National Basketball Association

Washington Wizards' Trey Burke a Bright Spot in Preseason Loss

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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Washington Wizards guard Trey Burke is attempting to revitalize his career in the nation’s capital and got off to a good start in his debut on Tuesday.

After Tuesday night’s brutal preseason loss to the Miami Heat, Washington Wizards fans didn’t have much to get excited about besides a few new faces showing off on the offensive end.

In Andrew Nicholson’s Wizards debut, he proved to be a solid role player off the bench by scoring 8 points and getting 3 rebounds. Tomas Satoransky also showed off some of the abilities he’s been developing in Europe by scoring 8 points, grabbing 5 rebounds and dishing out 6 assists.

Trey Burke, who started at point guard for the recovering John Wall, was also impressive in his debut with the team.

Burke was traded to Washington over the off-season for a future second round draft pick. In the loss to Miami, Burke played 29 minutes, scored 14 points and collected 5 assists.

Although there was some impressive play on offense, the Wizards’ defense looked horrendous most of the game, especially in the paint.

Washington had no answer for Hassan Whiteside and the Heat pick-and-roll offense as the Miami big man finished with 20 points in 23 minutes.

Gortat had trouble keeping up with the young, athletic center, and it didn’t help that Ian Mahinmi was also not playing due to injury.

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It is still early and this Wizards team has a lot of new players, so it may take some time to get comfortable on the court with one another.

After the game, Burke didn’t seem too worried about the loss to Miami.

“I was just getting comfortable. I think, going out there after the first half, trying to get the game come to you, being timid. I think the second half, being down, I was myself more,” Burke said.

“We all collectively have to start out that way, come out with more of a chip on our shoulder and compete at a high level from the jump bowl.”

Despite his impressive debut, Burke won’t put too much stock into his own performance.

“Not too much – it’s the first game. Guys are just getting out there and trying to get the feel of the game. I think going on the road tomorrow, that will tell us a lot about ourselves – going on the road for the first time,” Burke said.

“We just got to keep communicating, man. It’s still early and guys are still getting familiar with each other on the defensive end and that will build for us on the offensive end.”

This is exactly what preseason is for: to figure out what each team needs to work on before the real games begin.

On Thursday, the Washington Wizards will travel to Philadelphia to take on the 76ers.

Like the Heat, the 76ers have athletic big men and will run pick-and-roll. The pressure to stop the ball handler from getting to the basket will be on Burke. From then, it’s on Gortat to protect the rim. Improvement in that area will be the focal point going forward.

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