The NBA has reached the point where having ball handling and secondary creation is necessary throughout your five-man lineups. In watching the Dallas Mavericks at any point throughout the season, it was abundantly clear that they lacked that. This June, the Mavericks will start rectifying that with the NBA Draft. While a combo guard with playmaking upside isn’t the first thing you’d think the Mavs should draft, the choice of Brayden Burries might make itself.
Brayden Burries (born September 18, 2005) was born and raised in San Bernardino, California. Burries was born into a family of athletes, as his father, Bobby, played basketball at Cal State San Bernardino and is a member of the school’s hall of fame. Not to be out done, his mother Hannah played college softball at the University of Tennessee before playing basketball at CSSB as a grad transfer.
Brayden was a consensus five-star guard coming out of Eleanor Roosevelt High in Eastvale, California (just southeast Los Angeles and north of San Diego). After a standout junior year, Burries was selected to play in the McDonald’s All-American Game. Following his senior year, Burries committed to Tommy Lloyd and the Arizona Wildcats. That turned out to be an excellent decision for Burries, who put together an elite campaign.
In just under 30 minutes per game, Burries averaged 16.1 points per game, which was complimented by five rebounds and two-and-a-half assists per contest. Burries had several fantastic performances away from McKale Center. He scored 28, including 20 in the second half, in a road win at Alabama in December. In January, Burries had 29 in a road win at AJ Dybantsa and BYU. Burries finished as an honorable mention All-American (USBWA and Associated Press), first team All-Big 12 team member and one of five finalists for the Jerry West Award, which is given to the best shooting guard in the country.
Burries would be a seamless fit for the Mavericks in both the near and the long term. In the near term, Burries slots in nicely at the two, next to a healthy Kyrie Irving in the back court and as a nice compliment to Cooper Flagg. In the long term, Burries is never a guy you’ll have to worry about fit with. He’s never going to be a guy who needs plays run for him, but he will be one of the biggest connecting tissues on your team. While he won’t fill the point guard role for the Mavericks, it’s safe to assume you can plug him into your rotation for the next ten years.
Two guys who are pretty good comps are those that I mentioned earlier, Derrick White and Quentin Grimes. If you’d like a more aggressive comp, perhaps Bradley Beal could be out there if he does get a bump from his shot diet. All three of those guys are going to be scoring guards with a sprinkle of secondary creation, something I think is well within Burries’ reach.