As for Burks, he's an erratic defender. He freelances on D much as he does on O.
It's not hard to find a handful of Burks defensive miscues per game.
Less than two minutes into the game, Burks drifts from his man all the way to the center of the FT line, despite the very limited threat of Tatum beginning a mild probing drive, while Mitch is already well-positioned to wall off the paint. An easy direct line pass to Jaylen for a very open 3. Knix down 9-3 after two minutes. A completely unnecessary 'leave the outside shooter open' error. Toppings isn't much on defense, but if he's guarding an outside scoring threat, he stays within reach of his man while defending off the ball. For Burks and Fournier, the temptation to wander into the paint, way too far to recover in time, is far too compelling.
BOS game, neither team starting a PG.
5 mins into the contest and Burks curiously fronts Jaylen at the 3 point line. Not sure I've ever seen that strategy before. Probably because it's insane and Brown simply cut rimward. Amusingly, Burks seemed surprised by Brown cutting to the rim. If Bo were coaching, I'd yank a guy after those two unforced defensive errors in the first 5 mins. See how Grimes does on Jaylen.
4:32 left in 2Q, Burks again sinks to the center of the FT line on as Tatum dribbles harmlessly towards him. RJB on him, Randle down below. Nothing going on, but Burks determined to leave his man and double too early, unnecessarily, and too easy to spot and counter. Simple pass to a wide open Schroder for a BOS 3.
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