At first, it seemed as if 23-year-old Devin Booker of the Phoenix Suns would not make his first All-Star team, despite producing his best overall season in his fifth year in the league. However, when it was announced that Damian Lillard would miss playing for Team LeBron due to an injury, Booker was chosen as the injury replacement.
According to a story by Duane Rankin of azcentral.com, Booker was just gazing around the locker room in slack-jawed wonder in his first All-Star game experience. Instead, he was soaking up knowledge and figuring what he needs to do personally to help lead his team, the Suns, to the next level. According to Booker, the most important thing he learned during the game from his luminary teammates was game planning.
“It was game planning,” Booker said. “Got to the point where guys were picking out matchups, really guarding. When it came down to the scoring, 3s vs. 2s. We were thinking about fouling if we would’ve scored. There was a lot of game planning going on the fly. Obviously, a lot of intelligent basketball players out there at once.”
Booker continued in Rankin’s piece: “Just seeing that last quarter, how intense things are and how detail-oriented everybody is. Their passion for winning. So, I’m going to try and drop those jewels on my team. Be a better leader every day and hold myself to that standard. If I hold myself to that standard, I have to work like that. It’s an everyday grind.”
The 6-foot-6 guard now goes back to business with everything he has learned, as he tries to help the 22-33 Suns make a strong and difficult playoff push for the eight-seed.
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