As a newcomer to the first half, you probably know him well and remember him fondly. Alec Burks will continue to be a part of the 2020-21 Knicks, who fell out of the sky and had their best season in nearly a decade, finishing with an incredible 41-31 record. This season, Elfrid Payton, Reggie Bullock.
And Mr. Birks. Burks was gradually allowed back into Madison Square Garden that year and was a favorite of the Knicks faithful, especially Tom Thibodeau.
“He’s that kind of player. You ask him to do a lot and he does it all quietly and efficiently,” Thibodeau said of Burks late in the 2021 season. “He’s the kind of player that his teammates like. I always love when he’s on the floor with his teammates because he’s a professional. He knows exactly where he needs to be, exactly where he needs to go. know.”
Still, in the best-case scenario for the Knicks this season, there will be some limits to Burks’ influence. With everyone healthy, he’ll likely be the 10th man in a 10-man rotation, called upon to curse Jalen Brunson without the offense completely collapsing, but if Brunson is in foul trouble or Burks If you feel that way, you’ll probably be given a little more time that night.
Bojan Bogdanovic is 34 years old and has been around the NBA block a time or three. He was technically a member of three NBA teams on his first day in the league (he was traded from the Heat to the Timberwolves to the Nets on draft night in 2011). The Knicks will be the sixth team to play when he makes his scheduled debut Saturday. We played against the Pacers that night. He blossomed with that team from 2017 to 2019.
The fact that he’s been banished to Detroit for the past two years is something of a basketball misdemeanor. Because he was a key component of great teams in both Indianapolis and Salt Lake City, he was admired by his teammates and highly regarded by his coaches.
“I love playing with him,” Bogdanovic’s teammate with the Jazz, Donovan Mitchell, said in 2020. “If he does well, you’d think he wouldn’t miss the rest of his career.”
Jazz coach Quin Snyder went even further the next year.
“What I heard about him early in his career in the league was that he could shoot,” Snyder said. “But when you’re around him, you know he can score. His ability to drive and make plays not just for himself on the rim, but unselfishly and for his teammates when needed.” His willingness to create for others gives him versatility.”
Even more amazingly, in 2018, when he was a member of the 48-win Pacers and LeBron James was igniting everyone trying to protect him in a tough seven-game series against the Cavaliers, Indiana’s coach, It was Bogdanovic that Nate McMillan turned to for his try. To slow down James. And while he didn’t exactly contain James, he was by far James’ most effective defensive deterrent, spending more possessions defending him than anyone else.
The series ended in a tough 105-101 victory in Cleveland’s Game 7, and it wasn’t decided until the final moments, but someone told McMillan after the game that perhaps no one thought Bogdanovic could play that type of guard. He said there probably weren’t many. .
McMillan said and smiled.
“Well, Bogie didn’t know that either,” he said.
Of course, the Knicks didn’t acquire Bogdanovic for his defensive prowess. He’s a Knick because he can shoot the ball and has always been able to shoot the ball. Since being traded from Washington to Indiana in 2017, he has shot 40.5 percent from 3-point range and 41.5 percent this year, playing primarily in witness protection in Detroit.
But what about protecting James? It also expects Bogdanovic to fit well into the Knicks’ way of doing business and the culture of doing everything for the team they’ve been trying to establish. Thibodeau doesn’t ask his players to do anything they can’t do, but he insists on giving their best effort on both ends of the floor when asked. Bogdanovic does it.
The fact that a double-team blitz could give Brunson a more appealing pass-off option is how the Lakers beat them last Saturday (something the rest of the league is definitely taking note of)… Well, that’s the main thing that matters. Especially now that the Knicks are considering playing shortstop for much of the next month.
“He would always give whatever he had,” McMillan said in 2018.
That’s all the Knicks can ask for.
