Holy crap, what a start to the day for the NBA trade deadline. It was a real rollercoaster of emotions with how the trade information was released. At first, I was a little upset. I couldn’t believe the Knicks gave up Quentin Grimes and multiple second-round picks for Alec Burks. The energy was low, but for some reason, Shams and Woj decided to troll us Knick fans. 10-15 minutes later, it was revealed what the full trade was. The Knicks were able to get Bojan Bogdanovic. I was ecstatic. I could not believe the Knicks were able to acquire both Burks and Bojan while giving very little in return. It was a steal for the Knicks.
It felt like Bojan’s price would have been too steep for the Knicks. I saw on Twitter that the Knicks would have to give up a 1st round pick for him, and I understood why. Bojan is a legit three-point weapon. He’s been one of the few bright spots in Detroit this season as he is one of 13 players in the NBA to average over 20 PPG while shooting over 40% from three. Bojan was the perfect guy for the Knicks to get. Once all the injuries start to die down for the Knicks, and they have Randle and OG back, Bojan will be a DAWG off the bench. He will be the guy New York relies on when Brunson or Randle needs rest. Even right now, he’s going to be very useful. The Knicks need another guy outside of Brunson to carry the load. Donte DiVincenzo has been great, but the Knicks need another guy who can shoot the three when Brunson gets doubled.
Now for Alec Burks. I think I liked Alec Burkes when he was on the Knicks not too long ago. I don’t remember 100%, but I like getting him in this deal, too. He will also be a good bench option until the Knicks figure out their rotation due to the injuries. Burks was averaging 40% from three in 21 minutes per game. He’s been good this season, but it is a downgrade from Quentin Grimes. Grimes’ defense was huge for the Knicks, but they had to move Grimes in order to get Bogdanovic. The bench defense might be worrying, but the offense of the bench got a hell of a lot better. The Knicks will have either McBride or Precious on the bench, with either Hartenstein or Robinson at the five. So Burks and Bogdanovic will have some strong defensive players to help them out.
My only question is how Thibs will handle the rotation if everyone is healthy. They have 11 players who can all contend to be in the rotation every night. The starting five would be Brunson, Divo, OG, Randle, and Robinson/Hartenstein. Thibs then has to decide if he wants to leave out McBride or Achiuwa. It seems like Burks, Hart, Bojan, and Mitch/Hart are guaranteed to be in the rotation every night. It depends on matchups, but McBride and Achiuwa have been key factors in the Knicks’ success this past month. If you want spacing/defense, you go with McBride, but if the other team’s bench has a height advantage, you have to go with Achiuwa. Seeing how Thibs will handle this new rotation if everyone is healthy will be interesting.
The last thing I want to do is talk about the players we traded. I will miss Quentin Grimes a lot. He was an important factor on the team last season that led the Knicks to their best postseason run in 20 years. Of course his best play was when he got hurt and still played phenomenal defense. Next, we have Ryan Arcidiacono. He’s been a throw-in for a very important trade for two years now. It sucks he never scored a point in 20 games, but I still love my Nova boy. Then you have evil Donte, Malachi Flynn, who was a part of the OG trade. I always loved watching him play because he took the most advantage of the limited amount of time he got. He always thought he was the best player on the team. Finally, you got Evan Fournier, who never seemed to be the right fit for this team. I’m sure he was well-liked by the team, but he barely ever played after last year’s benching. I liked him because he was pretty active on Twitter defending the Knicks. That was it for the Knicks this season. The Knicks seem set up to go on a great postseason run. They just need to get all their guys healthy, and this can genuinely be a phenomenal season.
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