After an offseason of change, the Sixers enter the season with many new faces on the squad and with that, comes battles for starting and rotation spots. The backup point guard gig is among those up for grabs in Philadelphia.
Ben Simmons will lead the team in the starting unit, while Raul Neto and Burke are expected to compete for the spot behind him. Coach Brett Brown said the differentiator between the two could be “defense and making shots.”
“I think they got to sort of draw a line in the sand and find separation,” Brown said (via Paul Hudrick of NBC Sports Philadelphia). “And usually that comes from defense and making shots. You know, I can do the leadership thing, and that is true, I can do the push the pace thing, and that is true. But what most stands out to me is coming in and making shots, and just guarding — really having the ability to be a difference-maker with not a huge sum of minutes, not a huge opportunity to play. And that’s always a difficult thing.”
Burke’s ability to create his own shot has impressed his new teammates in Philadelphia. “Trey Burke played amazing today,” Ben Simmons said. “In a few of the games, he was killing it. So he really stepped up.”
“I was really impressed with a guy like Trey Burke that came in with a lot of energy,” Al Horford said, “really scoring the ball at will, just being very active.”
Burke was selected with the No. 9 overall pick in the 2013 draft and his scoring ability was a major reason why. He scored 18.6 points during his final season at Michigan, knocking down 50.6% of his shots overall. Since coming into the league, things haven’t been as smooth, though Burke has an opportunity to stick with the Sixers and carve out a meaningful role for a true title contender.
