Here's a professional assessment on
Nevada's Deonte Burton by the
Draft Express folks -- see if it matches up to what you witness tonight:
Deonte Burton is closing on 2,000
points scored in his college career, which he surprisingly decided to
extend with a fourth and final season after an extended debate last
year. Burton ranks among the top point guards in this draft class in a
variety of categories, but is completely off the national media's radar
and looks to be struggling to move the needle on his draft stock playing
for a dysfunctional team that sports a mediocre 12-14 record in the
Mountain West Conference. Nevertheless, he shows intriguing potential in
a number of areas and might end up being a better pro than many thought
coming out of college.
Burton has average size at 6-1, but
makes up for that and then some with a strong 190 pound frame, a long
6-6 wingspan, and arguably the best athleticism of any point guard in
this class, as he sports a lighting quick first step and extremely
impressive leaping ability jumping off two feet. Burton is deadly in the three areas
NBA teams like to see point guard prospects excel the most at the
collegiate level—being highly efficient in the pick and roll, isolation,
and transition situations. His terrific first step, strong frame, and
extreme aggressiveness allow him to make a living driving to the basket,
finishing around the rim and getting to the free throw line, despite
playing in what appears to be a highly dysfunctional team situation in
terms of system or structure, with seemingly very little talent
alongside him. He makes an outrageous 66% of his field goal attempts
around the basket in the half-court, second best among top-100
prospects, and gets there at an impressive rate as well.
On paper, Burton is a very streaky shooter, making just 32% of his
3-point attempts on the season after hitting 30% as a junior. Despite
his low percentages and unconventional mechanics, digging deeper, we
find that he's actually capable of making shots with the best of them,
with both his feet set and off the dribble. His 1.6 made 3-pointers per
game ranks fourth
among point guards in this class—he simply takes far too many outside
looks, which may be partially due to the situation he's in.
Burton never leaves the floor for Nevada, he plays more minutes per game than any player in our top-100 prospects ranking, and is responsible for 28% of his team's scoring, more than any point guard in this class.
With that said, it's difficult to ignore the fact that Burton's team has
won less than half their games this season, only Olivier Hanlan's
Boston College squad can say the same among Top-100 college prospects,
and his poor shot-selection and decision making are no small culprits in
that. He doesn't do a great job of reading defenses or getting
teammates involved, often dribbling with his head down, and badly
overestimates his outside shooting ability, jacking up ill-advised looks
early in the shot-clock. Burton is much more of a scorer than he is a
natural facilitator, something that isn't the end of the world in
today's NBA, but is still something he'll have to work on playing
alongside better talent in the future. He's never made the NCAA
Tournament and only went to the NIT once (in 2012) in his career, which
looks unlikely to change this season. The fact that he turns 23 in July
also won't help him when he's stacked up against the other top point
guard prospects in this draft, as he's 2-3 years older than most of
them.
While Nevada ranks just 211th among
all college basketball teams in defensive efficiency this season
according to KenPom, Burton appears to have good tools on this end of
the floor with his solid wingspan, strength and athleticism. His
quickness and explosiveness can be easily noted with the way he gets in
the passing lanes and the fact that he ranks second among DX Top-100 PGs in blocks,
and he should be able to more than hold his own at the pro level once
he's not forced to play nearly 40 minutes a game and carry his team
offensively.
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