanet

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...now Jalen Green will become the scapegoat for the Suns' woes. The truth is, we'd get equal or better results by sitting Booker in crunch time. assuming he gets paid significantly less, i'd rather have Green than Booker or Durant on my team.
 
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newBluePlanet

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typical fanboy analysis in the "Trade" thread. The reason we should not consider moving Booker is that "Book is the Suns"

meanwhile, at least the Suns announcers are admitting that the reason the Suns have sucked in the second half of the season is that they can't close out games -- because they've lost their defensive edge. Or, as i'd put it, we're back to Booker ball instead of Brooks ball.
 
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newBluePlanet

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now the lowest scoring NBA team in 4th quarters!
this season is ending just like everyone predicted, despite a very impressive start led by Brooks and an activated defense that was among the top in the league.

and we were a top clutch team too. now among the worst
same thing when we lost CP3's leadership. went from best in those 2 years to worst

the other 9 of 11 seasons under Booker ball, have been garbage

did you catch the camera on Gillespi and Allen on the bench while the Suns were collapsing again in the 4th?
 
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let's see if Booker learned anything and if Ott can apply what he surely knows.

tomorrow's game is their best chance, because if they can't beat Portland, they can't beat the winner of the other bracket. And all it should take is the team remembering its first half, defensive, team-oriented, identity rather than the losing Booker-Ball identity that stunk up the 2nd half of the season!
 
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newBluePlanet

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the announcers touted Booker averaging 29 points since March 1, but didn't mention we had a losing record since then. and I haven't the will to look up his crunch-time record since then. i've seen it over and over for 11 years. SOS
 
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newBluePlanet

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and the propaganda B.S. continues. Per ClutchPoints, No mention of Booker, despite the bad free throws/decisions/defense/shooting/leadership, it was basically everyone else's fault for blowing the game last night:

Suns most to blame for NBA Play-In Tournament loss to Blazers​

 

Dan H

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Starting to feel like Booker is an Armon Gilliam / Xavier McDaniel empty numbers guy.

If we moved him, what could we get in return?
 

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Starting to feel like Booker is an Armon Gilliam / Xavier McDaniel empty numbers guy.

If we moved him, what could we get in return?
I think he's quite a bit better than those two but I'd be more than willing to move on from him. Trading him to a team where he'd be the number 2 guy and get back whatever draft assets we can has been my preference for a few years now. To me, every highly paid player in the NBA is grossly overpaid unless they are good enough to carry a team to a title and very few players can carry a team. Booker clearly can't.

I think Devin gets way too much blame at times but he gets injured too often and he plays poorly whenever he's dealing with even a minor injury. And he's never learned how to work the referees. And I've always disliked his decision making during end of quarters and especially the final minutes of a close game.

If I thought an expansion team would claim him, I might even be willing to lose him without any return. Not because I don't like him and not because I don't believe he's one of the top players in the league. It's because I don't believe the top players are worth all that extra money, any of them, unless you're talking prime Curry/Lebron/Kawhi level players and Booker isn't at that level.

I'm expecting at least one poster to point out how stupid it is to hope for a Booker trade because everyone knows Booker is the Phoenix Suns. But as much as I like Devin, I like the Suns far more. So if moving him eventually makes us better, make us better!!!
 

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Starting to feel like Booker is an Armon Gilliam / Xavier McDaniel empty numbers guy.

If we moved him, what could we get in return?
If they could trade him to say, the Spurs, for a package of something like Vassell, 3 first rounders, and maybe a second rounder or two, I think that would be a pretty good haul.

You get one young potential star, and the picks would offset some of the draft capital we threw away in the Durant/Beal disasters. They should be looking at deals like that.
 
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newBluePlanet

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...I've always disliked his decision making during end of quarters and especially the final minutes of a close game.

If I thought an expansion team would claim him, I might even be willing to lose him without any return. Not because I don't like him...But as much as I like Devin, I like the Suns far more. So if moving him eventually makes us better, make us better!!!

exactly. It simply calls for rooting for the Suns more. but this post today, is exactly the kind of thinking this community is up against...

booker has the 13th highest selling jersey in the league - for every gripe you have with book nike has 5 new versions of his shoe - the best rappers rap about being like devin booker - you're free to hate him but most fans appreciate him - also because he's a team first player just like fitz - you must have missed the olympics

i said we should have traded Booker right after the olympics, when Kerr praised him. He played a role there, instead of thinking he was a superstar like the others on the team
 

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John Voita, III
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Devin Booker since the All-Star break:

5.0 pts in Q4 (35th)
2.9 pts in the clutch (44th)
-30 in the clutch (394th)
8 TO’s in the clutch (2nd)
-35.2 NETRTG
 
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newBluePlanet

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John Voita, III
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Devin Booker since the All-Star break:

5.0 pts in Q4 (35th)
2.9 pts in the clutch (44th)
-30 in the clutch (394th)
8 TO’s in the clutch (2nd)
-35.2 NETRTG

indeed, the stats have always been there for critical thinkers to form their own opinions beyond the broadcasters hype

and even Gambo on sports radio has finally, after 11 years, has broken from the company line on Book...

"he disappears in the 4th quarter. People say, oh, but he makes the right play...baloney!" - Gambo
 
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newBluePlanet

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the story behind this 35 point debacle of OKC game 1 is that our point guard had only 2 assists and the team had more turnovers than assists.

whether Booker playing point is a good idea was settled 6 seasons ago -- yet this is the third go round of a bad idea.
 

Raindog

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Is it even possible to trade Book and his super Max contract?
It would take finding a championship adjacent team that feels they are one complementary piece away, and have an owner who's willing to go all in for a quick shot at the title. Possibly a larger market team that isn't as budget conscious.
 

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