Why Booker & Durant have great synergy
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- čas přidán 4. 12. 2023
- What subtle factors make Kevin Durant and Devin Booker such a great pairing offensively? In this enhanced segment from the Thinking Basketball podcast, Ben and Cody break down the similarities between both players that make them fit so well, as well as some of Devin Booker's improvement.
-Full episode-
CZcams: • Top-10 duos in the NBA...
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Ben Taylor is the author of Thinking Basketball, a Nylon Calculus contributor, creator of the Backpicks Top 40 series & host of the Thinking Basketball podcast.
Stats courtesy:
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Footage in this video is owned by the NBA and its partners. It is intended for critique and education.
#thinkingbasketball - Sport
Keep in mind, we round up around here. So far this season Devin Booker is averaging 28pts 6rebs and over 8 assists. Shooting 47% fg, 39% 3pt, and 93% ft. All of those stats except fg% are a career high. He’s been one of the best PGs in the league this year
Yes but not a lot of people realize a very important stat.. which is 3pt shots attempted per game.
3pt % is great it’s just misleading
Someone like Chet takes very few 3’s per game because he’s intentionally trying to keep his % up
@@wyattfriend7360 that’s true. Book is attempting 5.3 three pointers a game. So the .397% is pretty good.
@@wyattfriend7360that doesnt mean hes intentionally trying to keep his %s up. Hes probably just taking only what he sees as a goodshot
i guess some guys shoot and make contested 3s to put even more pressure on the defense closing out. if you know chet will only shoot when hes wide open its less of a pressure to close out hard. but steph curry will just pull up anyway so you have to be extra close.
@@GibranCamus if you’re shooting 50% on threes.. then you need to take more threes! The only way to achieve that is to seriously limit your 3pt volume,
Watch a thunder game and you’ll hear announcers say “man if only he would shoot more 3’s”
This is my point… someone could shoot
45/40/80 splits and be more efficient than someone averaging 50/50/90.
3pt volume = scoring efficiency.
Beal was a 40% 3PT shooter as well before he became the first option on the bad Wizards team. These three are all great offball scorers.
Gonna be hard for Beal to replicate that coming back mid season from a back injury.
Kevin Durant is shooting 82% from 3 when it comes from a Booker pass. Insane.
Do you have an updated stat on this? Anything above 50% would be impressive at this point.
I love seeing videos based off the podcasts, so I can see examples of the plays.
A big part of why I think the Beal-durant-booker offense works is the catch and shoot ability. These guys can already penetrate well and have just worried about being doubled and kicking it out for a bricked three. But if Atleast one of them is on and the other two can get easy looks on the perimeter? I don’t know who could stop these guys
I'm not worried about the offense.
I'm worried about the defense when Beal and Nurkic are on the floor.
That said it's Entirely possible the offense will just blow out most teams on most nights
@@Christopher._M Suns have the 7th best defensive efficiency rating in the NBA when Book and Nurk are on the floor so I think they'll be fine!
@@ethanbrownell4564 Regular season numbers don't exactly translate well to playoff scenarios taking into account match ups. The Cleveland Cavs around this time last year were featured by Ben as having one of the top 5 defensive ratings. They didn't slide so much by the end of season around May. And anyone watching the playoffs saw how much all of those numbers mattered when they were not a great match up against the NY Knicks.
WoW Ben ... i remember when you started with pascal siakam compare with scottie pipen ( from what i remember ) and you were just starting ... and to see now almost 600 thousand subs is mind blowing ... ive been watching you since the begining ... almost five years now 😊❤😊
Wow, that's amazing to hear. Still surreal to think about some 200+ videos later.
Another great content as usual . I just finished listening to the pod . Goat content 🐐. Please do a passing video analysis on Haliburton 🙏🙏
Love the vids. Twolves breakdown soon?
any chance yall could do Herb Jones + Dyson Daniels content? or just content on the Pels :)
Damn… this is the first time I’ve ever seen a podcast clip and went to look for it right after. Take this w
Everyone has great synergy with Durant.
Yeah, because he plays really well both on and off the ball and likes to move the rock.
I would say everyone can have great synergy with booker as well. They are very similar players in many respects although booker has better court vision.
Biggest question if Suns BIG 3 stay healthy in PLAYOFFS 🤔🤔🤔
Can we get a video on the Lakers Defense
I thought the four fingers is portraying Klay💀
Anyone else hate the floor designs for the in-season tournament?
I can’t find the tweet of the nba players jumper release height
durant is the ultimate plug and play player.
Does everything right just a BALLER.
He makes any team hes on a competitor.
They forget he was an inch away from stealing Giannis ring.
Extremely low chance he beats the suns. Milwaukee was a horrible matchup for suns because they had only 1 big man on the team so giannis could dominate. Suns offense would destroy the nets defense and offensively they could just double or triple KD.
@@jojoprocess2820 are you stupid?
@@jojoprocess2820 they had bruce brown on that squad. Jeff green was on that team. The suns were trash then and are more trash now. That KD run was legendary and kyrie was not gonna let CP0 outplay him. They also gad Claxton who is a better player than Ayton in my opinion in his role.
@@kartikaychoudhary8797 Kyrie got injured by Giannis. Don't think he makes it back in time for the finals
@@cottonmather8146 it was a sprain
Cody holding up four fingers reminded me of the "Suns in four" meme.
This suns team is gonna add bradley beal to it as well id like to add
They really don't need to either, what a waste of a trade tbh, would have been better off trading for elite defenders/playmakers
ok so who should they have traded for then. sounds nice to say on paper but the asking price for beal wasn't bad and he was on the market. what team is taking CP and Shamet + picks for anything of premium value@@kaysheye7784
That "Shooter Release Height" graphic is awesome, but where the heck is Jokic? He has to be up there, despite barely jumping during his release.
Booker is playing so well in his new "role", great to see. Its also insane how many great guards are playing in the west right now. Doncic, Steph, Booker, Shai, Fox, Ant
"I'm the point guard, he’s the scorer."
-Devin Booker on Kevin Durant:
We'll have to see how well this duo works against the nuggets. The nuggets defended durant well last playoffs and let booker go crazy. But they need to figure out what they're going to do with thr jokic murray pick and roll.
It's going to be completely different with Gordon and Allen taking 3s vs CP3 and Shamet 😂.
Suns couldn't make the skip pass to the open man last year. Booker has shown a jump in that area. And Gordon/Allen are a significant upgrade over Shamet/Payne
@@sneakersole2914 OH really? You think the Nuggets are gonna tremble against a small ass ball lineup with Gordon and Allen taking 3 points *in the playoffs* ? Shit imagine the Nuggets got by the Suns in that playoffs without Murray going nuclear in the series. Hope you're in the building when Booker shrivels to another 12 point performance when the Suns are in a must win situation.
@@t4d0Ware offense is way better this year what are u saying
If Bradley Beal can step up and play well alongside them they can be very dangerous, big "If" though
Fun fact DLO is putting up better numbers than Bradley Beal and on better efficiency
@@VincentVincent_89has Beal even played a game?
@@hulkingmass bad excuse. Yes.
@@VincentVincent_89I think that was a genuine question
Can u make a video bout D rose
Why?
@@urbaindelva7869 prime d rose l mean
He started a series for old players
15s into the video and now I HAVE TO go listent to the whole podcast to know who #1, 2 and 3 are. 😂
They’re really good, but #4 is not very hi, who are the top 3?
phoenix suns duo is actually drew Eubanks and yuta watanabe
Very interesting considering Brown and Tatum play similar positions and lots of people keep saying they're "redundant" lol
How people say the Jays are redundant when one of them can't go to their left in the playoffs?
When are You gonna talk about the wolfs?
What is happening with Beal?!
Luka Doncic is Devin Booker father
Their synergy can be amazing but it doesn’t change the fact that Kevin Durant is incapable of winning a championship without being on the most stacked team in NBA history what an achievement
Bro what
What does that have to do with anything
First of all, he already led a team to the Finals years before then. Secondly, get over it.
he learned it from lebron, blame him
Ben, I get it. The twolves are too big to do a video on. Theyre too complicated, too versatile, too badass. I get it that you havent done a video on the biggest surprise in the NBA. Im not upset. I get it.
I thought Cody was doing the Klay Thompson telling booker how many rings he’s got.
this is the best dynamic duo in the NBA!! i dont care what everyone say im so proud of wemby and luka's son
I think Murray and Jokic have a better fit, but the ceiling for a Durant/Booker battery is just nonsensical.
Still only 2 players, jokic is better the. Kd and booker, while murray is on bookers level when it comes to playoffs.
They are the better duo.
@@sell2012Murray not on booker’s level
@@sell2012 Bruh I'm a nuggs fan and I still know book is better than murray
@@sell2012 Murray is not on Book level, be it regular season or playoffs. Book is a true number 1 option and a bonafide superstar. Murray is a great 2nd option. There are levels LOL
@@ebenezerindi1766 I guess you're right bruh. Booker in a do or die game farted out 12 points against the Nuggets. In the Lakers series where Jokic had a somewhat slow start and Lebron defending Murray, he went on a 30+ point tear on some classless shooting splits to sweep the Lakers. All while Booker and his friends had to watch the series from Cancun.
for me, Book is in the same situation when KD has GSW. Teams were focus on KD that once Book received the ball, he just attacks right away.
No need for iso, dribble-dribble, spamming PnR just to create a situation for his own shot.
Hence, he had a terrific and very efficient games in the playoffs laat year.
Lmao 4th is crazy they're clearly 1st rn
I think KD saw how Steph and Klay worked together in the Warriors and thought he's never going to be The Man in Golden State but he could recreate that somewhere else. He tried it with Kyrie and Harden in Brooklyn then got it in Phoenix.
He was still the best player on that warriors team
This aged like spoiled milk. Y’all are too smart to have these kind of takes. I’ve watched your videos. I’ve seen your Content u understand basketball, I’m not sure why you missed this.
A lot of people are gonna get mad at me, but that duo was a better fit than russ and Curry
Nah Bron and Wilt are a better fit
@@bilindabutcher8913facts
Timberwolves best in the league no vid is bias
KD having to play with superstars his whole life made him a better off ball player especially with the warriors in which he really developed his off ball movement in which his co star doesnt have to force to "share" the ball with him or get him shots plus with book willing to be a point and sharing the ball it makes them a perfect pair
His game has always been about being an off-ball guy and getting to his spots. Its been analyzed before with Thinking Basketball's greatest peaks with KD. Peak KD was with the Warriors because not only did he have the 3-point shooting in his bag but Steph's gravity along with Klay/other shooters and passers could comfortably get KD to his spots on the half court and tack on points easy. Which was far different from his last season with the Thunder where when Westbrook or other guys couldn't get KD to his spots, his offense sputtered.
they already have better synergy than Kyrie & KD did. Granted tho, a big part of that is due to coaching because Nash never ran Kyrie/KD Pick N Rolls like Vogel has with Book & KD. Nash barely used KD even as a screener off the ball. Books also attacks closeouts a bit better than Kyrie
Basketball offense is about generating gravity, stop overthinking this. There are multiple ways to create gravity on the court.
But how will Beal fit in is the 🐘 in the room.
I’m gonna be honest as cool as this all looks offensively it just won’t work. It won’t win them a championship not because booker and kd aren’t elite players but because the entire roster is full of vet minimums and the team can’t defend at a solid level. They’ll get gassed in the playoffs and then people will blame their supporting cast when it’s just all been vet minimums
People talk about Booker as a great 3pt shooter, and no doubt he is off to a great start this year, but he is a somewhat pedestrian lifetime .357, just slightly below league average. Last year he averaged .351 from three, which was 10 points below league average. He has a pretty shot, but so far in his career the 3pt results haven't really been there, so we should probably expect some reversion to the mean for the rest of the season.
#bbn
the lack of efficiency from KD the last few seasons was a lack of spacing but now with Eric Gordon and Allen and Beal he no longer has to worry about that
8 am video, the fuck
How does Joker not have the highest release point? Gotta be top 3 right?
His form. He has a hitch in his shot like Larry. Lower release point, harder to block.
Also, he and KD are approximately the same height and Jokic doesn't jump on his jumpers. He's probably not even close.
Nah, Jokic barelly even jump when he shoot, and he has a 7’3 wingspan wich is long for a 6’11 guy but not crazy long like AD who is 6’10 with a 7’6 wingspan, or Kawhi who has a 7’3 wingspan like Jokic except he is only 6’7 .. And KD release point is so high because he is also 6’11 with a 7’5 wingspan, and he can really jump high when he shoot, not like MJ but people don’t realize how athletic KD is, even now at 35, but when he was young he looked like Giannis sometimes, in term of speed, agility, body control ect, he was one of the best transition player of all time with his super long strides, ability to catch lob, dunk over any player like Giannis …
So yeah, Jokic probably has a low release point for a 6’11 Center, but because he can shoot it over or even behind his head with a crazy arc, it’s almost impossible to block, and when he is close to the rim he use floaters to shoot over the defender, and he has all sort of moves to create separation and put his defender out of position, and with his size, strength and touch he doesn’t need a lot of space to shoot over or around you
Whys the rest of the team even there tbh
LMAO
disrespecting the GOAT bol bol smh
As much as I like Booker's improvement, you HAVE to assume it comes from a somewhat weird place: He's not new in the league and not growing or getting in shape, so why now?
It must be because NOW...if he's at full force and KD stays healthy..he can win...because NOW his team has a shot. Which in turn means until now, he wasn't 100% buying into his roster. Am I seeing ghosts? Why would he suddenly become a better driver with a quicker first step? See, that's not the system or the spacing...right??!!
Booker's game has always been about craft since he came in the league at 19. So I'm not surprised that 6 years later and as he approaches his prime that he can still add little things that improves his game when playing among some of the best. Though even if Booker been added an off-ball element to his game, his offensive output especially in the playoffs is still built on rhythm and volume. Which is why KD and ultimately Beal need to be the efficient guys in those playoff moments.
this makes it sound like he wasnt improving previously, hes been getting better and adding things to his arsenal the whole time hes been in the league. Having an elite superstar like KD helps him shine for sure but book has always worked on his game and improved on things
@@jeremysumpter3626 sure, you'll improve your shot selection and all those things that depend on maturity and experience. But a first step? Quickness? At his age, that is NOT due to becoming a more rounded player, he either changed up his diet and training routine completely or it's a motivational thing
first
God of basketball knowledge and his son Jesus
I CAN IMAGINE AARON GORDON PUTTING CLAMPS ON THE THESE TWO GREAT PLAYERS INTERCHANGEABLY. SORRY NOT SORRY, DENVER IN 6 🗡.
They’ll just force a switch and have one of their weaker defenders defend. Aaron Gordon can’t guard all 3 of suns best players at the same time
@@woah7609Denver has the best switching defense in the league that’s tough to ask
@@noivern1380 whoever Gordon is guarding which is likely Durant. Suns can just go to Beal or Booker instead
Two playoff chokers
Kevin Durant will still fail to Win a Chip without Stephen Curry. 🐍. 🏀
Cook
KD was the best player in all 3 playoff runs with GSW …. Move on and be greatest about those two championships and finals mvps he won there.
@@NikoBellic20080all 3? 😂 2017 yea, just because of the finals, but 2018,2019 Steph was better than kd, and also in 2018 Steph was better than kd in 3/4 of the finals and all the games in the playoffs, kd didn't sweep the blazers in 2019, kd didn't send the rockets home in 2019, warriors never needed kd, that's y Steph won in 2022 and kd never won after, kd will always be the 2nd fiddle to a 1st option, whenever he's a first option he gets swept just like how the Celtics swept him the same team Steph toyed with. With the sun's too teams r gonna focus on booker more and try to limit him that would help kd play 1 on 1 y'all would say kd better than book even though book is better than him
@@rams3737 2017-19 playoffs stats:
Curry: 27.4 ppg on 62.3% TS, 6.1 rebounds , 5.9 assists, 1.6 steals, 0.4 blocks, 3.2 turnovers
KD: 29.6 pog on 64.2% TS. 7.1 rebounds, 4.5 assists, 0.8 steals. 1.2 blocks, 2.7 turnovers.
@@NikoBellic20080 where does it show that kd was the ear cut 1st option? If a 2 pt difference is what makes kd better than Steph, this was Shaq's number 35.9 PPG, 15.2 RPG, 3.5 APG, 59.5% in that 3 peat, this is called clear cut 1st option, kd had the chance in Brooklyn and he got swept, kd is like fool's gold, dude shines with another star and disappears when adversity hits.
They can both shoot from anywhere.
this team aint winning shit