The OKC Thunder will be looking for answers on Deonte Burton this season, but will they like the answer they get?
The OKC Thunder are entering what looks like a rebuild, and we are entering the home stretch of asking one question for every player (and head coach, and GM) series. Again, thank you all for reading the series. Today’s stop is Burton’s building. Will he be building on his year one success?
No that was not the question, that was a little head fake to lead me into Deonte Burton‘s one question.
Which is: What is Deonte Burton? No, although I did get an A in college-level philosophy this is not a question rooted with deep philosophical meaning. It sounds a bit weird rolling off the tongue, I’ll admit. But from a basketball sense, what is Deonte Burton as a player?
Okay, I will confess I did not buy into Deonte Burton’s summer league hype a year ago. While everyone was swooning over the large, thickly shaped dunker, I was playing the role of the contrarian.
I was in the mindset of guys let’s relax. He is on a two-way deal on a winning team, Billy Donovan will play him like seven games (ala the best player to ever wear 35 in OKC history and Thunder legend P.J. Dozier the year prior) credit to our fearless leader at T.I, Tamberlyn Richardson for keeping the faith in Burton and hyping him up all of last summer and even to this day.
Fastfoward to this season, Burton is still viewed as everyone’s fun-loving large adult son, and Thunder fans have high hopes for the undrafted second-year player. Are they realistic though?
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A year ago, Burton averaged a per 36 of 12-points, almost five rebounds, a block, an assist and just barely under one steal per contest.
If that can translate to his per-game averages, with increased minutes, Burton turns into a decent role player. However, to me, that is his ceiling. A nice role player. How often do players hit their absolute ceiling is another question to have in this discussion.
So what is Deonte Burton? This season will reveal that answer, but I do have a projection, to appease one commenter who was a tad upset that I have posed these questions but rarely gave my own take: Deonte Burton will be a fun player for loyal OKC Thunder fans to watch during the rebuild. He will have exciting plays in some low points of losing seasons. However, when it comes time to win again, I really do not think Burton will be a heavy contributor.
That might be an unpopular opinion, so I am curious what you think Deonte Burton is? Let us know in the comments.
Again, the series is coming to the end, at the time of writing it is almost complete. It has been such a fun journey to get us through the offseason void, and I truly do appreciate every click and comment this series has gotten!