The Trey Burke - Chris Paul Comparison

[Lukeem]

One thing that people really need to stop doing is looking just at where a player is, while determining their ceiling.

2 years ago Burke was a low level recruit... he busted his ass everyday and earned his way to split Big 10 freshman of the year with Cody Zeller (despite get a 1/100th the love Zeller did)

Then all year he busted his ass again to surpass Cody Zeller and everyone else in the country to lead his team to the national championship game behind a consensus player of the year nod

Time and time again when asked about practices Beilien raves about how hard Burke goes everyday in practice... it is no fluke that Burke has grown exponentially every year

I like the upside of a player like Marcus Smart... but he was a big prospect coming in and had an "expected" great freshman season in a much weaker conference


All year Burke has been crawling up the draft boards because it is impossible to deny what a complete player and person he is. Defense - Rebounding - Offense - Athleticsm - Shooting - Ballhandling - Playmaking - Reading Screens (love the way he attack doubles on ball screens) he does it all and really has shown continual improvement as well as clutch performances and a lot of maturity (listening to him after taking the loss (which he could have rightfully bitched about BS calls that handcuffed him) but instead he rose above and sounded like a 10 year vet

this guy is a potential complete star that you could rebuild a franchise around

out of the top 5 projected teams picking right now

Charlotte
Orlando
Phoenix
Cleveland
Detroit

Cleveland would be the only team that has reason to pass on him... If Charlotte falls in love with another player they could justify it

But if I'm Orlando, Phoenix or Detroit I am handing him the keys and trading away anyone in the way (will he walk in and turn them into contenders? Probably not. Being a 20-21 year old running the offense they will probably struggle and might be in the Wiggins sweepstakes - but that is a good thing

[ManualRam]

As freshman = Smart > Burke

FYI Smart is almost 1.5 years younger. If he came back to school next year he'd have a dominant season. He will be a dominant playmaking SG when he improves that jumper...

Has to be noted that Burke's improvement over his freshman here was not what anyone would consider normal. Guys like Chris Paul and Deron Williams didn't see improvements like that.

he was really good over his freshman yr too. he improved, but i think the biggest difference is that he took ownership over this yr's michigan team. he had a much better freshman season than deron did. deron wasnt that highly touted either coming out of HS. he was ranked somewhere in the 50s and wasnt even considered the best recruit on his own HS team.

i also think it's debatable who was better as a freshman b/t smart and burke. burke shot better from the floor, had the lower TO %, higher ast rate, helping his team overachieve en route to a share of the B1G title.

[Joel Embust]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rt-VBf-esdI[/youtube]

[ManualRam]

he's so strong that he can shoot 25 foot jump shots on the way down.

[Jory04]

As freshman = Smart > Burke

FYI Smart is almost 1.5 years younger. If he came back to school next year he'd have a dominant season. He will be a dominant playmaking SG when he improves that jumper...

Has to be noted that Burke's improvement over his freshman here was not what anyone would consider normal. Guys like Chris Paul and Deron Williams didn't see improvements like that.

he was really good over his freshman yr too. he improved, but i think the biggest difference is that he took ownership over this yr's michigan team. he had a much better freshman season than deron did. deron wasnt that highly touted either coming out of HS. he was ranked somewhere in the 50s and wasnt even considered the best recruit on his own HS team.

i also think it's debatable who was better as a freshman b/t smart and burke. burke shot better from the floor, had the lower TO %, higher ast rate, helping his team overachieve en route to a share of the B1G title.

His leadership was evident as he guided the team this yea, but his biggest strides to me came in shooting. He had a wonderful ability to get to the interior as a freshman, but I liken his improvements in shooting consistency and range to that of Derrick Rose between his second and third years in the NBA.

[tranjSAIC]

Trey Burke is a slightly better Jameer, I don't see this Chris Paul comparison at all.

[KembaWalker]

One thing that people really need to stop doing is looking just at where a player is, while determining their ceiling.

2 years ago Burke was a low level recruit... he busted his ass everyday and earned his way to split Big 10 freshman of the year with Cody Zeller (despite get a 1/100th the love Zeller did)

Then all year he busted his ass again to surpass Cody Zeller and everyone else in the country to lead his team to the national championship game behind a consensus player of the year nod

Time and time again when asked about practices Beilien raves about how hard Burke goes everyday in practice... it is no fluke that Burke has grown exponentially every year

I like the upside of a player like Marcus Smart... but he was a big prospect coming in and had an "expected" great freshman season in a much weaker conference


All year Burke has been crawling up the draft boards because it is impossible to deny what a complete player and person he is. Defense - Rebounding - Offense - Athleticsm - Shooting - Ballhandling - Playmaking - Reading Screens (love the way he attack doubles on ball screens) he does it all and really has shown continual improvement as well as clutch performances and a lot of maturity (listening to him after taking the loss (which he could have rightfully bitched about BS calls that handcuffed him) but instead he rose above and sounded like a 10 year vet

this guy is a potential complete star that you could rebuild a franchise around

out of the top 5 projected teams picking right now

Charlotte
Orlando
Phoenix
Cleveland
Detroit

Cleveland would be the only team that has reason to pass on him... If Charlotte falls in love with another player they could justify it

But if I'm Orlando, Phoenix or Detroit I am handing him the keys and trading away anyone in the way (will he walk in and turn them into contenders? Probably not. Being a 20-21 year old running the offense they will probably struggle and might be in the Wiggins sweepstakes - but that is a good thing

Charlotte would pass on Burke easily. He's Kemba without the elite quickness. No thanks.

[BaunceyChillups]

kemba wishes he could shoot as well as burke

[Golabki]

One thing that people really need to stop doing is looking just at where a player is, while determining their ceiling.

2 years ago Burke was a low level recruit... he busted his ass everyday and earned his way to split Big 10 freshman of the year with Cody Zeller (despite get a 1/100th the love Zeller did)

Then all year he busted his ass again to surpass Cody Zeller and everyone else in the country to lead his team to the national championship game behind a consensus player of the year nod

Time and time again when asked about practices Beilien raves about how hard Burke goes everyday in practice... it is no fluke that Burke has grown exponentially every year

I like the upside of a player like Marcus Smart... but he was a big prospect coming in and had an "expected" great freshman season in a much weaker conference


All year Burke has been crawling up the draft boards because it is impossible to deny what a complete player and person he is. Defense - Rebounding - Offense - Athleticsm - Shooting - Ballhandling - Playmaking - Reading Screens (love the way he attack doubles on ball screens) he does it all and really has shown continual improvement as well as clutch performances and a lot of maturity (listening to him after taking the loss (which he could have rightfully bitched about BS calls that handcuffed him) but instead he rose above and sounded like a 10 year vet

this guy is a potential complete star that you could rebuild a franchise around

out of the top 5 projected teams picking right now

Charlotte
Orlando
Phoenix
Cleveland
Detroit

Cleveland would be the only team that has reason to pass on him... If Charlotte falls in love with another player they could justify it

But if I'm Orlando, Phoenix or Detroit I am handing him the keys and trading away anyone in the way (will he walk in and turn them into contenders? Probably not. Being a 20-21 year old running the offense they will probably struggle and might be in the Wiggins sweepstakes - but that is a good thing

Charlotte would pass on Burke easily. He's Kemba without the elite quickness. No thanks.

Burke has a great wingspan. Concerns about his lack of size are grossly overstated. He's also got better passing skills than Kemba.

[KembaWalker]

I'm not concerned about his size alone, more like his size in conjunction with a lack of elite quickness. Not sure how well he will adapt to NBA speed.

[MrBigShot]

Trey Burke is a slightly better Jameer, I don't see this Chris Paul comparison at all.

He's already better than Jameer. He'll be a lot more than "slightly" better in a few years.

[tranjSAIC]

Trey Burke is a slightly better Jameer, I don't see this Chris Paul comparison at all.

He's already better than Jameer. He'll be a lot more than "slightly" better in a few years.

Lets wait till he gets in the league 1st before we declare that.

[Mlockhart]

Kemba

I had similar thought's and I see the Terell Brandon comparison to. Heck of a player in his day.

I don't see the Trey Burke comparison other than they both have a tendency to over handle the ball a bit. I remember watching, CP3 in college and he did such a good job of making his teammates better that you could see what he would do at the next level when the game was wide open. I just don't get the sense that Burke has that type of command and presence.

[tranjSAIC]

Kemba

I had similar thought's and I see the Terell Brandon comparison to. Heck of a player in his day.

I don't see the Trey Burke comparison other than they both have a tendency to over handle the ball a bit. I remember watching, CP3 in college and he did such a good job of making his teammates better that you could see what he would do at the next level when the game was wide open. I just don't get the sense that Burke has that type of command and presence.

Plus Paul can get anywhere on the court he wants to go AND he doesn't need a screen to do it. Can't say the same for Burke.

[reapaman]

Haven't you guys been watching Mike Conley in the playoffs? Thats Trey Burke's future except he may even be slightly better.

[Charsace]

Haven't you guys been watching Mike Conley in the playoffs? Thats Trey Burke's future except he may even be slightly better.

Conley is a better athlete than Burke. Burke needs screens in college to get anywhere. When Conley was in college he was breaking down teams without any help all night long.

[Mlockhart]

Haven't you guys been watching Mike Conley in the playoffs? Thats Trey Burke's future except he may even be slightly better.

Conley is a better athlete than Burke. Burke needs screens in college to get anywhere. When Conley was in college he was breaking down teams without any help all night long.

Conley's speed is incredible. He doesn't always look it, but he is one of the fastest guys end to end in the league. Burke is shifty and uses a lot of screens and likes that hesitation dribble.

[Doctor MJ]

Haven't you guys been watching Mike Conley in the playoffs? Thats Trey Burke's future except he may even be slightly better.

Conley is a better athlete than Burke. Burke needs screens in college to get anywhere. When Conley was in college he was breaking down teams without any help all night long.

I don't understand a statement like this.

Conley was not an All-American in college.
He scored way less than Burke.
He even assisted less despite getting to play with Greg Oden.

None of this means that Burke has to be as good of an athlete as Conley, and obviously Conley got drafted high, but if Conley had been "breaking down teams without any help ALL NIGHT LONG", don't you think that would have translated into a bit more celebrated college year?

[UGA Hayes]

I don't know I just get worried about Acie Law syndrome with Burke, where a guy starts to get a winner/ big shot maker based reputation while having some pretty obvious limitations.

[PhilasFinest]

Burke has more Lillard to his game than Paul.


When it's said and done, I think he will be the best player out of this draft.