Week 8 in the Association gave us two players who have never been honored with “Player of the Week” before. One is a first-year guy who is really coming into his own as a diverse scorer, and the other is a five-year veteran who has been a scoring phenom since entering the league. Lets take a look at what kind of week these two had.
Eastern Conference: Saddiq Bey
- Team: Detroit Pistons
- Stats: 17.8 PTS, 5.5 REB, 2.0 AST
- Team record during this stretch: 3-1
Saddiq Bey is just the second Pistons rookie ever to win this award, the other was Kelly Tripucka in March, of 1982. Bey was drafted by the Brooklyn Nets, but was never given the chance to even play a game for their organization and now finds himself thriving on a very low end Piston’s roster. Since given the opportunity to play extended minutes he has been thriving within his role in Detroit and during this stretch of games he averaged 26.1 minutes per game. Perhaps the most notable accomplishment from Bey’s special week would be the way he was shooting the deep ball.
The first year player from Villanova became the first Pistons rookie in team history with at least four 3-pointers made in back-to-back games (Feb. 12-14). He was able to accomplish this on 69.6% shooting from beyond as well. If those statistics haven’t impressed you, Bey also set another rookie record with the Pistons, becoming their first rookie to make seven 3-pointers in a single game and he recorded career highs of 30 points and 12 rebounds in a win over the Boston Celtics. With that standout performance Saddiq became the only rookie in NBA history to make seven triples in a game without a miss.
During his rookie campaign Bey is averaging 11.9 points per game, and shooting over 40% from the 3-point line. Everyone should expect him to keep taking advantage of his time on the lowly Detroit Pistons, and probably expect his minutes per game to increase as well.
Western Conference: Devin Booker
- Team: Phoenix Suns
- Stats: 32.3 PTS, 5.0 REB, 5.3 AST
- Team record during this stretch: 4-0
The blistering hot Phoenix Suns can thank Devin Booker for their recent success, winning nine of the team’s last ten games, and going 4-0 during Booker’s Player of the Week run. Booker not only averaged 32.3 points per game during these four games, but he also shot over 50% from the field. The Sun’s win streak has now reached six straight games, and two of the most impressive came during Booker’s phenomenal week when the Suns took down the Eastern Conference’s top two teams in Philadelphia and Milwaukee.
Surprisingly this is the first time in Booker’s splendid young career that he has got the Player of the Week honors, and the first time a Phoenix Suns player has been awarded this since Goran Dragic in 2014. Booker has been averaging 22.6 points per game since his rookie season in 2015, but hasn’t been able to accomplish much from a team stand-point with the Suns, but the time could be now. Booker has a veteran point-guard in Chris Paul, a great young big man in Deandre Ayton, and just more of a supporting cast in general this season. Booker and the Suns hold the #4 seed in the Westeren Conference and look to keep on chugging.
Donovan’s Honorable Mentions:
Eastern Conference: Terry Rozier (Scary Terry)
- Stats: 30.8 PTS, 5 REB, 3.5 AST, 56.7 FG%
Terry Rozier is making the most of his time in Charolette and really blossoming into the type of scorer he showed flashes of during his time in Boston with the Celtics. Rozier is certainly making the full transition into “Scary Terry”.
Western Conference: Steph Curry
- Stats: 32.8 PTS, 5.5 REB, 4.5 AST, 56.4 FG%
Steph is playing with a young, banged up, and thin roster this season, not to mention he doesn’t have his backcourt mate Klay Thompson, and he is still playing like an MVP. Realistically Steph could be player of the week or make my honorable mentions segment every single week.