The story of this New York Knicks 2021-2022 season and their shortcomings will never be remembered without the silliness that has been their point guard position.
After bringing in four-time All-Star Kemba Walker and later relegating him, head coach Tom Thibodeau has opted to introduce veteran Alec Burks, who is overwhelmed with playing out of position.
On the Knicks' seven-game losing streak, the 30-year-old averages 9.3 points, 6.7 rebounds and 3.4 assists, while shooting just 34% off the field on 8.0 attempts.
Burke reduced the criticism surrounding New York's point guard rotation (via @NBA_NewYork on Twitter) following the team's latest loss:
But whatever "it is" is not working.
If the seven-game losing streak isn't enough, New York have won just three games in the past seven weeks, and are out of the race for the playoffs—six games behind the 10th-seeded Atlanta Hawks.
And whether it's at point guard or elsewhere, the New York Knicks are bound to make changes before the end of the season.
Burke doesn't have the answer in PG
Alec Burks' 403 minutes on point guard this season, according to Basketball Reference's play-by-play tracker, has been his most spent in the position since joining the league in 2011.
The result has been a steady Knicks offense, with the veteran's hesitation or impatience to match his inexperience running an offense polishing every other possession.
Thibodeau said on February 23 that digging into the numbers, he concluded that Burke was the team's best option at point guard.
Yet the lineup with the 30-year-old point guard has been the team's worst this season, and analytically, doesn't stack up well with the rest of the league.
Per Cleaning the Glass, in the 1,141 possessions the Knicks have played with Burke on point guard, they are scoring 108.6 points per 100 possessions and allowing 114.7 points per defense.
Those numbers rank in the 27th and 23rd percentiles, respectively; Incredibly poor.
New York are 10-15 in this season's starting lineup with Burke. And he will return for the 2022-2023 campaign as part of a three-year deal he signed with the Knicks last summer.
So even though the team is committed to playing him on point guard to advance, why not explore his other options in the final 19 games that won't land a playoff berth?
Knicks Need To Go Young Down The Stretch
Emmanuel Quickley (22) and Miles McBride (21) in the pre-draft, New York Knicks have two potential long-term, young options at point guard.
And in one of them, they already have a proven candidate who has garnered business interest in the past.
When given the opportunity, Quickley saw the share of a more capable point guard by a wider margin than Alec Burks.
Per Cleaning the Glass, with a Kentucky product on point guard, Knicks has a (+0.9) net rating of 1,402 properties.
New York also scored 110.6 and allowed only 109.7 per 100 assets, both numbers an improvement (41st and 66th percentiles) compared to Burke's people.
Before the February 10 trade deadline, ESPN's Zach Lowe reported on his podcast, The Lowe Post, that teams were inquiring about the guard's availability.
That being said, there is no reason not to hand the reigns over to Quickley for the final stretch of the season.
If that's not going to be their long-term fix on the point guard, but someone else's might be, why not show them one that is potentially increasing their trade value?
As the New York Knicks buckle for the final 19 games of the season, head coach Tom Thibodeau needs to get creative (and youthful) with his lineup as the losses continue to mount.
No matter what position he is in, and whether or not it changes the starting lineup, it is unlikely that it will not include Emmanuel Quickly.