Devin Booker reflects on his time at Kentucky, NBA future
LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Former Kentucky player Devin Booker was back in Lexington on Saturday as the featured guest in John Calipari’s 2016 shooting camp. The Phoenix Suns guard didn’t disappoint as he drilled 25 of 29 threes in a shooting drill in front of the campers.
“It’s the most pressure I’ve felt in a while actually,” Booker said when asked about shooting in front of the kids. “This is what it’s all about though. I’m an actual role model now. How I carry myself actually affects other people's lives.”
It’s no small task to be a role model of many young kids when you can still be considered a kid yourself. Booker, still just 19-years-old, finished up his rookie season averaging 13.8 points and 2.6 assists in 27.7 minutes played. His role increased when former Kentucky guards Brandon Knight and Eric Bledsoe went down with injuries.
“I think this rookie year is going to shape the rest of my career in a positive way,” Booker said. “I don’t think it’ll ever be like that again. A 19-year-old having the ball in his hands the whole game. It was good for me that I got to deal with the pressure of being that main target. Hopefully down the line I’ll still have that same attention on me.”
Recently joining Booker in Phoenix was Tyler Ulis. The Suns selected Ulis with the 34th pick in the draft and the 5-foot-9 guard tore up the summer league circuit, making many question whether NBA teams made a mistake by passing up the All-American. Booker said Ulis proved that size doesn’t matter.
“I don’t understand how the draft always works,” Booker said. “You take all these European guys that play three minutes a game overseas, but right here you see Tyler playing on the biggest stage in college basketball and he’s performing. But I’m glad it happened how it did. We get to be teammates again.”
The two were on the second platoon at Kentucky in 2014-15 on a team that won its first 38 games before falling to Wisconsin in the Final Four. Seven players eventually declared for the NBA Draft off of that team and five of them logged minutes in the league last season.
With so many players off of the 2015 team and the teams that came before them, Booker said it leads to a lot of talk about which team is the best.
“It’s kind of hard to argue, obviously the 2012 team has the national championship, something that we wished we would have had,” Booker said. “I would say we were the most talented team. I always say we were the most talented team in college basketball history. Not the best team -- because the best teams win championships -- but the most talented team.”
The next wave of talent coming through Lexington was on display for a short while on Saturday morning. Freshman guard Malik Monk joined Booker for certain parts of the shooting drills. Monk displayed a sweet shooting stroke, but he wasn’t asked to do as much in the drills as Booker.
Booker said he saw Monk play in the Jordan Brand Classic last year with fellow freshman point guard De’Aaron Fox. The tandem, Booker believes, will be a good one.
“They look like they’re going to be really special,” Booker said. “This team, also with Bam (Adebayo). Defensively, they should be one of Cal’s best teams. They have the length, they have the athleticism. I think it’s going to be real interesting and real fun. I think it’s going to be fast paced with a lot of dunks with how athletic they are.”