A name missing in action from the Utah Jazz during recent season has been shooting guard Alec Burks, who has been plagued by injuries during his last three seasons.
The 26-year-old had started in only 30 of the 100 games he's played since 2014, shooting barely north of 40 percent from the field while marred from multiple complications. Burks is now back in training camp, healthy, and looking to earn a role with the team once again.
“He needs to keep competing and playing like a lot of our wings,” head coach Quin Snyder told Mike Sorensen of The Deseret News. “It’s hard to say anything about guys’ roles. We don’t go into the season and say ‘this is a guy’s role.’ I want him to be Alec, to keep playing and be healthy. It’s good to see him out there playing.”
Burks feels back to his old self after a long road of recovery since become the second-leading scorer for the team.
“This summer I felt like I was before I got hurt on that December day two years ago,” he said. “I felt more explosive, more like myself. As you could tell, last year I wasn’t myself athletically, I wasn’t at all.”
Burks received a hard foul from L.A. Clippers forward Paul Pierce on Dec. 26 of 2015, breaking his leg and having consequent complications, which took a large part of a year-and-a-half to solve.
The Missouri native had his fourth NBA season suddenly cut short by a shoulder injury in late December of 2014 after being named the starter and playing the first 27 games of the season.
If Rodney Hood can't take the opportunity to become the team's leading scorer, Burks is sure to take if from him as a bruising slasher with an ever-improving jumper as a career 36 percent shooter from beyond the arc.
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