Could Devin Booker Be Cal's Best Shooter?
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Since Calipari touched down in Lexington a major criticism of his teams has routinely been the outside shooting. Whether it was the 2010 Wall and Cousins squad that relied on a shaky Darius Miller and a let's say "unreliable" Darnell Dodson or the 2013-14 teams that relied heavily on one shooter. (Julius Mays and Aaron Harrison). With this year's incarnation possibly being his best team he has ever coached, it's also possible this team has the best pure perimeter shooter he has ever coached, Devin Booker.
Looking at his form, the shots he creates and his shooting pedigree coming into college there's an argument to be made that he is/will become the most impressive shooter of the Cal era. Do really answer the question of whether he is or isn't you have to take a look back into the recent past and dissect the best shooters to join La Familia in the last five seasons.
The first name that should come to mind when discussing shooters (and tweets regarding socks) has to be the one and only Doron Lamb. He may not have been the hardest worker and may re-tweet a porn star or two into your timeline now and then but when he put up a shot you had all the confidence in the world that it was dropping. And you also has confidence he was going to stumble backwards over the feet of fans in the first row. Literally every time. As far as volume three point shooters Doron was the first Cal had at Kentucky and the fact that he was on a championship team helps his argument but don't forget about his role on the 2011 team. Brandon Knight was a great shooter and was clutch beyond belief, but Doron may have been the best shooter on that team. Also he invented/helped popularize the three goggles. It's hard to argue with that. If Booker is to become the best shooter Cal has coached then this is the guy he has to take the crown from. Come at the king, you best not miss.
Speaking of the 011 team, it's time we all had a conversation about just how great and under-appreciated Brandon Knight was. If that team beats Uconn and wins a title and his jerseys is in the rafters someday. But they have an off day and he becomes the forgotten hero sandwiched between the rock star John Wall was and the 2012 juggernaut. Strictly looking at him as a shooter though and he is still wildly underrated. Cal rebuilt the entire offense around Knight and ran dribble hand offs constantly because he wanted Knight to shoot as much as possible. And he carried a team with Jorts starting to a Final Four. In terms of clutch shooting Knight has the legend and Booker doesn't. Knight also has a pull up mid-range jumper that was lethal in 2011 and could literally shoot from anywhere on the floor. However, just talking about the best three point shooter, I would take Devin. His form is more pure and repeatable than Knight's and Booker will also likely be here 2 or 3 years longer than Knight was.
Probably the biggest threat to Booker becoming the best shooter of the Cal era is actually on his own team. I mean three back to back to back game winning threes in pretty hard to argue with. Aaron Harrison is going to go down as a legend in this program after that run last March, but overall who is the better perimeter threat? In late game situations, yeah, it's no argument you want the ball in Aaron's hands. We all can agree on that. But over the course of the season or a college career I might take Booker. Devin already has that touch where whenever he lets it fly you feel like it's going in. His form was off a bit in the Bahamas and early in the year but he sure has found it. He's shooting the lights out and might be the best scorer on this whole squad. And with Poythress out for the year Devin is going to get plenty of shots and more playing time than he would have otherwise.
If Booker can capitalize on the opportunities he will have to lead the offense in many games this year he will have a great argument in this debate. And if he stays next year and possibly a third year and produces with the consistency he has shown in high school and in recent games, not only will he have the resume to be Calipari's best shooter in Lexington, but he may have a case to be one of Cal's best offensive players period.
@DaveyRudolphKSR
Getty Images[/caption]
Since Calipari touched down in Lexington a major criticism of his teams has routinely been the outside shooting. Whether it was the 2010 Wall and Cousins squad that relied on a shaky Darius Miller and a let's say "unreliable" Darnell Dodson or the 2013-14 teams that relied heavily on one shooter. (Julius Mays and Aaron Harrison). With this year's incarnation possibly being his best team he has ever coached, it's also possible this team has the best pure perimeter shooter he has ever coached, Devin Booker.
Looking at his form, the shots he creates and his shooting pedigree coming into college there's an argument to be made that he is/will become the most impressive shooter of the Cal era. Do really answer the question of whether he is or isn't you have to take a look back into the recent past and dissect the best shooters to join La Familia in the last five seasons.
The first name that should come to mind when discussing shooters (and tweets regarding socks) has to be the one and only Doron Lamb. He may not have been the hardest worker and may re-tweet a porn star or two into your timeline now and then but when he put up a shot you had all the confidence in the world that it was dropping. And you also has confidence he was going to stumble backwards over the feet of fans in the first row. Literally every time. As far as volume three point shooters Doron was the first Cal had at Kentucky and the fact that he was on a championship team helps his argument but don't forget about his role on the 2011 team. Brandon Knight was a great shooter and was clutch beyond belief, but Doron may have been the best shooter on that team. Also he invented/helped popularize the three goggles. It's hard to argue with that. If Booker is to become the best shooter Cal has coached then this is the guy he has to take the crown from. Come at the king, you best not miss.
Speaking of the 011 team, it's time we all had a conversation about just how great and under-appreciated Brandon Knight was. If that team beats Uconn and wins a title and his jerseys is in the rafters someday. But they have an off day and he becomes the forgotten hero sandwiched between the rock star John Wall was and the 2012 juggernaut. Strictly looking at him as a shooter though and he is still wildly underrated. Cal rebuilt the entire offense around Knight and ran dribble hand offs constantly because he wanted Knight to shoot as much as possible. And he carried a team with Jorts starting to a Final Four. In terms of clutch shooting Knight has the legend and Booker doesn't. Knight also has a pull up mid-range jumper that was lethal in 2011 and could literally shoot from anywhere on the floor. However, just talking about the best three point shooter, I would take Devin. His form is more pure and repeatable than Knight's and Booker will also likely be here 2 or 3 years longer than Knight was.
Probably the biggest threat to Booker becoming the best shooter of the Cal era is actually on his own team. I mean three back to back to back game winning threes in pretty hard to argue with. Aaron Harrison is going to go down as a legend in this program after that run last March, but overall who is the better perimeter threat? In late game situations, yeah, it's no argument you want the ball in Aaron's hands. We all can agree on that. But over the course of the season or a college career I might take Booker. Devin already has that touch where whenever he lets it fly you feel like it's going in. His form was off a bit in the Bahamas and early in the year but he sure has found it. He's shooting the lights out and might be the best scorer on this whole squad. And with Poythress out for the year Devin is going to get plenty of shots and more playing time than he would have otherwise.
If Booker can capitalize on the opportunities he will have to lead the offense in many games this year he will have a great argument in this debate. And if he stays next year and possibly a third year and produces with the consistency he has shown in high school and in recent games, not only will he have the resume to be Calipari's best shooter in Lexington, but he may have a case to be one of Cal's best offensive players period.
@DaveyRudolphKSR
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