Pistons vs. Suns preview: Limiting Devin Booker’s looks is easier said than done

Phoenix’s Devin Booker scored 33 points in last night’s 104-99 win in Chicago against the borderline G-League Bulls making their visit to Detroit a back-to-back venture.

The 8-14 Suns canned head coach Earl Watson after an 0-3 start and replaced him with interim coach Jay Triano. They also dealt cranky point guard Eric Beldsoe to the Milwaukee Bucks for Friend of the Program Greg Monroe and assorted draft picks.

Let the DBB record forever show: I don’t blame Eric Bledsoe.

Game Vitals:

When: November 29th @ 7 p.m.

Where: Little Caesars Arena - Detroit, MI

Watch: Fox Sports Detroit (League Pass)

Analysis

The shipping of Bledsoe made it unequivocally clear that Phoenix is putting their backcourt eggs into Devin Booker’s basket. The 2015 lottery pick has responded with career high numbers (23-4-4) across the board thus far.

Let the DBB record also show: I’m a big fan of Booker’s game.

For all the baby face jokes, Booker is an absolute load with his back-to-the-basket. Highlighted by positioning know-how and fancy footwork beyond his years, Booker logged 1.01 points per possession in the post last year and is currently at 1.16:

His six-foot-six frame is on par for most off-ball guards and by no means is he an athletic wonder which makes his relatively polished post game quite unique.

I only wish Phoenix would utilize it a bit more.

As we’ve discussed throughout the year, the Pistons have made it a point to crowd the ball handler in a pick-and-roll and they must continue the trend tonight:

Booker is always looking to pull-up and if you give him the room to do so then he will happily oblige.

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Phoenix’s 29th ranked defensive rating (108.7) can be attributed to a handful of under-performing departments including most notably a 26th ranked defensive rebounding percentage (76.1) translating into over eleven offensive rebounds per game for Suns’ opponents.

Hmmmm - can you think of anyone who could possibly take advantage of this?

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The Suns player faster than all but two NBA teams and will surely look to push the pace in Detroit. Along with Booker, T.J. Warren and Josh Jackson are both comfortable in the open court.

Now in his fourth season, Warren is making a name for himself averaging nearly 19 points per game with 21 percent of his possessions coming in transition.

Jackson—a rookie and native Detroiter—is off to an underwhelming offensive start to his career but reads passing lanes well (without gambling too much) and will nonchalantly pick your pocket:

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Projected Lineups

Phoenix

Tyler Ulis, Devin Booker, Tyson Chandler, T.J. Warren, Dragan Bender

Their lineups are funky and often change. Stay tuned to the GameThread for updates.

Detroit

Reggie Jackson, Avery Bradley, Andre Drummond, Stanley Johnson, Tobias Harris

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Prediction

It’s pretty simple, this is a team Detroit should beat.

Suns 100, Pistons 104 (cc David Fernandez)