Suns’ shot-making fizzles late in loss to Raptors

Exactly. I was hoping the two could develop into a dynamic duo. The best GMs know when to cut bait to get the biggest bang for their buck when no one else can foreshadow this.

"The two cannot coexist."

I agree and would trade Booker this summer. Suns need to take a step back and develop their young talent. Limited resources and they are still fighting the salary cap issue. Those two issues severely hinder the Suns from getting anywhere close to the Spurs and Thunder.

Hey, Earl. My apologies for taking so long to get back to you. I had long work weeks the last two weeks and just got back into town from Charlotte where I was last week. I appreciate the background and insight. And I always appreciate our conversations, albeit infrequent. Most people on here appear to be raging infantile fanboys, much like that prepubescent idiot in office.

Booker’s moving to MS in high school says a lot on the surface. However, his formidable years were galvanized in white suburbia; this is what shaped him; and his mother, I believe, tried to embody herself into the mold of a white soccer mom, primarily ‘dusting off’ her Mexican roots, other than a superficial pride that’s she used to remind herself of her Mexican heritage. But regardless of how she grew up, living in white suburbia in Grand Rapids falsely guided her into believing that she would give her children a better life than she had through ‘opportunities.’ This, on the surface, is to be commended. What is not, however, commendable is giving your kids a safe learning environment to engender opportunities that concurrently deprives them of a core reality. That core reality? That opportunistic upbringings must be anchored to a framework of hard work, HUMILITY, failure & love, and true family values. Giving a rich kid everything he / she wants provides an opportunity, but it doesn’t them how to deal with life’s hardships.

That is why I believe Booker grew up unchallenged and overly coddled, yet not necessarily loved without entitlement. … I coached little league baseball in Birmingham, AL many years ago. Not one white parent/ family believed that their son didn’t walk on water. I had ONE black family with a son on my team, and they were the only ones to thank me for working with their son on his fielding and batting; and they would proudly tell me how their son would practice at home what he had been taught in practice. My younger son also played baseball although I did not coach his team. On his team, I once again noticed that it was the black families who would get on their kids to pay attention and do better during games. Never did I observe a white parent criticize his / her kids. I am Greek and grew up in a very Greek home. Everything was real and honest. When mistakes were made, I was told. And when I did well, I was told. I knew I was very imperfect, but I also knew my worth because I was, most importantly, loved (and definitely not coddled) which meant that I mattered. How is this relevant? I do not believe Booker has the psychological mettle to toughen out hardships because he grew up with a “I am the best” mentality because “I just am,”common among suburbia white American-raised kids, I believe. His father obviously recognized at least some of this and found it necessary to show a harder, more realistic, life to his son (but, I believe, his father’s predominant mindset was to bring Booker physically closer to a major SEC program). Regardless, Veronica Gutiérrez had already done the damage (inadvertently). Our personalities form by age 7. That doesn’t mean that we stop mentally “adjusting” after that. It means that although our psychological road is laid out, we still have the ability to maneuver around our pathway through failures, hardships, reinforcements and of course wisdom. But our responses are mostly rooted back to our childhood road’s development.

For example, Jordan grew up in hardship and was mentally tough, perhaps the toughest. L James did as well although I believe he manufactured himself into something else that is more grand, albeit superficially, because I believe he, too, lacks mettle, especially in the clutch. And with Booker, he ‘panics’ in life. Green on the other hand does carry himself as a black man. I like his energy, confidence, and bravado. I think playing with Booker will, however, stifle his confidence and eventually turn him into a glorified role player. The two cannot coexist. Controlling insecure people, like Booker, need everyone’s world to revolve around them that, in a way, strips them of their identities. The only way to squash an insecure persona like Booker’s is to have a superstar, a “father figure,” around him that will forcibly humble him (out of his intense fear of failure), especially since he grew up without his father from you wrote. This is where Durant and C Paul came into play in Booker’s stability; and I believe it is where Brooks’ role is vital in keeping Booker on a more even level, which would then allow Green to not feel suppressed. People like Booker need to feel fear; they need to feel they will “get in trouble” if they don’t listen or do as they are told; this goes right back to his very ‘white’ overprotective mother / fatherless upbringing. Brooks instills fear in Booker, like Paul and Durant did (although for different reasons). Personally, and I have believed this for the last 2 seasons, I believe that the Suns are fools for not trading Booker for a haul of young talent and draft picks. Let another team experience what it’s like having a life-sucking (likely) narcissist on its team that sucks the energy out of the other players as they cater to Booker’s ego, i.e., his insecurities. But like you said several weeks ago, the fan base would go into an utter revolution if the Suns were to trade Booker.

And yes, great observation. I do believe that Phoenix is the perfect backdrop for Booker’s insecure persona. The community strokes his ego by elevating him simply because of his stats, not because of winning. For someone who is psychologically weak, i.e., who folds under pressure, the Phoenix community which doesn’t demand a winner (but is content with individual stats) is the perfect landscape for Booker. I agree 100% with your rhetorical question as to whether this is why Booker loves Phoenix (and yes, the money also helps!!).