1tinsoldier wrote: ↑Tue Apr 15, 2025 11:38 am
the stats are in:
Devin Booker 2024-2025 Season
OFFENSE RANKING (
50% of a players value)
12th in points
15th in assists
239th in shooting percentage
307th in 3pt percentage
107th offensive rating
289th clutch rating
(33%, 18% 3pt. 7 career game winning shots- very low for a team's #1 option, go-to player over 11 seasons)
522th (of 568) DEFENSE RANKING (
50% of a players value)
overall
434th +/- rating (OFFENSE + DEFENSE impact)
Top 10 NBA salary (Booker will make more than Kevin Durant next season though Durant has better stats in all of the above except for assists.) An expected 70 million Booker deal is expected this year. Currently, the top NBA salary is 59 million.
Team Performance:
Worst Suns season several times. Best Suns season + NBA Finals + among top defensive team and clutch team with Chris Paul for 2 seasons. Back to among worst defensive and clutch team without Chris Paul. 7 coaches replaced over 10 seasons. Consistent team chemistry/motivation/meltdown problems though the team has been completely turned over and built around Booker many times.
THAT'S JUST THE FACTS. The stats are from NBA.com. Please do correct me if i misread anything.
Alright, you want a response…here you go:
First off, saying offense is only 50% of a players value is just wrong. Offense is definitely more important as you have more control over who runs your offense. You can hide someone on defense and teams can avoid players on defense.
I also think we’ve all expressed on here that Booker has had a poor season by his standards, so I don’t exactly know what you are looking for when it comes to responses as no one is trying to say he was great this year. But let’s look at your stats:
Comparing fg% to every other nba player is misleading. You are comparing him to players who don’t create any shots and only take shots at the rim. EFG% and TS% are also better options as they take into consideration shot value and free throws…and you should really only compare people of similar usage rate. I posted earlier(no one responded) that Booker’s TS% this year is actually higher than his career numbers. Booker is 19th in TS% among players with a usage rate over 25 who played at least 50 games. Players he is ahead of include, Luka Doncic, Jayson Tatum, Anthony Davis, Donovan Mitchell, James Harden, Cade Cunningham, Trae Young, and Jalen Williams.
I don’t know what the offensive rating, clutch rating, or defensive ranking that you posted are. I have rarely seen a good all encompassing stat in those regards. I will say that Booker has clearly had a bad year in the clutch and on defense. No argument there. I’ll add some stats from dunksandthrees.com that I’ve heard are highly thought of(though admittedly I don’t know how it’s calculated, but it passes the eye test). It ranks Booker as the 15th most effective offensive player this year(97th percentile) and near the bottom defensively(8th percentile). Overall this stat puts him in the 88th percentile(60th) on a per game basis and in the 94th percentile(28th) when you factor in minutes played. You’d want your best player higher than that for sure, but this paints a picture that he’s still a very good player.
As for the contract…yes it’s a lot of money, but it’s not more than KD next year(though the difference is very small). I’d also point out that saying he can sign a 70 million dollar contract this summer and comparing that to the highest salary of 59 million is misleading. He can sign an extension that kicks in in 2028-29, 3 years from now. 59 million will not be the highest salary then. The amount he makes in 28-29 won’t change in relation to the salary cap. It will be 35% of the cap, so it’s equivalent to what he’s making today.
I think it’s fair to debate whether he’s worth that as I do agree that he isn’t good enough to be the best player on a title winner, but there’s not a team in the league that wouldn’t take Booker on that deal right now.
I think questioning the chemistry stuff is fair. We’ve got 2 years now where it seems to have been bad. My first thought is questioning the change from Monty(though we had issues with him as well), but a lot is probably moving on from CP3, Mikal, and Cam. Booker has shown he can be on a team with good chemistry…he just might not create it. I don’t think he’s the cause of the bad chemistry..but he’s not above questioning.