Evolved from a professional scorer to a combo guard! Devin Booker leads the new Suns to continue to shine!

In the offseason, the Suns sent Durant for Jaylen Green and Dillon. This transaction made many people think that the Suns had given up on this season and pursued the future. However, Booker changed his style of play and helped the Suns to still maintain a strong combat effectiveness. This column will help you understand through in-depth data analysis.

After defeating the injured Pacers, the Suns have won five consecutive games. With Jaylen Green injured after playing one game, the biggest contributor is undoubtedly Devin Booker. Booker is still scoring in points this season. He has a stable performance, ranking ninth in the league with an average of 28.5 points per game. Although his two shooting percentages of 50% and 36.8% are not top-notch, they are obviously qualified for outside players. Booker has unique advantages this season.

Since the Suns have been short of point guards since Paul left, Booker has gradually assumed organizational tasks. He averages the most points per game in the team and also has the most assists. At the same time, his 32.3% assist rate and 30.4% usage rate are also in the Pacific. Yang ranks first among the seven main players who average more than 20 minutes per game. This means that Booker consumes the most shot opportunities in the team's main lineup. At the same time, Booker is also the source of the most points for his teammates, and he also has the largest number of points and assists. He has evolved from a professional scorer to a combo guard who can score and assist with the ball.

Of course, this is actually a new model for Booker. This season, Booker’s average possession time has reached 5.3 seconds, ranking first among the Suns. This means that his ball holding time is the team’s first. Relatively most, it also means that he chooses to score or assist by holding the ball more;

This season, Booker's proportion of taking shots without dribbling after catching the ball has dropped from 25.5% last season. 19.4%, while the proportion of shots after dribbling more than three times further increased from 43.5% to 52.6%; at the same time, the proportion of shots within 2 seconds of holding the ball dropped from 34.5% to 26.7%, and the proportion of shots after holding the ball for 22-6 seconds dropped from 41 .6% increased to 49.1%, which means that Booker has reduced the number of shots he takes within a short period of time after receiving the ball, and has increased the proportion of shots he takes to score or assist teammates after dribbling with the ball and reading the defense. These can better reflect the changes in Booker's play style.

But unlike other ball-carrying cores, Booker does not have to have the ball in his hands to be a threat. Booker's assist rate this season is 40.9%, and his non-assist rate is 59.1%. This means that 40.9% of Booker's scores also come from Due to the passing of teammates, Booker's score-non-assist rate in the Suns system is the highest among the main players, but he still has a large number of catch-and-shoot scores. This shows that Booker can not only take the ball by himself to find scoring and assist opportunities, but also can become a professional end point to receive passes and complete points.

The recognized ball-handling cores in the current game are Doncic and Harden. Both of them score in various areas, especially within the three-point line, with an astonishingly high proportion of non-assist points. This means that most of their scores are from their own hands. However, Booker's non-assist proportion of scoring in each area is relatively more balanced. His ability to switch between the two modes of on-ball and off-ball offense is his obvious advantage. Although Booker's average possession time is the highest in the Suns, it is not exaggeratedly high. At present, the Suns' other core player Jaylen Green, who has the ability to handle the ball on his own, has not yet returned. Even so, the Suns are only one game behind the Rockets. It is really hard to say who won the deal between the Rockets and the Suns.