Tag: Trey Burke

Brett Brown explains reason for Trey Burke over Al Horford in OT

Philadelphia 76ers coach Brett Brown explains the decision to go with Trey Burke instead of Al Horford.

The Philadelphia 76ers were in overtime against a very good Miami Heat team on the road, but they mixed up the lineup a bit. Instead of prized free agency acquisition Al Horford, the Sixers went smaller and went with Trey Burke as the shooting guard and moving Tobias Harris to the power forward spot.

It had some success offensively as Burke scored 11 points and four assists off the bench compared to Horford with seven points on 3-for-6 shooting. The Heat also playing a zone defense forced coach Brett Brown to make a decision.

“They were small and sitting in a zone,” Brown explained. “I felt like Trey Burke could come in and give us a spark. Whether it was pushing the ball in early offense or getting into the seams of the zone. I thought he really helped us. I thought he came in and provided those things I said.”

That’s the dilemma the Sixers face whenever there is a zone defense thrown at them. Stay large with Horford and Joel Embiid and try to attack it that way? Or try to go small like they did on Saturday. This isn’t an indictment on Horford or anything, it’s just the way the scheme is.

“Al Horford didn’t do anything wrong,” he added. “We needed to go a little smaller, a little bit quicker, and get into the teeth of their zone.”

At the end of the day, the Sixers did take another disheartening loss and they now have to try and move forward on New Year’s Eve when they face the Indiana Pacers. [lawrence-related id=22381,22372,22359]

Sixers vs. Pistons preview: Sixers look to tighten the screws

The Philadelphia 76ers hit the road to face the Detroit Pistons on Monday night.

The Philadelphia 76ers are still a work in progress. Despite a 21-10 record, which includes some really impressive wins, they still have some kinks to work out. That’s what the regular season is for! To work out the little issues that hinder them over the long 82 games before the playoffs begin in mid-April.

Their opponent on Monday is the injury hobbled and struggling Detroit Pistons who are missing a few big pieces from their starting lineup. They have been missing starting point guard Reggie Jackson since October while superstar Blake Griffin hasn’t been at the same level due to his knee issues.

With that being said, it’s now time for the guide to Monday’s matchup:

How to watch Sixers vs. Pistons

  • Date: Monday, December 23
  • Time: 7:00 p.m. EST
  • Location: Little Caesars Arena Detroit, MI
  • TV: NBC Sports Philadelphia+

Injury Report

  • Sixers: OUT: Matisse Thybulle(right knee sprain)
  • Pistons: OUT: Reggie Jackson(left lumbar spine), Khyri Thomas(right foot), Christian Wood(left knee bone bruise) QUESTIONABLE: Blake Griffin(flu), Derrick Rose(left knee soreness), Luke Kennard(bilateral knee soreness)

Storylines

Sixers believe they can be better

Despite a relatively easy win over the Wizards on Saturday, the Sixers feel like they can be better. There were stretches in the game where the Wizards got whatever they wanted and it turned what was a 23-point lead down to single-digits in the third quarter before the Sixers refocused and got the job done. They can get away with that against a team like Washington, but it will hurt them in other matchups against elite teams.

“It’s good when we win, we still think we can play a lot better,” said Tobias Harris. “We think, for sure in today’s game, in that second quarter we can play better in different moments. We’ll take the positives from it because we got a win and we were able to have a good win with guys stepping up. Take the positives from it and be ready for our next game.”

Burke stepping up

With the Sixers struggling to score against a zone defense, coach Brett Brown made a change in his rotation and he went with Trey Burke rather than Raul Neto as his backup point guard. Burke responded with 12 points and knocking down a few outside shots to help Philadelphia bust the zone and force the Wizards to go back to a man-to-man defensive scheme.

“We were trying to get more pace to what we were doing to get into the seams of the zone to give Trey a chance to use his skill set,” said Brown. “It’s something a little bit different. I thought that he played really well tonight and I was very happy with him.”

Prediction

The Pistons are hobbled and they have seemed a bit lost for the most part of the season. Philadelphia will come in focused and wanting to fix some minor issues before the ginormous Christmas Day showdown with the Milwaukee Bucks. With Detroit’s issues combined with Philadelphia’s superior talent and wanting to fix some things, this should be a relatively easy win for the Sixers on the road.

Pick: Sixers by double-digits

Sixers vs. Pistons season series

Game 1 October 26: 117-111 Sixers

Game 2 December 23:

Game 3 March 11:

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Sixers have high praise for Trey Burke after performance vs. Wizards

The Philadelphia 76ers praise Trey Burke for his win after a win over the Washington Wizards.

Playing against the zone in recent games has caused the Philadelphia 76ers to make some changes to their rotation and get a little creative. On Saturday night, coach Brett Brown pushed all of the right buttons in a much needed 125-108 win over the Washington Wizards.

Brown decided to roll with Trey Burke as the backup point guard rather than Raul Neto and then went with Furkan Korkmaz rather than Matisse Thybulle initially as well.

Burke responded by scoring 12 points, knocking down two from deep, and giving the Sixers a different look offensively. While Ben Simmons can help the Sixers by offensive rebounding against the zone, Burke offers more of a shooting aspect.

“We were trying to get more pace to what we were doing to get into the seams of the zone to give Trey a chance to use his skill set,” said Brown. “It’s something a little bit different. I thought that he played really well tonight and I was very happy with him.”

Burke hadn’t played much recently as Neto has really taken control of the backup point guard minutes, but in this certain situation, it gave him a chance to show what he can do when given that opportunity. This is a situation he has found himself in at all times in his career, but he has made it a point to stay ready and make sure he’s in a state of mind to contribute.

“Sometimes it’s the nature of the business,” said Burke. “That’s the role that I understand I’m in right now. My job is to stay ready. You don’t know when your number is going to be called…for me it’s just staying prepared, staying locked in on the game plan and doing what we’re supposed to do on both ends of the court and when my number’s called being myself.”

Burke is more of a scorer than Neto, but his continued understanding of what Brown wants to run was huge on Saturday night in helping Philadelphia put en end to a three-game skid.

“He did a good job getting us organized,” said Josh Richardson. “He was communicating on defense and he always brings good energy to the game. That’s one of his big things that he does always.”

Philadelphia’s next opponent, the Detroit Pistons on Monday, may want to try their hand at a zone defense, but if they do it appears that Brown will roll with Burke again. [lawrence-related id=21858,21844,21846]

Kyle O’Quinn, Brett Brown react to Instagram post involving Trey Burke

Philadelphia 76ers forward Kyle O’Quinn and coach Brett Brown react to the Instagram post involving Trey Burke.

It wouldn’t be a Philadelphia 76ers season if there wasn’t a little bit of drama involving a player’s parent. After it was Mike Muscala’s father in 2018-19 that caused some drama, there is a new father taking up that mantle in 2019-20.

On Monday, an Instagram account posted a tweet from Trey Burke’s father saying that he wants his son out of Philadelphia. Burke has not played recently as Raul Neto has really taken over the backup point guard minutes. The post was then liked by Kyle O’Quinn who also has not played much recently as Norvel Pelle has taken over the backup center position.

“I like pretty much anything on Instagram that is Sixers related,” O’Quinn said at practice on Tuesday. “If you noticed, it was a tweet. It was a tweet posted on Instagram and I liked the post on Instagram. It wasn’t like I went and retweeted it, commented, shared my thoughts. To be honest, I didn’t even know that it was his dad’s Twitter handle, I’ve met him several times, but he’s always been Mr. Burke to me. I just liked it because it was a fan sharing his insight on the game.”

O’Quinn has only averaged 9.9 minutes in 17 games with the Sixers and he only received garbage time minutes against the Brooklyn Nets on Sunday. With the emergence of Pelle and reading the tea leaves, it’s easy to assume that they are linked in a way for him to get his thoughts out.

“It has nothing to do with me,” he added. “It was just a Philly post and a like it just acknowledgment. If a guy goes down on another team and you like that post, am I cheering that on? I don’t think so. I’m just acknowledging it. If I want to add a comment to say my thoughts, I will, but a like is a little harmless.”

In case anybody has not seen the post, here’s what O’Quinn liked.

O’Quinn said he did receive some criticism, but he says it’s due to the Philly fans being who they are.

“Of course and that’s just the beauty of the Philly fans,” he said. “They’re locked in, good game, bad game. That’s just the love of Philadelphia basketball and all of the sports, I’m sure.”

Coach Brett Brown has dealt with this type of situation in the past and he had no comment on this one.

“No, I don’t,” Brown said succinctly. [lawrence-related id=21534,21514,21509]

Sixers’ Brett Brown explains decisions on Raul Neto, Trey Burke

Philadelphia 76ers coach Brett Brown explains his decisions on the backup point guard on a nightly basis.

The Philadelphia 76ers have a few options they can go to in terms of who is the backup point guard to Ben Simmons on a nightly basis. Coach Brett Brown can turn to Josh Richardson and have him slide over and handle the ball or he can turn to a few point guard pickups.

The Sixers picked up Raul Neto and Trey Burke in free agency in order to backup Simmons and Brown has alternated between the two for stretches. For a few weeks, Neto was the main option off the bench as he averaged 21.2 minutes in six games from November 4 through November 13 earning two starts when Simmons went down with an injury. Then, Burke took his turn averaging 17 minutes in four games from November 17-23.

Recently, Brown has gone back to Neto as he played the bulk of the backup minutes against the Toronto Raptors and the Sacramento Kings over the previous two games while Burke did not play at all. Brown explained his decision making saying:

Some of it’s gut feel, some of it’s the notion that I don’t want one of my players to rot. I want to keep them alive, some of it for sure is matchups. I’d say if you had to weight what I just said it would be tilted more towards like ‘how are we going to win?’ Like where are we best suited to win? It’s judged on all of those types of things.

Burke is averaging 6.3 points and 3.3 assists and Neto is averaging 4.1 points and 1.6 assists so far on the season. Burke is more of a natural scorer while Neto is more of a pass-first type of point guard who will distribute and run the offense first before looking for his own offense.

One of Brown’s favorite phrases is “the gym will speak” meaning whatever is happening in the game will decide who he turns to. If the team needs a spark and needs some instant scoring, Burke might be the option. If they need to be calmed down as well as somebody who can knock down shots, then Neto will get a look. It’s all based on those types of natural basketball things. [lawrence-related id=20193,20185,20173]

Brett Brown has high praise for Sixers bench after win over Knicks

Philadelphia 76ers coach Brett Brown had high praise for his bench unit after a win over the New York Knicks.

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The Philadelphia 76ers had to dig deep and rally from a 17 point deficit in order to beat the New York Knicks at home on Wednesday night, but it was a win that showed off the team’s depth. As much praise as Ben Simmons, Joel Embiid, and the starters receive, it was their bench that provided a huge spark to come back and win on Wednesday.

Mike Scott had 12 points on his four triples in the second-half rally, James Ennis III had 11 points and also made some big plays in the win, and Trey Burke was a big help as well.

That did not go unnoticed despite Simmons’ big game, coach Brett Brown stated on his bench:

We were searching for sure. We had a hard time guarding them. They were making shots and you’re looking down the bench and we tried Furk(Korkmaz) and we tried Shake(Milton), Matisse(Thybulle) we’re trying to grow and we ended up leaning on Trey Burke as a 2. Somebody who could do some stuff off a live ball and I thought his intensity changed the speed, the energy in the gym, and I ended up going with Mike a little bit more than Al(Horford) down the stretch. I played Ben more than I normally would want to, but we were searching for awhile.

It does not mean it was all sunshine and rainbows off the bench. Brown was frustrated with how the Sixers had to rally from down 17 and his search for answers in order to win as he added:

We searched. I kept searching trying to find something. We tried Furk, I went away from him, I tried Shake, I went away from him, I thought James Ennis came in and played well and hit some big shots when we needed it. Then you end up going to a scoring point guard like Trey is and treating him like AI(Iverson) letting him run off the ball and looping him up and giving him the ball and putting him in pick-and-rolls and I thought he was really good. The iterations to get to that were frustrating.

At the end of the day, Philadelphia received 45 big points off their bench and it really helped key the win on Wednesday. It will have to continue as the team itself tries to figure things out on the fly. Any contributions from the role players are help at this moment in time. [lawrence-related id=19717,19708,19690]

Cavs coach John Beilein on Sixers guard Trey Burke: ‘I love him’

Cleveland Cavaliers coach John Beilein has nothing but respect for his former student, Philadelphia 76ers guard Trey Burke.

When the Philadelphia 76ers hosted the Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday night, it was a normal November matchup for almost everybody involved. For two men, it was much more than a regular-season game.

Cavaliers coach John Beilein is fresh off 12 seasons as head coach for the University of Michigan and he coached Sixers guard Trey Burke for two seasons and the two of them had a lot of success during their time together in Ann Arbor. Burke was named to the Big Ten All-Freshman team and he improved on those numbers in a big way in his sophomore season as he was named the Player of the Year in the Big Ten as well as taking home both the Naismith and Wooden Awards.

The Cavs coach had nothing but praise for him:

He’s good. He’s got a great in-between game. He really is a guy who has a lot of courage when he plays, he’s not afraid to make or take the tough shot. He did it so many times for us. This is so unique to be able to do this. I love him, he was the National Player of the Year, a three-star recruit got the Wooden Award, and he’s had a good pro career, but he’s a young guy right now. He still has a lot of good basketball left in him.

Burke has a lot of respect for Beilein as he was the one who really grew and developed him into an NBA player.

I think just the accountability. He held each player accountable, to the same standards, he didn’t treat no one special. He didn’t treat this guy better than that guy or this guy. Everyone was held to the same standard, the same level, of accountability. I think that’s what got the respect from his players and he trusted us, we trusted him as well.

The 2013 NCAA Tournament run was a highlight for both Beilein and Burke during their Michigan careers as they went all the way to the title game before coming up short to Louisville. During the run in the Sweet 16, Michigan trailed the Kansas Jayhawks by 10 with roughly two minutes remaining before the Wolverines went on a run to tie the game with Burke draining one from a few feet behind the three-point line to force overtime to lead them to win.

It was great. It’s still one of the memories that will always be in mind, it’s something that will never fade away. I watch it from time-to-time, I get reminded of it a lot, a lot of people send it to me all the time. Sometimes, you just sit back and you say ‘that was you who did that’ and that was a crazy game. Just being down 10 points with two minutes left, people think those games are over, but you’ve got proof right there that the game is never over until you finish. A lot of lessons to be taken from that game, but it felt great to be a part of it.

Even with Burke in the NBA, the two of them remained in contact over the years and they speak even more now that Beilein is in the NBA with Cleveland.

We reach out to each other from time-to-time. He’s just as busy as I am now. He was that busy in college so when we get the opportunity to touch base, we do.

With Burke bouncing around from team-to-team, he hopes to find a home in Philadelphia for a long time. [lawrence-related id=19121,19093,19074]

Nine games into the year, Brett Brown is figuring out Sixers rotation

Nine games into the 2019-20 season, coach Brett Brown is still figuring out the Sixers rotation.

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The Philadelphia 76ers still have a lot to figure out after nine games. They still have to figure out things like who is going to be the closer with the game on the line, how will Joel Embiid and Al Horford really work together, and they’re still developing team chemistry.

One thing that will still need to be figured out is the rotation. Big things like who’s the backup point guard and what to do with rookie Matisse Thybulle who has been out of the rotation since Ben Simmons’ injury.

A big change in coach Brett Brown’s rotation, due to the Simmons injury, has been Raul Neto starting at point guard and Trey Burke being used as a backup. This is notable due to the fact that Josh Richardson was being used as the primary backup point guard when Simmons was healthy and in the lineup.

With everything that has happened in the first nine games, Brown is still experimenting as he stated:

I wouldn’t say anything is set. We’re finding our way and we have different options. I think that the phrase that I like to use, ‘horses for courses,’ is based on who you’re playing and who’s playing well. I don’t feel married to anything this early in the season. You just figure it out. I won’t put a death spell on any of the players either. I feel open to playing the people that I think it’s going to take to win that night.

Does that mean the Sixers will go back to Thybulle in the rotation once Simmons returns? Will Burke go back to being buried at the end of the bench? Will Richardson go back to backup point guard responsibilities? These are questions that Brown will have to answer and figure out.

I feel like there are outliers in every game. It is possible to put Raul Neto and Trey Burke in the rotation with Ben Simmons. Those two guards have played well and it’s exciting. It’s one of those in-game adjustments that you could make, knowing that it is a unique lineup.

At the end of the day, the team is 6-3 and they are in a good spot in the early going of the season. The challenge now is for Brown and his staff to figure out a solid rotation and settle on it. It doesn’t help that Simmons is out right now and Embiid’s absences have put a wrench into the plan, but it must be figured out soon. [lawrence-related id=19083,19074,19064]