Following Wolverines' Trey Burke And Tim Hardway Jr. On NBA Draft Night

Thursday's NBA Draft was a good night for the Michigan Wolverines.

For the first time since 1994 when Juwan Howard and Jalen Rose were both taken in the first round, two Wolverines heard their names called by David Stern.

Point guard Trey Burke, in what was a weird stretch of time, got drafted ninth by the Minnesota Timberwolves.

That led to jokes like this:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p>Kaahhhhnnnnnn!!!! RT <a href="https://twitter.com/jadande">@jadande</a>: The spirit of David Kahn lives on.</p>&mdash; B Mac (@Macnatweet) <a href="https://twitter.com/Macnatweet/statuses/350411968164794373">June 28, 2013</a></blockquote>

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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p>David Kahn just tweeted Wolves should take Trey Burke</p>&mdash; Jerry Zgoda (@JerryZgoda) <a href="https://twitter.com/JerryZgoda/statuses/350410138617790464">June 28, 2013</a></blockquote>

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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p>Gotta love ESPN mocking David Kahn for drafting multiple PGs right as Minnesota takes another point guard.</p>&mdash; SBNation NBA (@SBNationNBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/SBNationNBA/statuses/350410837577572352">June 28, 2013</a></blockquote>

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I cracked one also, but after thinking about it for a little bit warmed up to the idea. Rubio and Burke would have been a really fun backcourt, teams are playing smaller and two point guard lineups are becoming more prevalent in the NBA.

As soon as that happened Burke was gone.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p>Per <a href="https://twitter.com/WojYahooNBA">@WojYahooNBA</a>, Burke will go to Trail Blazers in trade, but they have Lillard entrenched now. <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23Whaa&amp;src=hash">#Whaa</a></p>&mdash; Conor Ryan (@ConorRyan_93) <a href="https://twitter.com/ConorRyan_93/statuses/350411473421467649">June 28, 2013</a></blockquote>

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I immediately loved this. As discussed above two-point guard lineups, with the right PGs can very potent offensively. Damian Lillard and Burke could play off each other.

Wait, nope, that wasn't it either.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p>Trey Burke is going to the Utah Jazz in a trade, sources tell Y! Sports.</p>&mdash; Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/WojYahooNBA/statuses/350412029246443520">June 28, 2013</a></blockquote>

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Finally we have where Trey Burke is going to play. The Jazz traded the 14^th and 21^st picks the Timberwolves, who ended up with Shabazz Mohammed and Gorgui Dieng.

Here Burke will play a more traditional point guard role. Lineups featuring him, Alec Burks, Gordon Hayward and Derrick Favors or Enes Kanter, maybe even both, are really intriguing. If Burke is better than the combination of Mo Williams, Earl Watson and Jamal Tinsley he will help make Utah better.

Next up was waiting for Tim Hardaway Jr. to be selected.

Full disclosure, I am a Knicks fan and I openly didn't want New York to take him. I thought there were somewhere between 6-10 options better than Timmy.

I don't think it's a bad fit, New York and Michigan run similar offenses, and the adjustment shouldn't be difficult. How well his game transfers to the NBA will depend upon him becoming a significantly better shooter or improving his ability to create his own shot.

Even with those doubts I do believe he will be a role player with a limited ceiling. Nothing is wrong with that.

No matter what happens with Hardaway and Burke, Juwan Howard will no longer be the best-known Wolverine in uniform.

Not that another moment was needed to signify the return of Michigan basketball, nothing showed it better than playing in the National Championship game, but I certainly wasn't complaining about the reminder.