[Lotto StudParticipant]

At which point in Devin Booker’s career will he surpass expectations to become a top-3 shooting guard?

[whiteflashParticipant]

 When he can carry his team into title contention. 

[Lotto StudParticipant]

You actually measure player rankings based on playoff success?

[whiteflashParticipant]

 No, but definitely think there’s merit to it. Booker is young, and has put up pretty impressive numbers so far, but his team has been TERRIBLE. That’s obviously not entirely on him, but padding your stats in meaningless games isn’t really indicative of future success or current ability. If he were that good, it would translate to at least a few more wins. Take his 70pt game. That is obviously crazy impressive, but his team LOST and had NO CHANCE of winning and they were just feeding him so he could jack up shot after shot. That kind of diminishes the accomplishment in my eyes. 

[BallerScriptParticipant]

Perimeter defense is becoming a key aspect of being considered an elite shooting guard in todays NBA. Booker has intriguing defensive potential and has shown some bright spots but as of now he isn’t a defensive player at all.

[Robb_CParticipant]

 Wut? Tell that to Harden

[KIP BallerParticipant]

 Booker is the age of most college juniors and won’t be 22 until after next season starts and he already is one of the top scoring guards in the NBA. At age 21, Harden was in his second season averaging 12 a game still trying to find a role in the NBA and couldnt play D. Klay was a rookie averaging 12 a game and it was unclear what his ceiling was. Booker’s two challenges that have held him back are that he has played on horrible teams (with no starting caliber pg) and is weak on defensive. He has the potential to have a ceiling similar to Harden if he plays in the right system that has competant players and other strong defensive players. To answer your original question, I can see next year being another long season for the Suns but show signs of improvement and in two years from now they take the next step (age 23) and he is considered a top 5-7 player in league.

[Lotto StudParticipant]

I believe it can be possible as well, because no one seen Jimmy Butler making the leap early on and he’s 28, while Booker is relatively young as you’ve mentioned. I see that many people are split on him because of the guys that are in the top-5 now at his position too.

[markfitz14Participant]

 There will be 7 players better than him 2 years

Durant, Curry, Lebron prbly still because he is a machine, Irving, Simmons, Embid, Tatum, Brown, AD, KAT, Ante, Plus maybe more that break out.

 

 

 

[StephGoneStephParticipant]

So in two years you think he’ll be better than Harden, Westbrook, Kawhi,  Butler,  Klay, PG, Wall, Lillard… I could go on…

[markfitz14Participant]

I just didn’t want make a long list lol. I like Booker he can be a go to scorer for sure. Suns have a bright future. I can’t wait to see who they draft 

[festar35Participant]

 Who are the top 3 currently?

I have: #1 Harden, #2 Derozan #3 Oladipo/McCollum/Beal could all lay claim here but Booker in that next group with Lou Williams & Donovan Mitchell in my opinion anyway.

 

[Lotto StudParticipant]

 The top-3 boils down to personal preference, but Harden is clearly everyone’s #1. #2-3 are interchangeable because some people have Butler and Thompson in the mix as well.

[festar35Participant]

Totally forgot about Thompson, he’d be there with the guys at 3 I see Butler as SF and Wiggins SG.

I guess 3 for me is Oladipo as he is the only one of them whom is his teams star player, unless we do count Butler who I would have as 3a & 3b.

 

[high floorParticipant]

Tier 1 – James Harden

Tier 2 – Klay Thompson, Jimmy Butler, Bradley Beal, Victor Oladipo, Demar Derozan

Tier 3 – CJ McCollum, Khris Middleton, Devin Booker, Donovan Mitchell, Lou Williams

Strictly on the stat sheet, Devin Booker is already putting up numbers near-worthy of a top 3 shooting guard. He’s got a ton of talent. But IMO he’s at least 2 years away before supplanting someone like Oladipo, Derozen or Beal. Their impact on winning is much, much greater at this stage.

Hell, with the way Donovan Mitchell is playing & how he’s bringing it on D…… he might leap frog Booker as soon as next year too! Making his path to a top 3 claim even more difficult

[IlladelphParticipant]

I tend to agree with your rankings but I’d put Booker in the 2nd tier.  Saying that he needs to work on his defense is odd to say given that your best guard James Harden almost never plays meaningful D.  Harden doesn’t even know how to defend the pick and roll.  I think although Harden is an elite scorer, probably the most ruthless scorer/shooter in the league, his defense is pretty bad.  Booker is not at his level offensively, but Booker plays better D than Harden.

[Author]

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