The Philadelphia 76ers needed to find a spark offensively. So, coach Brett Brown made a change and inserted Trey Burke into the rotation hoping to find some extra life. The plan succeeded as he was able to give the Sixers a bit of a different look with his ability to create for others and for himself.
His strong play recently has earned him a fully guaranteed contract for the rest of the season after entering the season with only a partially guaranteed deal. He’s averaged 7.8 points on shooting 58.3% from deep over his past eight games while averaging 14.2 minutes per game.
He’s displayed a lot of comfortability sliding into the rotation next to Ben Simmons and it appears that he has finally found a role in Philadelphia after not playing all that much.
“Just learning my role,” he explained at practice on Tuesday. “Sometimes playing the 1, sometimes playing the 2, learning where the 2 is supposed to be at with all of the play calls we have. Getting guys in their spots as the point guard, me not playing just one position, I have to be alert and aware on the court.”
Due to the versatility up and down the roster, Brown has begun experimenting with a lot of his players and with Burke especially. His ability to play either backcourt position has given the team a lot of flexibility and it has kept Burke on his toes.
“He’s throwing me out there in different roles,” Burke added. “Sometimes I’m the point guard where I’ve got to set the table more than other times when I’m the 2 where I can be more aggressive. I think when I talk about being more comfortable, I mean it in that sense.”
On top of those challenges Burke has faced with the Sixers, another challenge has been playing time. He did not make his debut with Philadelphia until the eighth game of the season and he was used sparingly after that. Brown would normally roll with Raul Neto or Josh Richardson as the backup point guard, but now it seems as if Burke has a role on this team.
“That’s another thing, the uncertainty of how much I was going to play,” he added. “As of late, coach has been making it clear that he’s going to roll with me. My job is to come in here and be Trey Burke. Be aggressive, take risks, try to get in the paint, break defenses down, and just take what the defense has been giving me. That’s what I try to do.”
Philadelphia will move on to play the Boston Celtics on Thursday after a win on Monday over the Oklahoma City Thunder. [lawrence-related id=22902,22892,22883]