Texas Tech basketball: Scouting 5-star 2020 signee Nimari Burnett

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His offensive game is as smooth as it gets

Sometimes it looks like Burnett isn’t playing hard, especially on offense, because he is just so smooth with the ball in his hands. But make no mistake, he possesses some skills that his future team was sorely lacking this season.

It is important to know that Burnett was not the leading offensive option on his team this year. That was Jalen Green, the No. 2 player in the nation who made national news when he decided this spring to head to the G League instead of the NCAA.

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Thus, Burnett most commonly operated as a facilitator. He wasn’t technically his team’s point guard but be did assume a large chunk of the leadership on offense given that his point guard was just a sophomore.

It was in that capacity that Burnett was impressive. His court vision is elite and he plays the game like a true pass-first player.

However, he’s more than capable of getting his own offense. With a fluidity that made him look like flowing water when handling the ball, he was able to get to the rim. In the first game, he had trouble finishing near the goal but was able to get to the line. In the second game, he was more effective when trying to get points near the goal and on a couple of occasions, he finished with a dunk.

There were not enough mid-range jumpers in either of these two games for anyone to truly evaluate how Burnett shoots off the dribble. But he did show an ability to connect from 3-point range despite a shot that he shoots from in front of the middle of his face.

Tech is going to benefit from Burnett’s experience as a facilitator. There are already plenty of shooters on the roster, especially Moretti and Edwards, and forwards like Terrence Shannon Jr. and Joel Ntambwe are certainly capable of slashing to the goal.

But what was lacking in 2019-20 was a guard capable of creating offense for other players and that was the most impressive ability Burnett showed in the two games I watched, even in the game in which he scored 28 points. He wasn’t a true point guard in high school and though he will handle the ball quite a bit at Tech, he won’t be asked to play that specific role at Tech a la Keenan Evans.

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Still, he will need to be a player that can break down defenses with the dribble and find open teammates. Adding that type of skill set to the team is going to pay dividends in games that come down to the final few possessions, which were so troublesome in 2019-20.

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