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Nevada Wolf Pack guard Deonte Burton is looking into the possibility of forgoing his senior season and enter the 2013 NBA Draft. Burton is speaking with NBA personnel to see what his chances are of getting drafted, there has been no agent hired and a decision is expected to come on April 8 with a press conference on campus.
The 6-foot-1, 190-pound Burton averaged 16.3 points, 3.6 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game this season. His coach David Carter expectes Burton will back for the 2013-14 season, however if he is gone Marqueze Coleman will more than likely be his replacement.
NBA people have been telling Burton that his a second round pick, but has the skills to stick on a team if drafted. Most draft projection websites have Burton form a late second round pick to not even being drafted. Being a second round pick means nothing since the contracts are not guaranteed, and making the time as an undrafted player is even more difficult.
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Burtons father, Derek Burton, has been fielding calls from NBA general managers and agents wanting to know the status of his son. The elder Burton thinks that his son will return because he wants to get his degree, the team is going to tinker with the offense to make it more guard friendly, there is a trip to Italy for the team and a few big men in this years recruiting class who should help fright away.
Then there is the fact that Nevada was at the bottom of the Mountain West, and to compete with the top of the league in New Mexico, San Diego State and UNLV will be tough.
All of the phone calls to Burton from people associated with the NBA have been extremely positive:
"One GM said, ‘There's no guard in college who's as efficient as Deonte is in transition. They had to go back to (the Cleveland Cavaliers) Kyrie Irving to find somebody that good in transition at the college level,'" Burton said.
"He rates well in isolation, pick-and-roll, transition. But a couple GMs said they were high on him and heard good things on him but when they went and saw him in person he didn't look good to them."
With enough information from NBA general managers, the elder Burton is confident his son would be drafted if he elects to go pro, but his gut feeling is that his son will be back at Nevada for his senior year.