PG Play Sinks Knicks Once Again... It's Time To Let McBride Ride

While jaw-dropping G League numbers obviously don't guarantee NBA success, McBride has nothing left to prove in the minors. It's time to call him up to the big club and give him an extended look.

Everybody has been rooting for Kemba Walker. 

He's a New York City kid who is always smiling. He is a consummate professional who cheered enthusiastically for his teammates even after being benched for ten straight games. After being forced back into action due to a Covid outbreak in mid-December, he gave us a glimpse of the All-Star player he used to be. Incredibly, he averaged 31 points over his first three games back in the starting lineup, including a triple-double in a win on Christmas Day inside MSG.  

But, with his achy knees no longer able to support him, Kemba has come crashing back down to earth over the last few weeks.

In the (criminally underrated) movie "For Love of the Game" starring Kevin Costner as 40-year-old pitcher Billy Chapel, there is a great line delivered perfectly by the legendary Vin Scully. "He's pitching against time, he's pitching against the future, against age. And even when you think about his career, against ending," Scully tells us.

In the film, Costner's character is miraculously able to "push the sun back up into the sky and give us one more day of summer."

Unfortunately, in real life, there are very few Hollywood endings for professional athletes. When a player's career comes careening toward its inevitable end, it's often ugly.  

Kemba Walker started each of the two games the Knicks have played this week and failed to score a single point in each one. He missed all six shots he attempted and dished out just three assists in 33 minutes while getting cooked continually on the defensive end. 

The NBA trade deadline is just a week away, and the Knicks don’t play inside the Garden again until Valentine’s Day. Thus, Kemba’s final home game as Knick may have been a scoreless dud.

I thought the Knicks signing Walker to an affordable contract over the summer was a worthwhile gamble. If Kemba's knee held up, he was capable of providing plenty of efficient offense. However, Walker is no longer physically able to compete at a high level, his arthritic left knee robbing him of the agility required to play point in today's NBA and stay in front of dudes like Ja Morant. 

Yet, in Wednesday's loss to the Grizzlies, Kemba wasn't the only Knicks' guard to flounder. Alec Burks, who has been forced to start at PG several times this season, was 0-for-3 from the floor and dished out just one assist. New York was outscored by 17 points in the 13 minutes Burks was on the court. 

Immanuel Quickley scored seven points in less than 30 seconds midway through the fourth quarter, but other than that one brief burst, he struggled with his shot (3-for-11 from the floor) and decision-making (two costly turnovers in the final frame).

The Knicks, already four games under .500, are about to embark on a grueling five-game West Coast road swing, which includes a brutal back-to-back in Utah and Denver, sandwiched between games against the Laker and Warriors.