very close to the team who said this is a technical move to allow him to train this off-season at NBA facilities and there is zero expectation that he will leave.
over the past two days and do wonder if they would have included him if he really was headed out the door, this makes sense to me.
I don't know the timing of entering the portal is for him but the NBA feedback may tell me he needs to be good/better at "x" or "y," and that may drive him to play at a place that lets him do that better than at ND.
I think we can all recall LFH's trying to prove he had shooting range.
(Okay, maybe not all of us ... apparently I'm at that age when guys who left ND 15 years ago still feel "recent".)
NBA desirability as his shot volume went up. He went from shooting .368 on 1.1 attempt per game as a junior to .309 on 2.7 attempts per game as a senior. So it had the opposite effect. Yes, work on the things that the scouts want you to work on. So he should've worked on his outside shot. But the challenge is not to force bad shots. An NBA team would've rather have had the guy who shot .368 on few attempts than the guy who showed that he couldn't be an effective outside shooter if asked to do it more regularly.
Likewise, the NBA wasn't going to value Thomas more highly simply because he shot more from the outside. As a sophomore he shot .385 on 6 attempts per game. And his 2-point average was .416 on 8.8 attempts per game. The next year he chucked two more threes per year but dropped .034 points in average and took .5 less twos. And his assists dropped from 6.7 to 4.7 (though his TOs did drop from 4.2 to 2.4). If he wanted to improve his NBA game, he should've worked on getting better at scoring in the paint and continuing to work on his three-point accuracy. But simply shooting higher volume wasn't going to improve his numbers. Of course, part of this is also loss of supporting cast. However, in Thomas's junior year, Quinn was averaging 14 ppg with a better shooting percentage than Thomas on volume and efficiency not far of Carroll's.
Hopefully, he won't be jacking up Steph Curry logo threes to impress the scouts, and runs the offense.
The NBA drafts on potential and not production. What is his potential in the NBA? Maybe a solid second team guard in 2-3 years? If he were to land with a good team that can stash him on their bench for 2-3 seasons, that would be ideal.
If he does to a bad team that expects him to contribute right away. Well. Let’s not talk about that.
would go in the 2nd round. He just as everyone has mentioned doesn't measure up at this time.
on that this off-season.
but Burton getting drafted isn't one of them.
Although I'm sure teams are tampering already.
in the first two rounds.
Donovan Mitchell
Trae Young
Darius Garland
It gets pretty sparse after that. That’s not to say he can’t be, but nobody is mistaking him for those three.
And maybe I'm missing some, but ...
Spud Webb
Muggsy Bogues
Charlie Criss
Nate Robinson
Calvin Murphy
Nate Archibald was listed (in the NBA) as 6'1", and his nickname was Tiny.
accurate. In high school we had a guy that was listed at 6'6"...his hair was that tall, he was 6'3" at best. I went to the Big 12 basketball final between Oklahoma State and Texas Tech in Kansas City back in 2005, John Lucas III, son of John Lucas II, was the point guard for OSU and was listed at 5'11" on the program. I am 6'2", Lucas III walked right by me after the game and I was shocked at how much shorter he was than me...had to be around 5'8" at the tallest. Some guys are measured bare foot, some with shoes on and some request they be listed at a certain height or their coach does it for them. That said, if you can play, you can play.
Point being, he’d be a unicorn.
I hope he’s just using this as an opportunity to feedback on his game. And I would guess he’s shorter than 5’11.
I don’t think he shrunk.
I’m shocked.
While his body may not NBA-ready, seems to me he played at that level or better didn’t he?
Due to height and length alone. Blake is a better athlete on top of that. While Burton might be the better college player, the NBA drafts on pro potential, not college performance. They're not even close in those terms.
towards the basket. He's a 20% 3 point shooter and won't be in the league very long doing that.Also, Wesley is on a horrible team and doesn't play a lot. Burton can carve out a longer career if he improves his outside shot just a bit. He has a mid-range game and has shown he can get to the basket among the trees. I see Burton surpassing anything Wesley has or will do, just my opinion.
He’s part of a regular rotation off the bench and seems to distributing the ball pretty well judging by his assist numbers. I think he’s fortunate to be playing for Pop.
Even if this draft class is supposed to be historically weak.
year of CBB. I think that will be the feedback he receives.
Gotta think he comes back. But you never know.
Reading tea leaves seems like he knows he's likely to be back and is only exploring what NBA execs/scouts are saying about his game.
But who knows.