Deonte Burton player review: Revised role should clear path to increased minutes in 2019-20

Upside and areas to work on:

Like Nader, one of the major upsides of Burton is his ability to create his own shot as well as create for others. My hope is he’ll get consistent minutes next year with a specific role because of all the youngsters he arguably is the readiest to produce on a consistent basis immediately.

His exit statement highlighted his own awareness of being able to create with the ball in his hand.  “I can make better decisions with the ball. I think it’ll get better once I get more experience with it.”

Given the Thunder rarely let anyone outside of Russell Westbrook, Paul George or Dennis Schroder handle the ball I’m not sure if this points to the teams desire to increase ball movement and players spearheading such or whether he means creating off the dribble.

As for his offseason Burton cited work ethic as the key. He said he wants to work on his shot but also a great deal on developing his defense and decision making.

Like many of his teammates, Burton will need to improve his perimeter efficiency which is well below average at the moment (he shot 30 percent with the Blue and just under that with the varsity squad).

To reiterate my suggestion from the Abdel Nader review it is essential the young guys spend time together this summer. Moreover, the trio of Nader, Burton and Hamidou Diallo specifically should get in as many minutes on court as possible to figure out nuances, timing, flow and develop chemistry.