Burns’ talent and composure attracts attention

By Jeff Agase
Daily Bruin Staff
[email protected]

  ANGIE LEVINE/DAILY BRUIN STAFF

Evan Burns, a 6-foot-8 forward from Fairfax
High, is touted as the next big thing for UCLA basketball.

This Evan Burns kid, he’s got a look.

It’s a look of complete composure, of knowing how good he
is and how good he might be. It’s a lot of things,
actually.

One thing it is not is the look of a guy who’s 18 years
old. Or of a guy who has yet to log a single minute in a college
basketball game.

Maybe that’s why the prize of this year’s UCLA
recruiting class is drawing so many looks himself at the Nike Say
No Classic.

“He’s one of the most talented freshmen we’ve
ever had,” UCLA assistant coach Jim Saia said.
“He’s a pretty special player.”

Playing for the Say No team Friday night, Burns scored 18 points
on 7 for 13 shooting in a 101-80 win. It wasn’t just the 18
points that the 6-foot-8 McDonald’s All-American forward from
Fairfax High School poured in, it was the way he did it.

Burns doesn’t hog the ball. Unlike similar nascent
wunderkinds, never does he take a shot that the crowd doesn’t
think he can make.

And perhaps most unexpectedly, Burns can go two minutes without
touching the ball on offense and still be the scariest player on
the court.

“I take my time out there,” Burns said. “I
wait for the game to come to me.”

When it does come, his moves often render defenders helpless
““ and useless. In one instance, Burns shot the look at a
defender on the perimeter. Dribbling, waiting, looking, he exploded
past not only the outside defender, but two more on the inside.

At times, it seems like Burns is in his own world. As he
explains, that perception has its ups and downs.

“A lot of people say that I go soft out there, that I
don’t hustle,” he said. “But at the end of the
game, I’ve got more sweat than anyone. It’s not that I
don’t hustle, it’s that it comes easy to me, I
guess.”

In person, Burns doesn’t come across as brash as that
statement might suggest. His is a cool, respectful confidence.

“To start, everyone gets equal minutes,” he said.
“I was raised like that. It’s what you do with your
minutes that matters.”

Whether Burns will play his first collegiate minute as a starter
is uncertain, Saia said. The departure of dependable power forward
Matt Barnes opens a gap in the starting five that any number of
Bruins could fill.

“He’ll have the opportunity to start, but it’s
up to Coach Lavin,” Saia said. “If he doesn’t
start, he’ll definitely get substantial minutes.”

The kind of player that seems to fixate the crowd’s
eyeballs, Burns is farther along out of high school than was
Barnes, Saia said.

“He’s going to be an impact player,” Saia
said. “He can shoot the three, post up, block shots and get
10-12 rebounds. He can rise above people to create things in the
air.”

With such hype, and indeed such promise, comes the concern that
Burns won’t be in Westwood long.

“My ideal situation is having a Bruin jersey on,”
Burns said. “I really don’t know. If it takes four
years, then it takes four years.”

When he says it, Evan Burns has that look. You get the feeling
that he’ll know when it’s time to leave, and that
he’ll be right.

Come fall, Bruin opponents have to try and figure out what to do
when Burns shoots the look at them.

Evan Burns Profile
Height: 6-8
Position: Forward
Hometown: Los Angeles (Fairfax HS)
Prep highlights: Averaged 22.7 points and 10.5 rebounds and led
Fairfax HS to the Los Angeles City Finals…received third-team
prep All-American honors from Slam and Parade magazines…named the
No. 16 player in the United States by Hoop Scoop magazine.