NBA
#13 Phoenix Suns: Devin Booker
Jeff Hawkins is an award-winning sportswriter with more than four decades in the industry (print and digital media). A freelance writer/stay-at-home dad since 2008, Hawkins started his career with newspaper stints in Michigan, North Carolina, Florida, Upstate New York and Illinois, where he earned the 2004 APSE first-place award for column writing (under 40,000 circulation). As a beat writer, he covered NASCAR Winston Cup events at NHIS (1999-2003), the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks (2003-06) and the NFL's Carolina Panthers (2011-12). Hawkins penned four youth sports books, including a Michael Jordan biography. Hawkins' main hobbies include mountain bike riding, 5k trail runs at the Whitewater Center in Charlotte, N.C., and live music.
All posts by Jeff HawkinsUpdated15 Oct 2021
With the 13th pick in the 2015 NBA Draft, the Phoenix Suns took sharpshooter Devin Booker. The former Kentucky shooting guard shot 41.1 percent from behind the arc in his freshman season. At 6’6 and 206 lbs., he has pretty good size for a shooting guard, which will help him as he defends other twos. His wingspan of 6’8 doesn’t hurt either on the defensive end of the court.
As an 18-year-old, Booker still has a lot of room to grow, but as a shooter he has an established spot in the league. Booker averaged 10 points per game in college along with grabbing a couple rebounds and a little over an assist per game in 21.5 minutes per game.
Booker has a max vert of 34.5 inches and his athleticism is pretty decent. He’ll be a great addition to the Suns’ roster. They will enjoy Booker’s shooting, as he is already the best three-point shooter on the team. He will stretch the floor for Eric Bledsoe to have driving lanes and for Alex Len to do work in the post.
The Suns really needed a spark and consistent shooting. Despite their exciting style, they haven’t made the playoffs since 2010, when they made the Western Conference Finals at the end of the Steve Nash era. Their core is quite young as Bledsoe and the Morris twins are only 25 years old with Alex Len and T.J. Warren 21 and Archie Goodwin 20. That’s a young team that just got younger with the addition of a teenaged Booker.
The Suns were going for best player available and when Booker fell to them, they had to take him. They were also looking at some big men in the pre-draft workouts. It had been rumored Phoenix was targeting Frank Kaminsky, but they couldn’t trade up for him.
