Alec Burks: (Shoulder) 100 Percent Healthy

Burks told SLAM that his surgically-repaired left shoulder is 100 percent healthy and that he was cleared to take contact in practice a couple weeks ago.

Analysis:

As long as there aren't setbacks in his rehab, it appears Burks should be ready for the Jazz's training camp at the start of October. Starting point guard Dante Exum went down with a torn ACL last week and is expected to miss the entire 2015-16 season. Trey Burke and Rodney Hood are positioned to get their fair share of backcourt minutes, but Burks should get enough run to be useful in most 12-team leagues and larger. During the month and a half that Burks played under coach Quin Snyder last season, he averaged 13.9 points, 1.0 three-pointer, 4.2 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 0.6 steals, and 0.2 blocks in 33 minutes per game while shooting 40 percent from the field (a career-low) and 38 percent from beyond the arc (a career-high) to go with 82 percent at the free-throw line (another career-high). It's encouraging to see that Snyder played Burks 33 mpg and started him in all 27 games he played in last season, but even with Exum out of the picture, some of those minutes that Burks was getting last season will end up going to Hood unless the team starts using smaller lineups more often.