NBA recap

Submitted by dc22 on
A great night with five wolverines seeing playing time in the NBA. The stat lines are as follows: Trey Burke: 20 points, 12 assists, 3 rebounds; Jamal Crawford: 29 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds; Darius Morris: 2 points, 1 rebound; Tim Hardaway Jr.: 6 points, 1 rebound; Manny Harris: 7 points, 1 assist, 3 rebounds. Trey, Jamal, Darius and Manny also ended up on the winning sides.

LSAClassOf2000

January 17th, 2014 at 10:09 PM ^

Trey Burke had a double-double by the third quarter too, which was amazing really. He put on quite the pick-and-roll clinic and the Pistons did not seem to be able to do much to stop him either. By himself, he had an effective field goal percentage of precisely 50% (8-17, 1-5 for three-pointers) and an A/T ratio of 1.71 with three defensive rebounds. Trey doing Trey things still. 

bronxblue

January 17th, 2014 at 10:41 PM ^

I'm apparently the contrarian here at MGoBlog about Burke, but his 12 assists came along with 7 TOs, and while eFG of 50% isn't bad, needing 17 shots + 4 FTs to get 20 points isn't super-efficient.  The Jazz won and that's obviously the key, but Burke is still shooting something like 37% for month.  I love what he did at UM and I think he's a good NBA PG, but he definitely needs to improve on his shooting if he is going to stick around in the NBA as the Jazz improve the talent around him.  I suspect he'll be better, but I've always been a bit leery since draft day when someone (might have been Trey) saying his game was modeled after Iverson, a freak athlete who really shouldn't be the model for any player who wants to fit into a team.

bacon1431

January 18th, 2014 at 10:13 AM ^

Never said they did. But his first half wasn't very good, which contradicts your point that he was in complete control the whole night. Plus, his defense was not good all game so those that think he had an incredible night aren't watching both ends of the court. 50% of the game is on defense and that's the area that Trey needs to work on the most.

bacon1431

January 18th, 2014 at 8:55 PM ^

Yeah, people just look at the box scores and think Trey is incredible. Every Jazz game I've watched, Trey has been pretty abysmal on defense, where 50% of the game is played. But if you criticize him, you're labeled a Joe D apologist or a hater. Trey definitely has alot to work on to become an upper tier PG in this league.

The thing that has impressed me most his rookie season has been his ability to put bad stretches behind him. He had a woeful game against the Spurs but he still had the confidence to take and make shots in the last minute of that game. He had a pretty awful first quarter and a half last night but put it behind him and had a very good next quarter and a half.

bronxblue

January 18th, 2014 at 9:14 PM ^

I'll agree that he has immense self-confidence and a short memory, two things you definitely need to be a good player in the league.  Personally, I love what he did in college and how he helped bring UM basketball back.  But as noted, he's shooting about 39% on the season with a huge number of shots; your PG can't do that and be successful unless he's an insane athlete who plays great defense and does everything else right.  

Hell, Rajon Rondo has consistently been knocked for being a horrible shooter and HE shot 42% as a 20-year-old rookie (with fewer shots, admittedly), and was much better defensively.  I think Burke will be a fine NBA player, but the circle jerk around here that he's a superstar and that KCP and others are going to be in the Euro league because someone can't look past the box score is infuriating.

ThWard

January 18th, 2014 at 5:11 PM ^

But your post is half obvious, half overstated. Yes, he has to improve. That statement applies to 100 % of rookies/young players.

But stick around the league? If Burke doesn't improve at all, he will have a 10 yr career as a lower level starter or backup. PG is currently very thin in the league, and Burke's current skillset is solid.

bronxblue

January 18th, 2014 at 9:25 PM ^

I know that he has to improve like all young players, but people around here wouldn't be praising him every other day if he was scuttling along as a backup or lower-level starter. How many Timmy Hardaway Jr. or Jamal Crawford posts have you seen around here, other than in service to Trey Burke?

Yes, Burke has to improve, but my concern is that things like "shooting better" and "being bigger and playing better defense" aren't always that easy.  People complain about Brandon Jennings not improving since he entered the league; look at his numbers and you'll see a guy who is statistically at or above Burke in a lot of areas as a rookie.  

I guess my point is that while I love what Burke did at UM, I'm not going to watch everything he does and shine the turds up.  Hell, Denard was great at UM and looks like a bit of a bust in the NFL; I'm honestly not that surprised simply because his best asset (speed) isn't SO dominant that it covers up for his other weaknesses.  Doesn't mean I didn't cheer him or tell people about his great runs against ND and OSU, but I guess I am a jaded fan in that respect that I can't have blanket love for guys.

As for sticking around in the league, I guess I should have clarified that he isn't going to get starter minutes on good teams with those numbers.  Sure, he can kick around on some benches and maybe start for a lottery team if they don't have a better option, but if I'm going to read dozens of comments about him already being a star I'm going to point out how that isn't the case now and how it might not ever be true in the future.  But yeah, a bit overstated in terms of collecting an NBA paycheck.

 

TheLastHarbaugh

January 17th, 2014 at 10:27 PM ^

JCrossover has been tearing it up all year. Such a fun player to watch. He also does a ton of charitable work as well.

He will have to be be huge for the Clips if they're going to make a run for the title.

johnthesavage

January 18th, 2014 at 1:53 AM ^

I didn't get to see this game (don't really get to see any, I don't live in town anymore) but I'm looking at the boxscore and Singler played 32 minutes, while Smith got 24 and Monroe got 16? Billups is a DNP - coach's decision? I get that these guys aren't playing great right now, but I'm pretty skeptical of most of these "coaching decisions".

KCP (5 pts, a typically empty stat line) gets 27 minutes and Stuckey (who scored 21) gets 21 minutes? Nobody was in foul trouble. I know I didn't see this game but it's pretty hard to understand how the minutes are being distributed, if this team is actually trying to win games.

mGrowOld

January 18th, 2014 at 8:50 AM ^

I am convinced the Pistons would rather lose than have any player from Michigan on their roster.  It has been that way forever and for the life of me I can't figure out why.  It's like they resent the attention Michigan gets or they just want their fans to love the Pistons cause they're the Pistons and not because they went to school locally.  They don't seem to have the same issues with MSU but since I've been following the Pistons (Dave Bing & Jimmy Walker era) they have steadfastly refused to add any Wolverines to the roster until the player is about 40 years past their prime.

So I wasnt surprised in the least when they passed on Trey. 

Piston Blue

January 18th, 2014 at 2:42 PM ^

tons of people sporting michigan gear, so more people cheering on trey than the pistons. Not to discount Trey's performance at all, but Will Bynum played awful defense the entire game and played a large amount of the minutes at PG. When Jennings was on him, he struggled though, so there's a give-and-take with his stat line.