Shortly after being selected with the ninth pick overall in Thursday’s NBA Draft, former Michigan point guard Trey Burke said during a television interview, “I’m happy to be a Timberwolf.”
He didn’t enjoy it for very long.
Minutes later, news leaked out that Burke was getting traded from Minnesota to Utah for the 14th (UCLA’s Shabazz Muhammad) and 21st (Louisville’s Gorgui Dieng) picks overall.
Burke had to quickly trade in the Timberwolves’ cap he was wearing.
The Jazz, whose starting point guard, Mo Williams, is expected to leave in free agency, is a much better fit for Burke than the Timberwolves, who have an established point guard in Ricky Rubio.
Burke, the college Player of the Year, has an opportunity to step right in and start from day one in Utah.
It’s a great situation for him, especially because it appeared that he might slide when the Detroit Pistons went in another direction just one pick earlier.
“I just thought me coming from Michigan, them needing a guard … I thought I could end up in Detroit,” Burke told reporters covering the draft at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y.
“It was like, ‘Now, I don’t know where I’m going to go.”
Jazz fans sound genuinely elated over getting Burke, who became the 11th top-10 pick in Michigan basketball history.
Burke should feel good knowing that he was important enough to the Jazz that they were willing to give up two players to get him.
The biggest question about Burke is his size at just 6-foot, but there’s no denying his competitiveness and ability to run the pick ‘n’ roll and to make other players around him better, at least at the college level.
Burke averaged 18.6 points and 6.7 assists in leading Michigan to the 2013 national-championship game.
HARDAWAY GOES 24th TO KNICKS
Later in the first round, Burke’s teammate at Michigan, 6-6 shooting guard Tim Hardaway Jr.,was selected by the New York Knicks.
Both left school early to enter the draft – Burke after two seasons in Ann Arbor, Hardaway after three.
They are Michigan’s first first-round picks since Jamal Crawford in 2000, and the only first-round picks in John Beilein’s 35 years as a college coach.
Knicks’ fans, who typically boo their team’s draft decisions, reacted with loud cheers when the Hardaway pick was announced to the Barclays Center crowd.
Actor and super fan Spike Lee applauded the move.
“I thought about how his father (Tim Hardaway Sr.) used to kill the Knicks,” Lee said in an interview during ESPN’s draft coverage. “I’m elated. Twenty-fourth pick, I think he fell into our laps. He’s going to really help right away.”
Hardaway averaged 14.5 points and 4.7 rebounds last season, and then elevated his draft stock from a possible second-round pick with impressive pre-draft workouts.
McCALLUM GOES 36th TO KINGS
Ray McCallum Jr., who left the University of Detroit following his junior year, didn’t have his first-round dreams answered.
He had to wait until the sixth pick of the second round, 36th overall, when he was selected by the Sacramento Kings.
McCallum, a 6-2 point guard, joins a team that has Tyreke Evans, Isaiah Thomas, Jimmer Fredette and Toney Douglas at the point.
“A creator off the bounce, can shoot it from outside, he has staying power in the NBA,” Detroit native Jalen Rose said during ESPN's telecast.
Analyst Jay Bilas added: “I think his athleticism and the fact he’s a scoring point makes him a solid pick.”
McCallum averaged 18.7 points, 4.5 assists, 5.1 rebounds and 1.9 steals while being named Horizon League Player of the Year last season.
