Tyler Burton's Minutes Looked Real. His Net Rating Didn't Agree
Tyler Burton produced in his first stint with Golden State, but the readout underneath those minutes explains why he's back only on a camp deal.
Tyler Burton averaged 10.8 points over 12 games last season, more playing time than almost anyone else who joined the Warriors that late. The team's net rating collapsed by 22.3 points whenever he played, and that gap is why he returned on an Exhibit 10 contract instead of a guaranteed one.
What the Counting Stats Showed
Tyler Burton played 12 games for Golden State last season and looked like a find: 25.6 minutes a night, 10.8 points, 4.2 rebounds, shooting 37.5 percent from the field and 85.2 percent from the line. He attempted 5.5 threes a game and made a third of them, numbers that read like a rotation piece who could shoot and rebound his position. That is a short run, barely a sixth of last season, but it was enough to make him a name worth tracking into this fall.
The Defense Underneath the Points
The same 12 games carry an offensive rating of 102.0 and a defensive rating of 124.3, a net of negative 22.3 with Burton on the court. His usage ran at 18.0 percent, high for a bench forward, but his true shooting sat at 52.1 percent, a modest return for that much of the offense running through him. Golden State fell apart defensively in his minutes last season, and that is the half of the stat line the raw totals never show.
Why an Exhibit 10, Not a Guarantee
Burton left the organization in the roster churn that cleared out Seth Curry, Nate Williams and Lajae Jones on September 21. He came back October 12 on an Exhibit 10 deal, a non-guaranteed camp contract, in the same stretch that saw Golden State waive Miles Kelly. That sequencing says plainly what the front office thinks of last season's sample: promising enough to bring back, not proven enough to pay.
An Opening He Still Has to Earn
Jimmy Butler III is out until January 2 and Moses Moody until December 1, which leaves real forward minutes open behind Draymond Green and Georges Niang. Burton's shooting and rebounding fit that gap on paper. What he has to prove in camp and in the preseason games still left is that the defensive numbers were a product of a thin, depleted roster last season, not a forecast of what happens whenever he is on the roster now.
What is Tyler Burton's contract with the Warriors?
He signed an Exhibit 10 deal on October 12, a non-guaranteed training camp contract, after briefly leaving the organization in September.
How did Tyler Burton perform for Golden State last season?
In 12 games he averaged 10.8 points and 4.2 rebounds in 25.6 minutes, but the Warriors' net rating was negative 22.3 with him on the court.
