Milwaukee Bucks: Options At No. 48 In NBA Draft

Jan 11, 2014; Reno, NV, USA; Nevada Wolf Pack guard Deonte Burton (24) drives the ball past Utah State Aggies guard Tenale Roland (20) in the second half at Lawlor Events Center. Mandatory Credit: Lance Iversen-USA TODAY Sports. Nevada won 62-54.

Deonte Burton, PG, Nevada

Burton, who will be 23 on July 26, is a 6-foot-1, 193-pound point guard who put up big numbers in the Mountain West last season for a middling Wolf Pack team.

Burton averaged 20.1 points, 4.4 assists, 4.3 rebounds and 1.5 steals in 38.6 minutes per game, shooting .471/.314/.742.

He topped the 2,000-point mark in his career at Nevada, scoring 2,102 points, and was the second-leading scorer in the Mountain West Conference, leading the conference in minutes per game.

Success didn’t come as readily for the Wolf Pack, who were just 15-17, but did finish 10-8 in conference play.

Burton has average size, but very good strength and a 6-foot-6 wingspan. He also might be the most athletic point guard in this year’s draft, with a quick first step and impressive two-foot leaping ability.

And he has the three skills that NBA scouts look for the most in point guards—he’s efficient in the pick and roll, isolation and transition. But he’s a very streaky shooter with some unconventional mechanics on his jump shot.

But part of his lack of efficiency might have been the demands placed upon Burton, who accounted for 28 percent of his team’s scoring—the highest of any point guard in the draft.

Burton bears some culpability in his team’s lack of success, however. Poor shot selection and decision making plagued him at times and he didn’t do a great job reading defenses or getting his teammates involved. He also needs to come to grips with his shooting ability; he had a tendency to fall in love with his outside jumper way too early in the shot clock.