Utah Jazz: Trey Burke has been kind of amazing for the Knicks

Trey Burke, a former Utah Jazz point guard and lottery pick, is becoming one of the league’s best redemption stories with the New York Knicks.

Over the last week or so, we’ve run a lot of stories on The J-Notes about former Utah Jazz players. Trevor Booker‘s comings and goings, an Aussie league MVP trophy for Bryce Cotton and the status of Gordon Hayward’s leg are just a few of the news items that have found their way into our lineup.

Nevertheless, I find myself left with no choice but to go to that well again; this story is too good to ignore. I’m talking about Trey Burke’s sudden resurgence with Jeff Hornacek and the New York Knicks.

Burke hasn’t exactly enamored himself with Jazz fans since leaving Salt Lake City. Although he seems more content with his Jazz career now, he once accused the franchise of trying to break him. He also blamed his relationship with Jazz fans for some of what went down.

All that aside and regardless of what his detractors have said over the years, sometimes you just have to give the devil his due. And Burke has unquestionably been killing it in the Big Apple of late.

Over his last four games, he’s averaging 20.5 points and 5.3 assists per contest. Burke has also been one of the Knicks’ best shooters, hitting on better than 52 percent of his field goal attempts and nearly 39 percent from 3-point range.

Himself a former Jazzman, Hornacek gave a sterling assessment of Burke’s performance in New York, going so far as to compare him to one of the league’s elite point-men.

Via ESPN’s Ian Begley —

"“Trey’s been excellent,” Hornacek said. “It’s kind of that Kyrie [Irving] factor. When you have a point guard that can shoot 3s, can drive the ball and can kick it out to guys, it puts a lot of pressure on the defense.”"

While I would stop short of the Kyrie comparison, there’s no denying the fact that Burke has been playing like the guy the Jazz had hoped to see when they traded into the top 10 to select him in the 2013 NBA Draft. In other words, a versatile floor general who can flat-out get buckets.

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Although the Knicks are scuffling since Kristaps Porzingis went down for the count, their offense continues to soar when Burke is on the floor. In his 268 minutes of court time this season, New York is putting up a whopping 113.8 points per 100 possessions. That’s the best mark on the squad by a college mile.

Defense continues to be the shortfall, but Burke’s net rating is very close to even regardless. If we’re throwing out Mindaugas Kuzminskas’ two minutes of action, he has the third-best mark on the team in that department.

So, does this sudden resurgence mean Trey Burke is here to stay? Maybe, maybe not. But for now, at least, he’s got a primo spot in the best basketball league in the world. And he didn’t luck into it either — it’s a spot he has 100 percent earned.

For my part, I’m pulling for him to succeed. Everyone loves a comeback and, in this moment, Burke’s redemption story looks like one of the best.

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