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Whatever you might think of Trey Burke's future as a player in the NBA, you've got to give him credit for one thing: he's smart. It's evident in the interviews he gives, in the ways he tries to improve himself and in the progress he's made since last year's summer league.
Perhaps it's not surprising, then, that Trey is similarly smart with his money. Suddenly flush with cash as a first-round draft pick with a three-year guaranteed deal, Trey was careful to set financial boundaries for himself, as this article by the D-News' Jasen Lee depicts:
The younger Burke's rookie salary is about $2.4 million, but his monthly budget for spending money is about $5,000. He admits that having access to so much money is exciting, but it also requires discipline.
"I never really had a lot of money growing up, so I knew I was going to need the right team around me to make sure I was managing my money right, not just splurging and blowing it on things that aren't necessary," Trey said.
Since joining the league, Burke has been able to adhere to his budget "for the most part," save for a few times when he bought plane tickets for friends to come visit when he first came to Utah.
His father said that Compass has pushed him to "stick to the budget" and, on the occasions when he has exceeded it, he reduced his spending the next month accordingly.
I was surprised by that monthly spending limit. I mean, it's obviously a LOT more chump change than I see, but by the apparent lifestyle standards of pro athletes, it's downright frugal. And given the similarly penny-pinching habits of other Jazz players (looking at you, Gordon "Olive Garden" Hayward), Trey's in good company.
So, yeah, that probably has nothing to do with Trey Burke's future on the court. But at least he won't have money issues distracting him from basketball. I'll take that.
HERE COMES A NEW CHALLENGER:
Latest on Steve Kerr front: Utah Jazz, I'm told, have also tried to wedge their way into the race for the TNT analyst alongside NYK and GSW
— Marc Stein (@ESPNSteinLine) May 7, 2014
But before you get too excited:
Overwhelming sense in NBA coaching circles remains that Knicks, by virtue of Kerr's relationship w/Phil Jackson, remain big favorites here
— Marc Stein (@ESPNSteinLine) May 7, 2014
I hadn't even been considering Steve Kerr as a potential candidate to take over in Utah, for the reason that second tweet mentions. More than that, though, Kerr has exactly the same amount of NBA head coaching experience that I do...which is to say, none at all. (Admittedly, Kerr did serve a three-year stint as president and GM of the Phoenix Suns. So yeah, whatever, I guess you've got that on me, Steve.)
Anyway. I'm not convinced Kerr would be the right man here in Utah. What do you folks say? Is Kerr a more palatable choice than, say, Jim Boylen, despite the former's lack of experience? Interested to hear your thoughts.
Speaking of coaching candidates, DN columnist Brad Rock wrote this rumination on the changes that the influx of European talent has brought to the NBA, and how that might affect a coach like Ettore Messina taking an NBA job:
The realization foreign players were here to stay occurred to me in the 1999 playoffs, with the Jazz playing the Sacramento Kings. The bearded Vlade Divac nailed a 3-pointer in the third quarter and blew kisses at the crowd.
Even their 7-footers were making shots from, well, across the pond.
Divac is among six players to total 13,000 points, 9,000 rebounds, 3,000 assists and 1,500 blocks. The others: Olajuwon, Kevin Garnett, Shaquille O'Neal, Tim Duncan and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
Other fine players came with him, or followed: Nowitzki, Hedo Turkoglu, Toni Kukoc, Peja Stojakovic, Andrei Kirilenko, Pau and Marc Gasol, Mehmet Okur and Goran Dragic, to name a few. Last season's opening-day rosters included a record 92 international players from 39 nations. France led the way with 10. San Antonio alone had 10 foreign-born players.
Team meetings doubled as U.N. conferences.
Messina might seem a gamble, but so did foreign players a quarter century ago.
Turns out Europe isn't entirely about ruins.
Brad Rock is not only the absolute nicest dude I've met in the Utah media market, he's also seen more basketball than anyone I know who didn't play the pro game themselves. I think he points out an important fact: there are enough Euro players in the NBA now that it would be easier than ever for a coach to make the same leap. I'm not sure that's anyone's concern with Messina, but it's interesting to think about.
Oops, I skipped right past FanPost time! We can't have that, can we?
More coaching speculation here from MoabJazz:
With all the talk about new head coaches, it surprises me no one has really brought up the possibility of Earl Watson.
We have heard it talked about when he was a player here. Gordon Monson even did a piece about it last season.
He already knows most of the core young players that are the future of the Jazz. He will be able to take what he knows about them as players from personal experience and be able to hit the ground running. From Monson's article we can see that he already thinks like a coach and helped the young guys while he was here.
Another former player with no head coaching experience? Hmm. Love Earl, but I dunno. What do you think?
Next up: SlickNinja asks if the influence of a coaching "tree" or system matters as much as some seem to think:
When it comes to coaching trees of legendary coaches, it appears that success of the teacher does not necessarily equal success of the student. While clearly those coming from the Spurs organization outclassed those from the Bulls/Lakers of Phil Jackson, there has yet to be a case where the hire of a coach has translated into a successful transference of the preceding organization's success. While we are all envious of the success Gregg Popovich has experienced, history tells us that Boylen, nor any other student of Pops, Sloan, Jackson or others would give us reasonable expectations of continuing that level of coaching system here based on that experience alone.
Finally, friend of the Dunk RXMike12 has compiled the results of the game-by-game over/under contests he runs on Twitter, and the winner is...yeah, I'm teasing it. Gotta click through to find out.
Since coaches are all we can seem to think about these days: Mark Jackson was released by the Warriors on Tuesday. Amar already has a post up with a table showing the relevant records of all the coaches that have been let go this offseason (so far), with Jackson now included.
Looking at the list, the names certainly don't inspire confidence. I'm not sure I'd want any of them to take the reins in Salt Lake City. This is one reason why I'm firmly in Team Hire-A-Current-Assistant. I don't want a retread like the names on that list who will be too anxious to redeem himself and not be willing to grow with our team.
Who knows. I'm definitely getting antsy for the Jazz to start bringing in candidates for interviews, though. The lottery, and then the draft itself, will be here before we know it.