Booker has blossomed into one of the league’s great young stars and he credits Watson, who would eventually become his head coach, for instilling confidence and a belief he values to this day. “[Earl means] everything,” Booker said on Wednesday after practice. “I credit Earl [for] a lot. He was one of the early ones in the NBA industry to believe in me to that extent. I think it started with him being my player development [coach] before he was the head coach. So he watched the work that he put in with me. He was on the court with me, sweating with me, putting in the work with me and just coincidentally happened that he ended up being the head coach.”