Jalen Green’s absence puts Suns’ full offensive burden on Devin Booker ...Middle East

PHOENIX — The largest determining factor in the Phoenix Suns’ success this season lies with how synergy forms in the backcourt of Devin Booker and Jalen Green.

That process did not get underway in the preseason and won’t to begin the regular season, either, as Green strained his hamstring and then reaggravated it in China. Phoenix will have an update on Green by the second game of the season, so perhaps he is already close. Coach Jordan Ott said Green was potentially close to playing in the second game in China on Oct. 12 before the reaggravation took place.

Regardless, this is now a perilous position for Phoenix and the offense especially. Any games Booker or Green miss will leave the Suns with just one ball-handler who will earn a hefty amount of gravity from opposing defenses and has the talent to be a defining playmaker.

The preseason gave us a brief look at how the offense without Green and solely orbiting around Booker works.

RELATED STORIES

Jalen Green reaggravates hamstring, out for Suns season opener

What defenses will attempt to do is prevent Booker from getting to spaces where he can pick them apart. Because he will, especially if he’s alongside the spacing Grayson Allen and Dillon Brooks provide. You could even argue this will remain the case when Green returns.

The Los Angeles Lakers in the preseason opener did an awful job preventing Booker from getting into the teeth of the defense. Remember, this is his 11th NBA season.

Remember all those reps he got at the end of his rookie year and then the on-ball point guard stuff in Year 2? That was a decade ago!

He can do this in his sleep.

It will not always be this clean.

Booker is often high atop the league leaderboards in “secondary assists,” meaning he made the pass to set up the actual assist. Ott said after Wednesday’s practice they talk about playing in “pass-pass” a lot, which is those types of looks.

This is where Green will be missed the most. Having someone on the “second side” with his skill set is tremendously valuable to building an offense around Booker. Now that falls on the likes of Allen, Brooks, Ryan Dunn and some of the other perimeter players.

Defenses will again try and make sure Booker’s teammates still have some work left to do before the possession is finished.

Here are two nice plays by Allen when this happened, featuring a smooth Oso Ighodaro leading bounce pass and strong catch-and-finish from Nick Richards:

Now, Booker will be the “point guard” but this is where nomenclature gets a bit wonky.

While terms like “initiator” and “ball-handler” are similar in service, the guy actually bringing the ball up and starting a play is not a traditional floor general every time for all teams across the league. Instead, it will rotate between supplementary guys who mostly aren’t even a playmaking threat or someone averaging more than three assists per game.

It’s all about maximizing the threats and where Booker can attack from.

What’s the difference in Booker’s eyes between the two?

“I would say bringing the ball up, you kind of have all eyes on you,” he said. “When you’re working a pindown (screen), it’s kind of like working a second action, you can catch people off-guard. But I think with the way that we play, if you create advantage early, the ball will usually come back to you.”

Phoenix wants to do this. Booker will deal with full-court pressure in an effort to wear him down over the course of a game, so another guard or wing will get it across halfcourt at times and essentially wait for a play to unfold for Booker himself.

These next clips are two bad outcomes that end in turnovers but are the types of examples we’ll see often.

First, Allen brings the ball up. As he does, Booker is at the free-throw line while Ighodaro is screening for Allen. Booker is then going to release toward the top of the key, where he can use some of Ighodaro’s roll as a makeshift screen or even get the screen itself.

The Suns clearly want that ball-handler, though, to attack if they see an opening. Allen does but gets caught in no man’s land.

Here’s one with more bells and whistles. Booker comes across right to left while getting a screen in that same area from Richards. That lets him kick off the possession from there. But he immediately gets rid of it again, receiving a screen from Richards going back the other way.

Booker doesn’t quite get the open shot he wants, looks for where to go next and gets surrounded by three Lakers for a turnover.

Booker always trusts his teammates. He wants Allen to attack in both of those.

In this last example, you’ll see Booker being face-guarded at nearly half-court. Booker will traditionally just let this happen and have the Suns go 4-on-4. Dunn comes over to free him up and Booker isn’t all that interested, wanting Ighodaro to take the 1-on-1 dribble-drive he knows the second-year big has been working on implementing more this season. This one also ends in a turnover.

The key is for this to, you know, work. That sounds obvious, but let Booker explain.

“If teams want to throw junk defenses, I always say the quicker we can make them pay for it, the more opportunities will open up the rest of the game,” he said.

Meaning, once that nonsense doesn’t work, they might try to play the Suns more straight-up instead. If his teammates keep making opponents pay, that will free him up.

Ighodaro had more successful takes earlier in the preseason with some nice passes and drives that earned free throws.

Ott saw it as a productive three games.

“I think we learned some stuff,” he said. “You always want multiple ball-handlers on the floor the way the game is played, which we do. I think Oso is the piece that adds another dimension to that. And then how that defense guards us. … We’re gonna try to find solutions on a game-by-game basis. … For right now, I think it’s been pretty good.”

Previously in Booker’s career, when the ball was out of his hands on competitive teams, it was someone proven who had it. Whether that was Eric Bledsoe or Ricky Rubio or Chris Paul or Kevin Durant, the threat was there.

It will not be there on opening night, so it is top of mind to see how the results go.

Follow @KellanOlson

Hence then, the article about jalen green s absence puts suns full offensive burden on devin booker was published today ( Thursday 16/10/2025 - 03:14 AM ) and is available on Arizona sports ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.

Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Jalen Green’s absence puts Suns’ full offensive burden on Devin Booker )

Also on site :

• Dinesh Karthik clears the air on Virat Kohli’s World Cup 2027 commitment after Ajit Agarkar’s comment
• Democratic governors form a public health alliance in rebuke of Trump administration
• Blue Jays vs Mariners Odds, HR Odds for ALCS Game 3 on Wednesday Night in Seattle