NY Knicks: A Way Too Early Prediction of NY’s Small Forward Depth chart

Alec Burks will be a leader off the bench for the NY Knicks

Just like last year, we’ll see the Knicks’ 2nd unit trot out a 3-guard lineup with Rose, Quickley, and Burks.

With Burks standing at 6’6, although he’s best suited as a point or even shooting guard, since he’s the tallest and biggest guard of the trio he kinda plays the small forward by default.

In past articles, I figured Burks above really any of the departing free agents would be gone this summer, mainly due to the fact that he outplayed his last contract and would probably want a bigger role or a much bigger contract than he had last season.

Opting to bring Burks back over Reggie Bullock proved that this team is more so Leon Rose’s over Tom Thibodeau’s because Reggie was the quintessential ‘Thibs’ guy and the team could have brought him back for the same exact money than they shelled out to Burks.

Burks and Bullock both signed for 3-years, $30 million this summer.

Although the Knicks were a Top 3 defense for the season, they ranked just 23rd for offensive rating.

This likely convinced the front office to go with the playmaking and scoring ability that Burks brings to the table instead of the superior perimeter defense that Bullock offers.

Burks did have some injury concerns last year, playing in just 49 out of possible 72 games.

But there were times where he truly put the team on his back and carried the offense to a number of wins.

After a terrific scoring, shooting, and playmaking season, Burks capped off the 2021 campaign with a huge, 27 point performance in Game 1 of the series against Atlanta.

Had the Knicks won that game, we would have all pointed to Burks as being the reason why.