One of the biggest deals ahead of the NBA Trade Deadline this season was completed between the New York Knicks and Detroit Pistons. New York acquired veterans Alec Burks and Bojan Bogdanovic in exchange for Quentin Grimes, Malachi Flynn, Evan Fournier, Ryan Arcidiacono and two second-round picks.
Burks and Boganovic, starting-caliber players, were expected to bolster a Knicks rotation that was ravaged by injuries. However, the production each veteran has provided the team to this point has been virtually non-existent.
It would not be a stretch to say that Burks has been the worst player in the NBA since the deadline. He has brought nothing positive to the table since coming back to New York, looking nothing like the player who was a key part of their rotation two seasons ago.
Bogdanovic, while he has had his shortcomings, has shown more signs of breaking through. He is making a huge adjustment when it comes to his role on the court and it isn’t surprising that it has taken some time for him to find his footing.
Coming off the bench isn’t something everyone is capable of. For a large chunk of his NBA career, Bogdanovic has been a starter, playing enough minutes to find a rhythm and get into the flow of a game. With the Knicks, that hasn’t been the case as he is coming off the bench with the second unit.
It has resulted in rocky, up-and-down performances. But, Bogdanovic is a player that head coach Tom Thibodeau needs to find more minutes moving forward. With the news that Julius Randle is going to undergo season-ending surgery, New York needs players to step up to compensate for the loss of his scoring.
Bogdanovic is someone more than capable of replacing what has been lost from Randle offensively. On Tuesday night against the Miami Heat, he scored 16 points off the bench. It was the third time in five games that Bogdanovic was in double-figures following a stretch of six straight and in seven out of eight contests he scored single digits.
He is doing a better job of finding his spots to be aggressive in limited playing time, but he needs to see more minutes down the stretch. A major issue that the Knicks are facing with their current circumstances is they cannot score the ball when Jalen Brunson is on the bench.
In 2024, when Brunson is on the court, the Knicks have one of the best offenses in the NBA. When he is off the court, they are dead last. That is an issue many teams face when their best player sits, but the drastic difference for New York should lead to some adjustments to the rotation.
One adjustment should be getting Bogdanovic on the court more, with and without Brunson in the lineup. Too often the Knicks bog down offensively as teams will blitz Brunson, getting the ball out of his hands. Thibodeau has countered that by going small, inserting Miles McBride into the starting five along with Josh Hart, Donte DiVincenzo, Isaiah Hartenstein and Brunson.
While not a highly regarded defender, the Knicks can afford a slight drop-off from Bogdanovic given how good the rest of the lineup is on that side of the floor. When New York needs a little more size, he should be the first sub for DiVincenzo. That would help alleviate the pressure in non-Brunson minutes, as DiVincenzo could become the main ball-handler, a role that he is comfortable in.
With the Knicks, Bogdanovic is averaging only 19.9 minutes per game. He has never played these few minutes in his career, which has led to a longer-than-anticipated adjustment period. But, he is someone that Thibodeau needs to start turning to more often.
Bogdanovic is a proven scorer in the NBA. Pushing his minutes closer to 25 per night would help the team in several ways, especially in the minutes which Brunson isn’t on the court for. All the minutes going to Burks at this point should go to Bogdanovic and Shake Milton as Thibodeau needs to do something to change the fortunes of his team.
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