By James Blackburn
Game Scouted: Michigan @ Minnesota
Michigan Wins 83-75
Trey Burke (6’0”, PG, SO)
Stats
36 min, 5-15 FG, 3-6 3pt FG, 5-6 FT, 1 reb, 9 assist, 1 TO, 1 Blk, 1 ST, 18 TP
Strengths
Trey is emerging as one of, if not, the best PG in the country. He leads his team in both points (18) and assist (7.2) per game and does not turn the ball over much (1.9) considering he plays over 33 minutes a game and has the ball in his hands a large portion of his time on the floor. Burke has several qualities and skills that make him an intriguing prospect to NBA teams.
The first thing and the most obvious is Burke’s passing ability and court vision. He keeps his eyes up and is consistently scanning the floor looking to make something happen on offense with the pass. Terrific overall passer who showcased just about every pass a PG can possibly make this game. Showcased bounce, alley-oop, passes in transition, drive and kicks, no-look ,European passes on the baseline, the ability to get by initial defender and using creativity to dump it to open teammate, hit cutters, fed players on back door cuts, and entered the ball to the post. He gets rid of the ball quickly and showed me more and more of his terrific passing skills as the game went on. Had 9 assists this game, but should have had 10 or more as several of his passes that led to wide open shots were missed by teammates.
Another aspect of his game that makes him a complete PG is his speed, quickness, and ball handling ability. Excellent speed with the ball in his hands on the break. Showed the ability to go both directions with the ball- can also change speeds and directions. Showed a nice hesitation dribble and the ability to finish with either hand. Has an excellent crossover dribble move and has many other dribble moves to get by defender and into painted area.
Besides his passing ability, speed, and ball handling, Burke also can score the basketball. Burke is shooting over 50% from the field, 40% from 3, and 80% from FT line for the season and leads his team in scoring per game with 18. Good shooter who has solid form, good arc, rotation, and elevation. Excellent pull up shooter from midrange or from 3. Answered one of my concerns I had by showing he could hit the set 3 off the kick out and did so from a couple of feet behind the arc (NBA range). Can create his own shot and is a solid 1 on 1 player. FT stroke looked solid- poised and patient on the line.
Defensively he has excellent lateral quickness and quick hands. Understands defensive positioning off the ball and jumps to the ball when ball moves. Matched up with Minnesota’s Andre Hollins for most of game and did a decent job of staying in front of him and making not letting him get easy scores. Even had a block on one of his jump shots and did a good job of contesting others.
Overall, he did a good job of directing Michigan’s offensive attack and putting players in the correct spots, waiving players through, and using hand and verbal signals. After struggling to a degree for the first 10 minutes of game he played a tremendous second half and seemed to have either assisted or scored on the majority of Michigan’s field goals in last 15 min or so in 2nd half.
Weaknesses
Struggled with defensive pressure from Andre Hollins at beginning of game and looked a little rattled. Forced a few passes in this game- that he never should of thrown- tried to force the ball several times- most of these coming early in first half. Also seemed to be a little loose and careless with the ball at this time as the defense got multiple tips on his dribble and passes. To his credit, bounced back and played a strong second half against a top 10 team and on the road and finished with only 1 TO.
Size definitely hurts him as he barely 6’0” tall. He struggled to score inside the painted area tonight and this will only become more of an issue at the next level. While he does have a nice pull-up jumper, he lacks a floater, which would be useful at his size. Has the quickness to get to rim-but is more likely to pass if he gets there- if he is going to score- he will pull-up before he gets all the way there. Must get stronger with ball when driving to rim.
Defensively I would of liked to see him pressure the ball more then he did as he possesses good quickness – did it only a couple of times. Got caught on screens too easily and didn’t go ball side on the off the ball screen. Size makes him nearly invisible on the glass on both ends of the court. I question his ability as a help defender- gets bumped out of position by bigger players off the ball- tended to stand beside opponent in help position instead of getting in front of him.
Overview
Good game tonight for the sophomore PG on the road against a Big 10 rival. Even though he struggled shooting the ball for the most part (5-15), he did hit his 3’s and FT’s at a high rate and also dished out 9 assists to help lead team to a big win on the road. Matched up with Minnesota’s Andre Hollins for majority of game- his strength was giving Burke problems to start, but Burke did a better job in the second half and held Hollins to 13 points on 5 of 12 shooting.
Most draft boards have Burke going mid to late first round, although one mock draft had him going as high as number 13. I see him as a back-up PG in the league who can come in and provide quickness, shooting, and run the offense. I wouldn’t pick him as high as 13, but would justify a team picking him late in the first round (25-30) or early in the second round. This is not a big draft for PG’s, so you may see his stock go higher, possibly getting picked up in the lottery, depending on how he does in March and depending on if a team is looking for a back-up PG.
Note :Burke played the majority of the game as #12, because his first jersey (#3) got torn.
