Trey Burke & 2014 NBA Draft
Utah has won the #5 Pick in the NBA Draft. This puts them in an interesting position based on the talent available. The first tier of talent goes 4-deep (Wiggans/Parker/Embid/Exum) and the second tier as I see it is Marcus Smart and Julius Randle. Obviously Smart would be bad for Burke by taking his starting position, or it could be good if he is traded to a better team. They could also take Randle and pair him with Derrick Favors and Enes Canter in the frontcourt, though it would be difficult to play all three at the same time. Between PF/C there are 96 minutes available so all could still play 30+ minutes. Another out of the box options would be to trade the pick, possibly to the Phoenix Suns who have picks 14, 18, and 27. That would put them in range for when the SG/SF players that fit their roster needs are projected. Those14-18 range could see James Young, Rodney Hood, Zach Levine, and of course our old friend Nik Stauskas be drafted. Also this gives Utah extra picks in what is considered a deep draft. Whatever happens hopefully Trey Burke's situation improves.
He might be a reach if they needed a PG.
Have to agree, this kid has way to much baggage on/off the court.
Smart is a combo so he would play the 2 next to Burke. Hayward slides down.
There isn't much in the way of revised mock draft yet to fuel speculations, but USA Today seems to have already produced a revised guess here - LINK
At the moment, they have gone with Utah taking Julius Randle actually, with Embiid, Parker, Wiggins and Exum going ahead of him in their estimation.
lol come on now.
I think their beef is that Chris Paul is the best point guard in the NBA (with props to Tony Parker, who might be 1A), and though Trey's numbers may approach CP3's (as you point out), Trey would need to do it for years and do it as the leader of his team, one of the best leaders in the NBA, take his team to Western Conference Finals, etc. Also, when CP3 was with the Hornets, he was in a comparable spot to where Trey's at now...and all CP3 did was lead the league in assists and steals while averaging 22 ppg from 2007-2009. When Trey puts up close to those numbers (22, 12, 2-3 steals) and not close to Paul's current numbers on a much better team (18 and 10), then you have a much stronger case for Trey being ready to emerge as a CP3.
Does he have the potential? Sure. And I tend to agree with you that he has a bright future ahead of him, possibly as the NBA's best point guard. But I can easily see why others have objected to the CP3 comparison, since in a similar situation (on a mediocre team, at the same age or thereabouts), Paul did a hell of a lot more than we've seen Burke do thus far.
Vonleh: "Jazz fans have to be devastated. They have zero shot of landing Jabari Parker here. And their other targets are all gone as well. They do not really need another power forward, but at this point, that is the value left on the board. Vonleh has the ability to stretch the floor should be intriguing to the Jazz."
The owner that wouldn't let Joe D amnesty Ben Gordon's contract and forced him to make that awful trade. Even though the Lions are a pain to follow, at least they make no bones about their creating a video game offense. With the Pistons, they still seem to have no direction or focus.
Did "the owner" force Joe to acquire Ben Gordon? Charlie V? Allen Iverson? Josh Smith? Brandon Jennings? How about passing on Trey Burke? Was that "the owner" as well?
Look, I don't blame it all on Joe (and I've been a huge fan of his in the past), but he made a series of terrible decisions. The ownership limbo (due to the settlement of the Davidson estate) did result in some tied hands, but it had little to do with the overall mess the team is in.
When the owner goes "playoffs or else", you have to take a high risk/high reward approach and grab Josh Smith and Brandon Jennings, and pass over a potentially solid PG in Burke.
And if you look at Ben Gordon and Charlie V, who else were they going to get? Ben was a 20PPG scorer his last year with the Bulls. And he was 26. It's easy to criticize the deal now, but at the time people thought he may be the next Rip. Joe followed the textbook to get cap space for the FA class of 2010 (Wade, LeBron, Bosh, Melo), but he knew in the summer of 2009 that those guys had no interest in coming here. He tried to improve the roster as opposed to waiting and getting shut out the next year.
I'm not excusing the bad moves and revolving door of coaches, but I can understand the difficulty of running a team with ownership issues the past 4+ years and in a less than desirable free agent destination.
the Jazz have more than one need, but they are in an excellent position to trade up for one of the top 4. Sending this year's 6th pick and next year 1st round pick (for let's say the other team's 2nd) would have to be tempting to those above them--particularly for Parker, who I'm guessing Utah most covets.
but Utah will likely have a very very high pick next year as well---and unless the NBA changes the age limit, there will be some very desirable college one-and-dones available. Cleveland almost definitely will keep its pick---but not so sure about the others
Everyone is assuming the top 3 will be Embiid, Wiggins, and Parker in some order, with Exum going 4th. However, if Embiid/Wiggins go 1/2, and the 76ers fall in love with Exum and take him 3 (imagine him and MCW together... that would be crazy), I could definitely see the Jazz trying to trade up a spot to grab Parker at #4. Orlando would then be in position to get a big return to just move down one spot and take a guy like Marcus Smart who they've apparently coveted since last year. I could definitely see this scenario unfolding.
I hadn't thought about this scenario and it could totally happen. Everybody knows that Parker/Jazz is the perfect fit but what do they give up? This years #23 pick and/or next years #1. I'd do it. The Jazz want players that will stick around past their first contracts, again, Parker is perfect.
The Jazz got screwed.
I think they go Vonleh and make him a 3/4, or McDermott to pair with their bigs. Randle is another option but they have Favors, who is bigger and improving each season. Smart makes no sense because of Burks, not because of Trey.
They also pick 23rd, among who I think will be available, GR3 would be a perfect fit. They need a 2/3/4 hybrid.
The starting line-up (omitting non-future players) - Trey, Hayward, Vonleh, Favors, Kantor. Burks, GR3 off the bench. That's a solid young squad. There are no superstars but enough decent players where they could push for the 8th spot in the West. They need a better coach. I think they will have a ton of cap space in the next couple of years - but who wants to go to Salt Lake?
Feels like they'll take Randle, but who knows what might actually happen between now and the actual draft. Nobody saw Bennett going #1 last year, and maybe Utah will just trade down a bit and try to nab a cheaper option later on.
He is a sure fire double double machine at the next level (minimum).