I Love How Bad The New York Knicks Are With Alec Burks and Bojan Bogdanovic

On December 30th, 2023, the New York Knicks traded their two former first-round draft picks, RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley, for OG Anunoby. They proceeded to win 16 of 18 games with Anunoby instantly becoming a prison sentence for what opposing player he was tasked with defending. They surged to the top of the Eastern Conference and were looking NBA Finals bound.

And then Julius Randle dislocated his shoulder.

And OG Anunoby’s elbow exploded.

Isaiah Hartenstein’s achilles stopped cooperating.

At some point, the Knicks just needed warm bodies to add to the rotation with all these injuries stacking up.

Enter Alec Burks and Bojan Bogdanovic.

The Pistons are trading Bojan Bogdanovic to the Knicks too, sources tell ESPN. Evan Fournier and Malachi Flynn will go to Detroit. https://t.co/tYqAVNQHXT

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) February 8, 2024

Alec Burks and Bojan Bogdanovic were supposed to be veterans added to the bench to give this team more scoring when the starters are resting and two guys who won’t be afraid of the big moment.

Anndddd so far, the Knicks are 0-2 since acquiring the duo from the Detroit Pistons and I’m enjoying every second of the chaos.

Why aren’t Alec Burks and Bojan Bogdanovic working?

There’s a huge difference between scoring off the bench and just chucking up shots off the bench. Alec Burks and Bojan Bogdanovic fall squarely in the latter as both guys are shoot-first, shoot-second type players.

Whenever Alec Burks gets the ball in his hands, he becomes a predator stalking the defense, looking for the most contested jumper he can find. Against the Rockets on Monday night, Burks took a fadeaway midrange jumper over THREE Rockets defenders.

In two games, I can’t recall seeing Burks or Bogdonavic pass the ball. Maybe to each other.

With OG and Randle, the Knicks figured outa beautiful offensive system that seemed to always get the best shot every single possession and now the new disgusting brothers from Michigan are exclusively reverting to isos and ignoring Jalen Brunson even though Brunson is easily a Top 10 player in the NBA right now. Doesn’t matter to the Chuckers.

It doesn’t help that they don’t even make the shots they’re shotputting at the backboard. Bojan Bogdanovic is shooting 43% from the field and 27% from 3.

But my favorite element of their game is their defensive prowess. Bojan seems to always be looking in the wrong direction. His vision combined with his atrocious footwork makes him a hilariously terrible defender who shows up just in time to give an offensive player an And-one they don’t deserve.

Alec Burks is better at rotating but when it comes to on-ball defense, he is helpless in the pick-and-roll. Burks touches a screen and loses all sense of direction. Any physical contact and Burks starts moving like he’s in the middle of that zero gravity hallway fight from Inception.

So what’s to love about the Alec Burks Bojan Bogdanovic Knicks?

Perspective is important here. The Knicks aren’t 0-2 because of Burks and Bojan. They certainly aren’t helping much but it isn’t their fault that Precious Achuiwa has to play 40+ minutes a night because Jericho Sims can’t stay on the floor and Taj Gibson played at USC when Pete Carroll was still the football coach. Pete Carroll coached the Seattle Seahawks for the last 13 years.

With Mitchell Robinson and Isaiah Hartenstein out and the Knicks front office having no desire to sign an actual NBA center, the Knicks have been playing a lottttt of basketball without a player on the court taller than 6-foot-7.

When those guys get back, along with Julius Randle and OG Anunoby, the Knicks are going to return to bullying their opponents and leaving them covered in bruises.

So I’m choosing to enjoy this random assortment of goons Tom Thibodeau keeps throwing out. Especially after Monday night’s game in Houston where the Knicks overcame a 16-point deficit to tie the game in final minute.

Yes, the Knicks ended up losing the game but that had less to do with anyone on the court and everything to do with NBA referees and their refusal to ever, in the moment, admit they made a mistake.

Here’s the final play of the Rockets game where Jalen Brunson went to close out on an Aaron Holiday three and was called with a shooting foul despite making no contact with Holiday:

WHAT JUST HAPPENED?

Jalen Brunson was called for a foul on Aaron Holiday’s prayer for the win 😱pic.twitter.com/h2567TaaLg

— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) February 13, 2024

Quick shout out to Precious Achuiwa for the clutch block after being on the court for 900 straight minutes.

But the only contact made on that 3 was initiated by Aaron Holiday. He extended his forearm to push Brunson and he kicked his legs out to get space.

I don’t want to get too in the weeds about the refs. If this same exact event happened in favor of the Knicks, I’d be licking boots and praising the officials on their dedication to making the game fair and just.

But down the stretch, Alec Burks hit a huge 3 within the final two minutes to bring the Knicks within 2 points and then it was Jalen Brunson time.

There’s clearly room for Alec Burks and Bojan Bogdanovic to get their nasty shots off while still playing winning basketball.

And as we wait for the team to get healthy, let’s all enjoy the randomness of this squad. The Villanova guys running the 3-man. Precious Achuiwa playing the best defense of his life and not being allowed to ever leave the court. Burks and Bogdanovic not even knowing all of their teammate’s names and just playing 2023 Detroit Pistons shit ball.

The Knicks championship potential is and always will be in the hands of Jalen Brunson, Julius Randle, OG Anunoby and whatever combination of Mitch Robinson and/or Isaiah Hartenstein.

Alec Burks and Bojan Bogdanovic are just experiments as the Knicks test out the theory ‘What if we traded Evan Fournier for TWO Evan Fournier’s” and the results are must-see TV.