Washington Wizards 2017 Season Review: Trey Burke

Washington Wizards point guard Trey Burke joined the team during the 2016 offseason. After an underwhelming three seasons in Utah, the Wizards traded a 2021 second round pick for the former star from Michigan. After a subpar season, it’s expected that the restricted free agent will land elsewhere.

Basic Stats: 5.0 PPG (45.5 FG%, 44.3 3P%), 1.8 APG, 12.3 MPG

Over the next couple of weeks, we’ll be posting individual player reviews for the guys that ended the season in a Washington Wizards uniform. We started a few days ago with the youngest player on the team, Kelly Oubre Jr, continued with the second oldest, Jason Smith, and recently looked at our favorite Czech point guard, Tomas Satoranksy.

Oh man. I may have overreacted with my excitement when the Wizards traded for Trey Burke back in July 2016. The former Jazz guard was coming off of two seasons as starting point guard, and a third as a reserve. Additionally, his efficiency had increased just as his minutes had decreased.

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Unfortunately, I hadn’t watched enough of Burke in Utah, and was still remembering his Big Ten Player of the Year days at Michigan.

Burke started the 2016-17 season splitting backup guard duties with Satoransky, and quickly showed why Utah was willing to split with him for essentially nothing.

Burke struggled mightily on defense, even against opposing bench players. Occasionally his small stature would allow players to bully him in the post.

On other occasions, Burke simply found himself lost fighting through pick-and-rolls. His 6’1″ or smaller stature certainly hurt him defensively this season, and will likely continue to moving forward.

On offense, Burke actually had his most efficient shooting season. Most likely this was a result of his diminished playing time, but it still must be noted.

His 45.5% three-point shooting came on 31 makes in 70 attempts.

Burke scored a season-high 27 points twice this season. First on December 30th against the Nets, and lastly in the final regular season game, against Miami. He shot 10-12 in the first and 10-13 in the second.

At times, though, it seemed the efficient shooting, led to him trying to do too much. Whoever the future backup point guard is for the Wizards must know that if he is on the court with any other starter, the ball should run through that player firstly. There were too many occasions when Burke was the only player to touch the ball on a possession.

After the trade deadline, the season was essentially over for Burke, as the Wizards signed Brandon Jennings and traded for Bojan Bogdanovic. He played in only six of the final 27 regular season games, including the last two when Wall was resting.

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He was so far in the dog house he played in only two games between February 28 and April 10th. That was approaching benching at the levels of Marcus Thornton, who didn’t play the last 21 games of his Wizards career.

Burke finds himself in a weird but not uncommon conundrum. He’s got the collegiate resume to warrant him being a lottery pick, and has become a decently efficient shooter. Still, for four years when he’s been on the court his team hasn’t play well.

He’ll sign with a team off his name alone, but surely the amount of suitors will be less than it was last offseason. Maybe a young team like Philadelphia will take a chance on him as a point guard who can play off ball alongside the more ball-dominant Ben Simmons.

Burke took his various benchings well, and was even seen shooting around after games to stay ready.

Grade: D

Next: Washington Wizards 2016-2017 End of Season Awards

I hope his next opportunity fits him well and he can find his home in this league. Meanwhile, the Wizards are back where they were last summer and need a backup point guard.

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