Pat Burke - Who is this guy anyway? - Updated 1/29/07
Something's been eating at me ever since I saw Pat Burke screw up Raja Bell's chance to make history w/ 3-pointers in consecutive games.
Who is this guy? Why are Suns fans cheering the hell out of him everytime he steps on the floor?
I haven't seen anything (of his game) to warrant the attention he's been getting from the fans. He hardly ever plays and when he does, all he does is shoot the ball - he doesn't play team basketball. Let's check his stats... 2 pts, 1.5 rbs and 0.4 asts per game. Does that sound like someone that deserves a standing ovation w/ 2 minutes left in the 4th quarter of a blowout? No. Think about it... why is everyone cheering for him? It's almost like “Rudy“ (Notre Dame fame) for the Suns.
I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that the white-collar people at the game are cheering for Burke because he's the only other white player on the Suns team besides Steve Nash (a real fan favorite). He's also white (yes, Nash is too), so maybe that has something to do with it, but overall it makes no sense. Pat Burke must be the only player on the court that all the high-rollers at the game can relate to.
Sit this guy at the end of the bench. Quit cheering for him. Quit pumping his already elevated ego.
Spend your time rooting for a quality player like Kurt Thomas, Steve Nash, Shawn Marion or Amare Stoudemire, not some 12th man.
Updated 1/25/07 (more to prove my point)
Ok, so I've gotten several emails from folks reading my blog about how good a player Pat Burke is... are you kidding me? Here's a snippet from someone who calls themself “jordan“:
alright buddy... first of all pat burke is the probably the most all round good player to ever play the game... he can shoot from anywhere on the court... he's one of the best dunkers in the league hands down... he can d up kobe with his eyes closed... and about the raja bell thing... if you watch that clip on youtube you'll see that raja bell has his hands on his hips, even the anouncers say it and they're saying he doesnt want the ball.. pat burke wanted to pass cause hes a good guy and wants his teammates to do well but when they dont want the pressure he takes it all on his back and scores at will... p.burke is unstopable, end of story.
Unfortunately, it's not the end of the story...
Pat Burke can “d“ up Kobe Bryant w/ his eyes closed? Shoot, I don't think Pat could guard Dikembe Mutumbo on a fast break. About Raja Bell in the game he was going for the record - yes he was tired, and yes the announcers stated such, but he was still on the court for one reason (D'Antoni's choice) - to get the 3-point record. Burke made no attempt to get Bell (or anyone else for that matter) the ball, because he was too busy hoisting up his own shots.
And finally, I compared Pat Burke to “Rudy“ from Notre Dame when I first wrote the article... I have since read the chapters in the :07 Seconds or Less Suns book, which says the exact same thing, except the writer used the term “handicapped“ when referring to the issue.
Updated 1/29/07
I could do this forever.... there are still people out there trying to tell me that Pat Burke is the greatest player in the NBA. I couldn't disagree more... Here's the latest comment from “mike“:
So anyways i was looking at your column and it appears that you dont like pat burke. I'm assuming this is because he didnt pass it to raja bell and bell didnt get the 3 point in consecutive games record. First of all who the hell wants to look at the record for nba 3's and see raja bells name there. i'd rather see the name of a good player and not some douchebag whos only good because of steve nash. obviously pat burke is a genious and knew that so he didnt pass the ball to bell because he didnt want to ruin the record books. plus he drained a 3 because hes the best player currently in the nba. he definitely deserved the standing ovation and whats wrong with the movie rudy? it's probably the best movie of all time. finally, if you don't think pat burke could d up kobe with his eyes closed you shouldn't be writing sports columns.
I have no problem with this guy's comments about Rudy being a good movie; the movie was great... I was comparing Pat Burke to Rudy though, not dissing the movie.
Pat Burke is averaging 2.2 points per game, while shooting 33% from the field. He has only appeared in 10 games so far this year (out of 44). Are you telling me Mike D'Antoni has the greatest player of all time sitting on the bench and he doesn't even know it? Give me a break... Someone be honest and say why you like the guy (over anybody else).
As far as Raja Bell's name goes, what the hell is wrong w/ his name being in the record books? We have guys like Rasheed Wallace in there for most technical fouls, Dennis Rodman in there for most groin kicks to a camera man, etc... Give a guy credit for improving his jump shot and working to get better offensively. It's not all because he plays with Nash either... look at his numbers the past few years. He played with Nash in Dallas for 1 year... guess how many points he averaged there? 3 points per game - only his rookie season was lower. His scoring increased each year he played in Utah, and now 2 years with the Suns. He is a career 41% 3-point shooter - hardly a one year wonder (he shot 44% last year).
Another factoid, according to FoxSports.com (who's wrong apparently) - Pat Burke's birth city is Cape Coral, Florida.... several of you have commented he was born in Ireland
[edited Pat Burke's nationality 1/21/07.. thx Pat for the correction. NBA.com or Wikipedia had the wrong info when I wrote the story apparently.]