Utah Jazz: Four Bold Predictions Before the Trade Deadline

Alec Burks Will Be Playing Significant Role By All-Star Break

It’s been a long time since Alec Burks has had meaningful time on a basketball court, over a year in fact. Since breaking his leg in December of 2015 it’s been a slow process of healing and recovery mixed in with other setbacks.

Yet, he’s now apparently fully healthy and though he clearly still has a lot of rust to shake off as evidenced by his mediocre shooting night in his recent stint with the Salt Lake City Stars, his speed looks good and as he gets his shot and touch back, he could still very well be an effective weapon for the Jazz.

So effective, in fact, that I’m going to project that by the All-Star Break, Alec Burks will be logging significant minutes and playing a key role as a reserve for this Jazz team. Does that mean he’s going to be averaging double figures and become Utah’s leading bench scorer? Not necessarily.

There will be ups and downs but I think by the time the All-Star Break rolls around, Burks will have logged some big games and have contributed to at least a handful of Jazz wins.

Of course once he gets fully re-acclimated to the NBA game, there’s the question of how the Jazz can best utilize him and find minutes for him. One option that several folks on Jazz Twitter have alluded to is to have him take over Mack’s minutes at the back-up point guard spot.

And while I admit I’m intrigued by that proposal as utilizing the quick and versatile Burks as the primary ball handler would make for some electrifying second unit offense, I’d be a little worried about his tendency to turn the ball over (not that Mack’s turnover rate is anything to write home about either, though, I suppose).

Nevertheless, I fully expect Quin Snyder to make the best choice regarding Burks once he’s back and ready to go and regardless of whether he’s backing up Rodney Hood or George Hill, I expect that he’ll be providing a lift for this Jazz team sooner rather than later and well before the trade deadline.

https://twitter.com/utahjazz/status/819407222744576000

He definitely still needs some work on his shot as well as in other aspects, but Alec is most known for his athleticism and ability to attack the rim and early indications, such as in the video above, seem to show that he’s not far from getting that part of his game back. And once it is, Jazz fans may finally get that versatile and dangerous second unit we’ve been waiting for.