In the last game the Utah Jazz head coach Quin Snyder decided to keep Trey Burke on the bench. It was his first DNP-CD of his entire life, and in a completely unrelated event, the Utah Jazz lost to the Boston Celtics in a close game they just couldn't finish. Tonight, against an even tougher Toronto Raptors, the Utah Jazz face a similar challenge. But instead of worrying about All-Star point guard Isaiah Thomas they have to worry about All-NBA point guard Kyle Lowry. The question is, does Trey get to play today? And how much?
For his career Burke is averaging 28.9 mpg, his first two season saw him above 30 a night, but year he's down to 22.8. Since the team traded for Shelvin Mack, and Raul Neto has been sent to the bench, Burke has seen less and less of the court. His last five saw him play 13:24, 28:30, 10:42, 6:21, and zero. Against Toronto he averages 30.2 mpg, but something strange is going to have to happen to see him on the court that much tonight.
Personally, I think he is one of the ONLY guys on the bench who can score on this team. (Let alone his passing skills and efficiency which are among the tops on the team.) And he's one of the few people who actually come into it with a life long basketball resume. He's been super professional his entire career and has worked his butt off all off-season long to be what this team needs. Back when this team was winning games he was a legit reason for it. So I think that there's no legit reason to stop playing him while both Dante Exum (PG/SG) and Alec Burks (SG/PG) are both still out. But that's just me.