Burke V Kemba

[bballnmike]

Comparing who has more heart is just dumb. That something Skip Bayless would do. They both have a lot of it and have put their teams on their back, and it's obviously not something quantifiable.

As far as willingness to improve, again I think both of them put in a lot of work to get better. Kemba made a big jump between his sophomore and junior year in college, Burke between his freshmen and sophomore year.
One thing to consider when looking at their improvement is Kemba was a 5 star and top 15 player in the country. Where as Burke was top 150 to top 100ish depending on what site you look at. Burke made a huge jump from highschool to freshmen year and from freshmen to sophomore year. We also can see Kemba continued to improve after his rookie year in the NBA as well.

Their stats were pretty similar, although Kemba had the benefit of a third year in college, but like their last year of college ball shows, Kemba was a better scorer and Burke was better at setting his teammates up. I expect this to be the same in the NBA as well. Kemba will be the better scorer, and better athlete, but I think Burke will be better at running the pick and roll and finding his teammates.

[ImHeisenberg]

I saw someone mention Kemba lacking the heart Burke does. lol Classic Michigan fandom there.

Over half this boards love for Burke is classic Michigan fandom.

Personally MCW is a much more interesting prospect as I don't see how Burke & Knight could play together defensively.

I agree with the first part, and the second. MCW is more interesting, while Burke is safer. MCW projects all over the place, depending on who you ask, bigger gamble.

[DetroitDon15]

I look at it this way. If we want Kemba, we should draft CJ McCollum. That is the type of guy we should draft. I think if we want Burke that we'd get a guy that is closer to Brevin Knight when all is said and done. I think the one thing I took from watching Burke this year was he was great at making guys around him better. I think he will take that to the next level. I am torn between Burke and Muhammed.

[Clarity]

Kemba doesn't have the crossover CJ does, nor the jumper.

[DCintheD]

I'd love if we had a chance at Burke at 8. Then we could trade Knight for a player like Granger.

[machu46]

Kemba doesn't have the crossover CJ does, nor the jumper.

How so? Kemba is famous for his crossover-stepback. CJ strikes me as a guy that doesn't have a killer crossover so much as he's just a savvy kinda guy that knows when to use each move.

[SamFlow]

Anyone that argues purely based on "heart" should try and remember Mateen Cleaves.

Burke will make a living based on smart play. He will struggle defensively.
He will make a great coach after he is done.
....

MCW! My worry with him is his self confidence and heart to rise above the struggles that he will have early on. If he is able to "Man Up" and doesn't let it bother him, I think he has an ability to be a poor mans Dwayne Wade. A poor mans version. Or a rich mans Rodney Stuckey.
...

That said, I think it's a four man race.

MCW
CJ McCollum
Cody Zeller
Alex Len


There are no sf's on the docket at our pick.

[princeofpalace]

Kemba was terrible his rookie season but he's proved himself to be a solid starting PG. He's better than Knight, and if we hadn't passed on Kemba, we probably would not be looking at another PG in this upcoming draft.

That being said, I think Burke is a better prospect than Kemba was. Burke is a better playmaker and a better shooter. I would welcome drafting Burke, provided that Joe D was able to trade Brandon Knight for a SG or SF.

[Piston Pete]

Kemba was terrible his rookie season but he's proved himself to be a solid starting PG. He's better than Knight, and if we hadn't passed on Kemba, we probably would not be looking at another PG in this upcoming draft.

That being said, I think Burke is a better prospect than Kemba was. Burke is a better playmaker and a better shooter. I would welcome drafting Burke, provided that Joe D was able to trade Brandon Knight for a SG or SF.

Agreed.

I could live with Burke if we were able to trade Knight.

I still cannot warm up to the idea of MCW, however.

[Clarity]

Kemba doesn't have the crossover CJ does, nor the jumper.

How so? Kemba is famous for his crossover-stepback. CJ strikes me as a guy that doesn't have a killer crossover so much as he's just a savvy kinda guy that knows when to use each move.

Kemba has a crossover but not Mccollums crossover & Kemba not being a shooter isnt breaking news.

Google draft express's breakdown on McCollum, his crossover is big time.

[Blkbrd671]

This is for the college ball fans i guess.
How does Burke compare to kemba coming out of college?
Ive done a little research on burke, but ive only seen a handful of kemba's NBA games and none of his college stuff, so i cant fairly compare them.

So?? are they comparable?? which one is better??

That's tough

i will say Kemba has better handles and array of "moves". He's also more of a scoring PG than Burke. Burke's more in the mold of Tony parker, where he creates plays out of sets but can also score the ball if need. Burke also has a lot better range.


i think Burke overall would be alot more entertaining to watch

[HotelVitale]

Kemba is unquestionably the quicker player than McCollum. McCollum has a much bigger body though and needs to create less space to get his shot off. His crossover seems like it should translate well into the NBA. He won't be able to cross anybody anytime like Iverson or Wade, but it should be a good weapon.

Also, apologies for negativity but some of these comparisons are bloody awful:
Jungle, if you're comparing MCW to D Wade or Stuckey, I have to assume you've never seen a single play MCW has made. There's more similarities between me and Joel Anthony than D Wade and MCW. And MCW's floor is Stuckey? To my eyes, there's a 50% chance he never becomes a rotation player, let alone a starter. You're drafting him as a major project, who has to learn how to play and develop a bunch of new skills.

Brevin Knight also isn't a reasonable comp for Burke. Burke is a deadly shooter but isn't especially quick, Knight was a poor shooter but very quick. They also drive and generate assists in totally different ways. I can see what you're thinking because both guys can play in control, and work well in the p n' r, but their skillsets and styles are very very different.

[KembaWalker]

I'll leave the stats and game style to someone else but Burkes heart seems to be the biggest intangible of them all. It's always those players with chips on their shoulders who turn out to have great careers. Kemba never struck me as hungry.

Look how crap UCONN was after Kemba left. They still had pretty much everyone else plus your boy Andre Drummond thrown in and their team was garbage. Thats all you need to know about how good Kemba is.

[ElectricMayhem]

↑ Finally, some objectivity in this thread.

[The_Irony]

I'll leave the stats and game style to someone else but Burkes heart seems to be the biggest intangible of them all. It's always those players with chips on their shoulders who turn out to have great careers. Kemba never struck me as hungry.

Look how crap UCONN was after Kemba left. They still had pretty much everyone else plus your boy Andre Drummond thrown in and their team was garbage. Thats all you need to know about how good Kemba is.

Calhoun > Kevin Ollie

[dmize]

I'll leave the stats and game style to someone else but Burkes heart seems to be the biggest intangible of them all. It's always those players with chips on their shoulders who turn out to have great careers. Kemba never struck me as hungry.

Look how crap UCONN was after Kemba left. They still had pretty much everyone else plus your boy Andre Drummond thrown in and their team was garbage. Thats all you need to know about how good Kemba is.

Calhoun > Kevin Ollie

IDK what that has to do with anything. Calhoun was still the coach that season, even if he did miss time.

And Kevin Ollie went 20-10 this year with a team that had less talent, and nothing to play for but pride.

There's things you can question about Kemba, heart isn't one of them.

[Liver_Pooty]

I'll leave the stats and game style to someone else but Burkes heart seems to be the biggest intangible of them all. It's always those players with chips on their shoulders who turn out to have great careers. Kemba never struck me as hungry.

Look how crap UCONN was after Kemba left. They still had pretty much everyone else plus your boy Andre Drummond thrown in and their team was garbage. Thats all you need to know about how good Kemba is.

Calhoun > Kevin Ollie

You aren't making any sense. Just stop.

[Eoghan]

Burke: Better shooter, probably better facilitator.
Kemba: Better handles, quicker, better defender.

I think Kemba can close the gap on shooting since he's made some big strides lately and become a better facilitator once Charlotte's roster improves (i.e. isn't playing 3 on 5 on offense). I don't know if Burke can improve his handles and defense as much b/c of the lack of quickness.