![]() He thrives in movement and isolation, in half court and transition. So good, it should come with a spoiler alertīooker can score at will. But Booker’s offensive game is a surprisingly fluid amalgamation of them both. Kobe was a symbol of double-clutching, fuck-your-doubleteam heroism, and Hamilton sprinted off the ball and ran complex routes through screens just to get open, long before Klay Thompson made it cool. Hamilton’s Pistons, Booker’s favorite team growing up, beat the Lakers’ bloated superstar lineup with defense and connectedness in the 2004 NBA Finals. The two just weren’t contemporaries they were friends and rivals, polar opposites at the shooting guard position. Booker responded to that physicality with even more physicality, upping the ante until the two almost came to blows.īooker’s game makes more sense when you consider the Kobe and Rip influences more deeply. Booker picked up Tucker’s toughness through osmosis, through bumps and bruises that forced him to raise his level of physicality at every practice. Back in 2016, Tucker was the old head on the Suns. Tucker’s physicality, and he’ll credit, well, P.J. When he broke his nose against the Clippers in the West finals, he sought Rip Hamilton’s advice and asked if he should wear a mask.Īsk Booker about his ability to withstand the Bucks’ and P.J. “Honestly, I was thinking about Kob and the conversations that we had about what we just went through, the postseason and being legendary and taking the steps to get there.” He credits Tyson Chandler for helping him see the lessons in those early losses, back when the Suns were putting him through, in his own words, a lot of “bullshit.” He credits Chris Paul, Jae Crowder, and Monty Williams for preparing the young Suns for the playoffs, alongside his basketball heroes, Kobe Bryant and Rip Hamilton, who he watched growing up.īooker talks like he knows he’s standing on the shoulders of giants, and when he plays, his game looks like an homage to NBA history.Īfter closing out the Lakers with 47 points in Game 6 of the first round, he looked up at the 8 and 24 in the rafters and thought about Kobe. But Melvin had the recipe, refined through generations.īooker credits his dad for teaching him to have a short memory, a key ingredient for every unconscious scorer. “A lot of kids, a lot of families, don’t know what it takes and the time that it takes to get to this level and the sacrifices that you have to make,” says Melvin. Melvin’s dad played basketball, Melvin played basketball, so it was only natural that Book would play too, as though he were taking over the family restaurant. “And I think that rubbed off on me a little bit.” ![]() “He always competed at the highest level,” says Devin. “It’s what made me fall in love and develop my own passion for the game.”ĭevin spent his summers in Moss Point, hopping in drills, fetching rebounds, running around the court imitating his dad’s every move. “I ain’t going to say a local legend, but he was one of the better guys in our area,” says Melvin. ![]() Melvin carried his dad’s bags from game to game, cheering him on. When Melvin was a kid, his father dominated playgrounds and rec leagues all over Moss Point, Mississippi. Five Stats That Explain the Bucks’ Comeback in the NBA Finals Suns Fans Find Meaning-and Connection-in Devin Booker and His Mexican Heritage ![]()
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