With Kemba Walker sitting out for the rest of the season, the struggling Knicks are in need of yet another point guard.
Luckily, Derrick Rose is on his way back from an ankle injury that has sidelined him for nearly three months, as the veteran practiced in full on Wednesday for the first time since the injury. But even as Rose nears his return, head coach Tom Thibodeau won’t commit to Rose being the starter once he returns. In fact, it seems like Thibodeau might be leaning towards leaving Alec Burks in as the starting point guard.
“We’ll see,” Thibodeau told reporters when asked if Rose would be the starter. “I think just digging into the numbers, Alec has been our best option so far.”
What numbers are Thibodeau referencing when he says that Burks has been the team’s best option at point guard? Well, the starting five of Burks at point guard alongside Evan Fournier, RJ Barrett, Julius Randle, and Mitchell Robinson do carry a +5.2 net rating, a massive improvement compared to Walker with that same group. But it also hasn’t led to wins, as New York has lost 13 of its last 16 games, and Burks, who barely played any point guard last season and is primarily a shooting guard, is shooting a career-low 38 percent from the field this season, including just 33 percent from the floor and 25 percent from beyond the arc over his last eight games.
But Thibodeau has said in the past that he doesn’t feel the need for the team to have a “true” point guard, though Rose was arguably the team’s most valuable player before his injury. He ran the point for the Knicks’ second unit that consistently erased large deficits created by the struggling starters, and played a huge role in turning the offense around when he was acquired last season.
Of course, this decision won’t be a decision until Rose is cleared to play. But it does sound like that is finally nearing.
“He’s been doing a lot but he has not taken contact before today,” Thibodeau said Wednesday. “So he took contact today, went through all that. So that’s good.”
Follow Ryan Chichester on Twitter: @ryanchichester1
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