The build up surrounding Trey Burke’s NBA draft stay-or-go decision swells by the day.
One premium site says Burke is staying. Another says he’s gone. Separate of those reports, we’ve heard strong rumors on both sides of the coin that we would be likely to believe if it weren’t for the vast amount of conflicting information. The Burke family continues to reiterate that they are still going through the process, gathering information to make the best decision for Trey.
Wading through every rumor is a chore and its going to carry on until a final decision is made. The NBA Draft rumor mill is particularly troubling because there is such a broad spectrum of parties and motives involved. College coaches, family members, agents, acquaintances and just about everyone else seems to have an opinion in a draft decision. They are also all fighting for very different things.
Point Guards Flood the Draft
Weber State’s Damian Lilard, Washington’s Tony Wroten, North Carolina’s Kendall Marshall and Texas’ J’Covan Brown are among a few of the undergraduate point guards that have declared for the NBA Draft in recent days. Add in combo prospects like CJ McCollum, BJ Young and Austin Rivers as well as guards that still have decisions to make such as Bradley Beal and Marquis Teague and suddenly a “weak” point guard class looks a whole lot more difficult. It remains to be seen where Trey Burke would rank among this group, but it’s clear that the group of guards continues to grow rapidly.
NBADraft.net on Trey Burke
Aran Smith of NBADraft.net took the time to provide some NBA-centric feedback on Trey – as things stand today. Smith projected that Burke is a “mid-second to undrafted player at this point”, noting that he hadn’t heard anything concrete from NBA circles regarding Burke’s decision. He added that Burke is “intriguing to scouts, but leaving this year would be rushing things” and “despite the fact that it’s a weak point guard class, his stock is not high enough to make it a good decision”.
Smith mentioned Burke’s size as a major disadvantage to his draft stock – a problem that Burke can’t fix in the gym – but added that there was plenty of on court areas for Burke to improve including “advancing as a floor general while showing better vision and decision making”.
A Clarification on Timing & Deadlines
The dates and process surrounding the NBA Draft seems to change every year. Here’s the official timeline for the next month:
- April 6th – NBA Undergraduate Advisory Committee feedback released to players by this date (players must submit to the Committee by April 3rd).
- April 10th – NCAA mandated date to withdraw from the NBA draft
- April 29th – NBA early entry deadline to declare for the NBA draft
The “real” deadline is April 29th. Potential NBA players gain nothing by declaring for the draft before April 10th because they won’t have any opportunity to withdraw from the draft down the road.
What this means is that if Burke declares anytime after April 10th, his decision will be final but that he has no reason to declare before April 29th unless he is absolutely sure of his plans.
