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<\/a><\/p>\nAlec Burks, or \u201cAlex Burk\u201d as Clyde lovingly called him, was no one\u2019s idea of a future top-100 Knick when he signed here in November 2020.<\/p>\n
And honestly? He probably wasn\u2019t at the forefront of anyone\u2019s mind when I announced this project earlier in the week.<\/p>\n
That makes him a curious choice to be our first entrant on the list, which is fitting, because Burks as a player was always a bit of an odd duck.<\/p>\n
Odd or not though, when I think back to this era of Knicks basketball, Burks will always have a special (if small) place in my heart.<\/p>\n
Drafted 12th overall out of Colorado in 2011, Burks spent seven and a half injury-riddled years with the Jazz before a flurry of moves left him without clear NBA future. In the two years before signing in New York, he\u2019d been traded from Utah to Cleveland, then traded from Cleveland to Sacramento, then signed by Golden State for the minimum, and finally traded from Golden State to Philly. He ended his brief time with the Sixers by shooting 33 percent in four playoff games, including 3-of-16 from long range. That Leon Rose gave him a one-year, $6 million deal tells you everything you need to know about how desperate the Knicks were for semi-competent two-way players.<\/p>\n
By the end of training camp that year, Tom Thibodeau quickly established a starting five of Elfrid Payton, Reggie Bullock, RJ Barrett, Julius Randle, and Mitchell Robinson. Beyond that though, there were only questions. How much could either Obi Toppin or Immanuel Quickly provide as rookies? Did Austin Rivers or Nerlens Noel have any bloom left in their roses? Could former lottery picks Frank Ntilikina or Kevin Knox be redeemed?<\/p>\n
This was the muddled morass Burks found himself in, but it didn\u2019t take him long to emerge from the pack. Not only did Burks prove himself to be a steady hand on both sides of the ball, but he quickly became New York\u2019s most versatile player. An argument could be made that the Knicks were a better team with Burks in place of Payton, Bullock or Barrett in the starting five, all of whom had more defined strengths but also undeniable weaknesses. Even if it was just in faint pencil, Burks checked all the boxes Thibs needed (and those chickens would indeed come home to roost a year later). As a result, Burks finished the season averaging more minutes than Payton and eventual starter Noel.<\/p>\n
His efforts off the bench were soon overshadowed by midseason acquisition Derrick Rose, who turned the Knicks from a solid team into a briefly unstoppable one. It all led up to arguably the most anticipated home game in 20 years. With the country still emerging from the COVID pandemic, Game 1 against the Hawks would feature a packed MSG for the first time in over a year. That moment turned out to be too big for almost all of New York\u2019s key players, and they lost a heartbreaker.<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t too big for Burks though. He shot 9-for-13 and led the Knicks with 27 points on a day the rest of his teammates shot 33-for-81 from the field. Along with Rose, Burks almost snatched victory from the jaws of defeat for New York.<\/p>\n
Fast forward four years. <\/p>\n
If Game 1 against the Hawks was the biggest Knick home game in decades, Game 7 against the Pacers in 2024 was right there next to it. The Knicks were banged up beyond recognition, but they had overcome all the odds for four straight months. Could they do it one more time against their most hated rivals?<\/p>\n
Not only were they unable to, but the game was never really close. OG Anunoby lasted just a few possessions on a bum hammy, Josh Hart wasn\u2019t himself playing through an injury that should have kept him out for weeks, and Jalen Brunson broke his hand midway through the third quarter. Once again though, the unheralded Burks showed up to try and make it a fight, netting an almost identical shooting line as he did four years earlier: 26 points on 13 shots.<\/p>\n