Booker Shines on Otherwise Dull Suns Team

By Tyler Head

The feature story I chose is this one by Shane Mickle on clutchpoints.com. Mickle focused on the historical success of Suns shooting guard Devin Booker. The piece is heavily stat driven and Mickle was able to use them to show just how good of a player Booker is turning out to be. Booker recently became the third youngest player in NBA history to score 4,000 points behind only LeBron James and Kevin Durant. Mickle notes he is averaging 19.8 points, 3.5 assists and 3.2 rebounds per game thus far in his career. This season alone he is posting 25.2 points, 4.8 assists and 4.5 rebounds per game.

Despite the amazing stats, Mickle points out that Booker’s heroics aren’t enough to keep the Suns afloat. At the time of publication the Suns had a 19–47 record, which is second worst in the Western Conference. Mickle attributes the record to the fact that the Suns as a whole are just too young to be productive right now. That can certainly change in the near future if the Suns place the right pieces around Booker. They should continue to improve, with the right pieces, as Mickle points out in the very end.

Overall I thought the story was good. My group mates and I have pointed out already how great of a player Booker is, but after seeing the stats Mickle provided it really brought to light his impact. I certainly agree with the end point that the Suns need to place better pieces around Booker to get better. That being said Mickle should’ve expanded on that and at least discussed some possible scenarios.