Will Phoenix Suns’ Devin Booker ever be embraced, voted an NBA All-Star starter?
And Mara boings Arizona Sports the local sports leader Bley blast Kevin Durant is a great player in a fully formed brand his star is bright enough to Blind all his Petty critics and that is why such a polarizing dude who picks fights with online randos keeps getting voted into
The All-Star game starting lineup Devin Booker is another matter his goal post keep moving he’s had to wear the stink of Robert sarver’s Sons he’s had to wear the past two playoff debacles and he has to wear that obnoxious Luca meme that will feel like an ankle weight until
Devin Booker wins a championship seriously you can go all the way back to 2018 and find Reddit threads asking if Devin Booker is criminally underrated and there are similar threads being created in 2024 so what has really changed in 6 years besides nothing part of the issue is that Booker is not easy
To embrace for casual fans outside the valley there’s a prevailing belief that he talks big when he’s up and plays small when there’s a lot on the line he’s hardcore he doesn’t have time for the small to talk or the nonsense not all that friendly and if you’re wearing
The other uniform he would rather rip you to pieces than chop it up about your family and your feelings case in point the ruthless gesture he delivered to m m Bridges the other night in Brooklyn which probably came off as a lot more hardcore than intended either way here’s
The bottom line until he wins that title book is going to be our version of Barry Bonds without the peeds loved and defended in state 48 and in the end hours and hours alone all right today’s Bickley blast brought to you by my great friends at Chapman BMW who make luxury attainable
Find them online at Chapman bmw.com in the west from the Phoenix Sons Devin Booker his fourth Allstar selection this is season number nine for book well deserved 28 points a game sixth in the league five rebounds seven assists which is number 10 in the league shooting 50%
And 39% from Deep he’s said 15 games of 30 five games of 40 and had 62 at Indiana so Devin Booker uh is a Western Conference Allstar and yet and yet if you go to ESPN there’s a link that says Steph Curry and Anthony Davis included among Western Conference
Reserves yeah because those names are going to move the needle a little bit more those markets are going to move the needle a little bit more I think Kenny Smith was the guilty party on that on that the KY cough very KY cough yeah I
Think so yeah so so I do think I do I do feel bad for Devin Booker because I I do think he should be past this and he deserves to be past this he really does does and and again if if if you’re talking about winning you pointed out
Already Luca hasn’t won either no so so so where’s the disconnect there but I I wish I knew I think it’s a fascinating topic of of discussion and I lean on my you know I’ve watched every Devin Booker game up close and personal uh for half of his games for the last
Eight years and I’ve seen what he’s become and what he’s still becoming but when you compare him to other players and yes the Luca comparison is there and you mentioned that Meme that won’t go away even when recent memory tells you Booker got over on De on on Luca donic
Um here’s another player I want to compare him to well before you move that and let me say that because there’s a flip side to that because Luca is so popular and Luca stands are so anti- Devon Booker I think there’s a double whammy there I think the hate on Devon
Booker gets Amplified because the Lucas bans fuel it continue true here’s a name for you another player that’s not really won anything doesn’t have the individual statistics that Devin Booker has but seems to be universally respected by fans everywhere Jimmy Butler ah yes and if you compare the not necessarily the
Games but one thing I think Butler and Booker have in common is that maniacal competitive Spirit like they they they want to beat you and beat you bad yes but Butler gets lauded for it and and Booker it it just great point it doesn’t seem like he’s in that category in the
Eyes of most people great point he’s yeah the there’s there’s no mythology to Booker’s Cutthroat approach to competition there is with Jimmy Butler that’s a great analogy I hadn’t even thought of that yeah yeah and so and again I I have to say I I I like Jimmy
Butler I think he’s a tad overrated yeah listen I and I think as I mentioned in the blast I think there’s a lot of work here that Devon Booker has not been able to control being the centerpiece of a of a extremely dysfunctional basketball organization in fact Monty Williams in
That in that wonderful post bubble speech that moved Vinnie to tears didn’t move me to tears I produced something that move people to tear there was there was part of that speech where Monty Williams looked at Devin Booker and said you’ve been through a lot that was to me the most
Poignant moment of it all cuz it’s true he has been and because he is so stoic and he still is and I think it’s part of the reason why people don’t Embrace him nobody else would have been able to get through that nonsense the way Booker did
Without a trade demand without a hissy fit without this or that or whatever and and he deserves credit for that and instead he get he has to wear it like it’s a negative and and then there’s then there’s you know the playoff failures of the last two years and the
Two lead against the Bucks the the game five endgame shot against Drew holiday I just all this little stuff gets spiced in there and and I do agree with you I don’t think this should be that difficult for Devan Booker to to rate higher among basketball fans to to not
Have to struggle to make an All-Star team it’s he he should be beyond that and I’m no Homer you know that the guy paid his dues and he’s paid his dues in one market who who does that these days nobody mhm the yeah the the the 21 finals is another topic of discussion
That can drive you mad if you’re if you’re a Devin Booker fan because yeah well they blew a two nothing lead who was who was the leader of that team Devon Booker it falls on his shoulders you don’t acknowledge that Giannis turned into a an otherworldly figure in
That in that series you don’t acknowledge that the play in game five that really broke the camels back for the Suns was an unbelievable individual play by Drew hollay against one of the best defensive players in basketball who’s done that to many people how simple you don’t acknowledge that he got
A team to the finals and won two games way ahead of schedule by the way nobody expected them to be there nobody acknowledges the fact that in game three of that series Devin Booker shouldn’t have even been out on the floor tried to play through it was a very
Mysterious explanation for it and then followed that up in games four and and and five with back-to-back 40 Point I’ve perform I’ve said this before I I do think think his personality doesn’t help him especially with refs and and and maybe casual fans I don’t want him any
Other way I really don’t this is the Devon Booker that will win a championship he he he doesn’t need to start putting on Airs of friendliness and he doesn’t he doesn’t need to change who he is and he’s not going to no he’s not he he knows who he is he’s very
Comfortable in who he is he fashion himself as Mamba part two and he backs it up so I I don’t want him changing but I am pointing out that that he just he doesn’t get that free love that a lot of basketball players do no it’s and he
Doesn’t seek it and that’s part of the problem it’s strange and and again going back to what he did the other night uh after hitting the three and and kind of mimicking Mel Bridges his his buddy his former teammate it does show the Cutthroat nature of it but again the
Reaction to that from around the league and and maybe I put way too much stock into this because it’s just a lot of it’s internet trolls uh who who don’t really have an affiliation at all but the word cringey came up Devin Booker is so cringy I just don’t get it he’s yeah
No I think he’s the consumate professional the guy constantly works at his game mhm yeah but I agree with you too the bottom Line’s got to be a championship or else that that uh where he’s the focal point of the championship or else it’s probably not going to
Change thanks for watching Bickley and marada click to see the latest Bickley blast and hit the button in the middle to subscribe to Arizona Sports
After Suns’ Devin Booker was named an NBA All-Star reserve player Thursday night, Dan Bickley explains why it may take the Phoenix guard winning a championship to be truly embraced beyond local fans.
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16 Comments
he should be. but until he wins a championship or maybe two/three he probably won't.
What needs to happen is simple. KD, Beal, and the rest of the team need to start praising booker all the time when they win it's cause booker led them to the win win they loose they let book down. With KD he needs to start talking about how book is one of the best arguably the best overall basketball player he has ever played with. Things like that. Then players around the league need to praise book as well.
I don't know why but my wife hates DBook😂😂
Book was not playing well till the last 10-15 games when all star voting was going on so there is nobody to blame . This is just fact his average was below 25 at that time so how do you expect him to be even an all star to be fair . And he played last few games like an all star starter but that doesn’t change the start of the season .
Barry bonds without peds lmao
I don't disagree with some of your assessment, but I think part of it is when the team was down and all of the rumors that he should go to the Knicks or the Lakers, he stood strong about being with the Suns. Trust me, if the Suns had been stupid and traded him to the Knicks or Lakers, he'd be one of the most popular players in the league. As far as Doncic is concerned, he has been "criminally" championed as the the great white hope. Booker may have been called, by some, as criminally underrated, if Doncic doesn't do anything soon, he may be considered criminally overrated, the MVP that never happened, and might suffer the fate of first Marvin Bagley and DeAndre Ayton and maybe soon Trae Young, as a failure in that year's draft. I think it might be safe to say that drafting Ayton was the second best draft pick in Suns history (after Booker, of course), because the turn of events brought us to the much better place we've been over the last 5 years. And who knows, if Durant's large foot hadn't been the end for Brooklyn against Milwaukee, maybe we'd have that title and the team might look quite different. But since we don't live in fantasyland, who cares whether fickle AF twitter fans like Booker or not
Kardashian. I'm telling you. 😂
It would have helped out Booker in the game against the Nets if just one of his teammates (KD, because he's the only one who can) had done that headbob gesture back to Book so Booker would not have turned and did that right in Mikal's face but rather facing his teammate KD as he ran past Mikal. That's the way Bridges does it, like the time he loved that CP3 did it back to him. KD is the big brother and he needs to recognize when to help his teammates in every way, even after the points are scored.
The only way he's going to get respect in this league or fans is if he leads us to a championship. That's going to be hard with kevin durant on this team and might Dilute that Accomplishment.
The disconnect between Luka and Booker can be summed up in one thing. Booker doesn't have, or use, a PR team. Luka's works overtime.
The whole double team thing, it still comes up. It doesn't matter that the rest of the NBA defended it, Booker never talked about it besides a few in jokes.
But Luka after the whole kicking fan out thing, he immediately went on TNT to chop it up with those guys. An apology tour. Which in a nutshell is rather pathetic, but that's why the general public loves him.
When was the last time Booker was on a podcast or anything else outside of the Suns org or Nike?
Bro you guys are funny booker aint kd lebron steph luka or giannis in star power and its not close. Then you have jokic kawhi embiid are just better players then you have tatum whos a bigger star and sga too
Free love in my mind is ho (who&& not santa claus), which Booker hasn't done (he hasn't sold out to gain fans).
Learn Spanish and the Suns should play pre season games in Mexico.
Butler is not a good comparison because people love butler because he’s gritty, and plays tough defense. He works hard on both ends and it shows. Strong defenders in the league typically garner a different type of respect
The NBA promotes Luka but not book. That’s the difference. You barely see book on NBA commercials. Smh
Booker doesn’t care tho. He is definitely more well respected and liked amongst players, given that he brought KD and Beal here, CP wanted to come here, and Gordon took less money to play here. Who is waving no trade clauses and taking pay cuts to play with Luka?