Washington Wizards Took Big Risk By Relying On Trey Burke

By Ben Mehic | Jul 11, 2016

Dec 14, 2014; Washington, DC, USA; Utah Jazz guard Trey Burke (3) dribbles past Washington Wizards guard John Wall (2) during the first half at Verizon Center. Mandatory Credit: Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports /

The Washington Wizards’ backup point guard slot has been very unstable and now they will rely on an unproven Trey Burke

The backup point guard position has been a carousel in the nation’s capital since Antonio Daniels relieved Gilbert Arenas in the mid 2000’s.

From Kirk Hinrich to a quickly ousted Shaun Livingston, the Washington Wizards just haven’t able to find the right backup guard for John Wall – that is, until a few years ago.

Washington traded Jan Vesely to the Denver Nuggets in exchange for an ancient Andre Miller in 2014, essentially using the sixth overall pick on a senior citizen.

Miller provided a lot of stability for a second unit that was comprised of other – you guessed it – senior citizens. Affectionately nicknamed the “AARP unit,” Washington’s bench was led by Al Harrington, Drew Gooden and Prof. Miller.

Wall and Bradley Beal played fast and often tried to push the pace at the beginning of games, but the back court wasn’t getting any help from the second team. The bench played slow and methodical, which isn’t necessarily conducive to creating a sustainable offense nowadays.

Washington decided it was time to part ways with Miller, trading him to the Sacramento Kings for Ramon Sessions, who lost his backup spot to rookie Ray McCallum.

Now, like most people, I hated this trade.

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Sessions put up Eric Maynor-like numbers in Sacramento.

Plus, the Wizards traded Andre Miller – a fan favorite who will live in our collective hearts forever.

Sessions, who did have some stellar years prior to landing with the god-forsaken Kings, was granted a second chance at life with the Washington Wizards.

Similar to Wall, Sessions played fast and helped the Wizards maintain that up-tempo pace once the first-string point guard needed a breather.

He became one of the best backup guards in the league, specifically in the scoring department. His ability to draw contact is second to none, and he became effective along side Wall in spurts.

All of a sudden, the Wizards had a legitimate option for Wall off the bench. Sessions was the best backup point guard the team had since Daniels roamed the arena. And now he’s gone.

Sessions, an unrestricted free agent, did receive interest from the Washington Wizards this summer, but he ultimately never received an offer.

Ernie Grunfeld had his eyes set on the younger, more versatile Tomas Satoransky. Once that domino fell, the Wizards snagged Trey Burke from the Utah Jazz in exchange for a distant second round pick.

Sessions agreed to a deal with the Charlotte Hornets, replacing Jeremy Lin as their primary backup.

Washington will rely on Satoransky for some ball-handling duties, but at 6-foot-7 and not much depth at the wing positions, we can expect the Czech star to play the shooting guard and even the small forward position more often.

That leaves the Wizards with Burke at the primary backup point guard position.

Burke, a former lottery pick in the 2013 NBA Draft out of the University of Michigan, hasn’t had the best start to his professional career.

The ninth-overall pick has struggled to score efficiently and his lack of size hinders his ability to defend.

In three seasons, Burke has made just over 38 percent of his total field goal attempts and less than 33 percent of his 3-point shots.

The Jazz haven’t had much point guard help recently, but the addition of George Hill made Burke completely expendable.

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Shelvin Mack, who was ironically picked by the Wizards to become Wall’s backup point guard in 2011, performed well enough to steal Burke’s backup duties too.

Along with that, Dante Exum has recovered from injury and seems to be a key piece to their future as well.

Burke’s time in Utah was going to come to an end and it was only a matter of time before he was either traded or waived. They found a taker with the Wizards, who hope to develop him behind Wall.

On the surface, it doesn’t seem like the Washington Wizards took much of a risk by acquiring Burke for a future second round pick.

The exchange, on paper, was rather meaningless.

The Jazz lost a player who will never play for them and the Wizards lost a pick that will also probably never become anything substantial (

because the team is bad at drafting, but that’s an entirely different discussion

).

On the court, though, the move could make or break the Wizards’ second unit.

To put it bluntly, Burke hasn’t proved that he’s a capable outside shooter at this level and he struggles defensively.

He’s only 6-foot-1 and doesn’t have ridiculous athleticism to fall back on, so it’s not like he has raw potential. He kind of just has to get better at the little things – like shooting with confidence, making the right pass in transition and becoming a pest defensively.

The trade for Burke might end up working out like the Sessions one did. Perhaps all Burke needs is a change of scenery, like Sessions did. Or, it could end up working out like the Maynor signing did. Perhaps Burke is just an undersized, inefficient guard, like Maynor was in D.C.

Next: Building a Homegrown Superstar in John Wall

Right now, the Washington Wizards seem content with Burke as their primary backup point guard. The market has dried up and not many options are left. Scott Brooks has built a reputation of developing guards and Burke is the next project. For Washington’s sake, let’s hope it turns out better than most of their other past backup options did.

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