Thibs Should Start IQ at PG over NY's Final 5 Games

The only players to match or exceed IQ's total number of points, boards, dimes and triples in March are Luka Doncic, Jayson Tatum, LaMelo Ball, Kevin Porter Jr., Miles Bridges and Kevin Durant.

There were 11 NBA games played Wednesday night, and each contest had varying levels of significance. Of the 22 teams in action, some were fighting for playoff positioning while others were fighting to lock up a spot in the Play-In Tournament. Others were playing for ping pong balls and increased lottery odds. 

A total of 219 different players appeared in an NBA game on Wednesday evening. Some had monster nights. Trae Young poured in 41 points. Nikola Jokić bolstered his case for MVP by racking up 37 points, 13 rebounds and nine assists in a win over the Pacers. Kevin Porter Jr. notched his first career triple-double (30 points, 12 rebounds, 12 assists). Jordan Poole put up 38/9/7. Luka Doncic did Luka Doncic things, scoring 35 points, handing out 13 assists and grabbing nine boards in a victory over Cleveland that pushed the Mavs past the Warriors and into 3rd place in the Western Conference.

However, each of the names listed above logged fewer minutes than Knicks guard Alec Burks, who was on the floor for 40 minutes and 59 seconds of New York's loss to the Hornets. Burks saw more playing time than 217 of the 218 players who checked into a game last night. 

Burks shot 4-of-15 from the floor vs. Charlotte. He had five assists but also committed a team-high four turnovers. His plus/minus (-10) was the worst among all Knicks starters. 

Yet, Burks played far more minutes and took ten more shots than Miles McBride, Obi Toppin and Jericho Sims combined. 

New York's loss dropped the Knicks to 34-43. They are now 5 ½ games behind the Hawks for the 10th seed in the East with five games on the schedule. 

I've written about it many times, but it remains stunning that coach Tom Thibodeau continues to lean so heavily on his veterans this late in a lost season. Alec Burks has logged 535 minutes this month, which ranks tenth among all NBA players in March. 

Keep in mind, the Knicks' loss to the Suns on March 4th dropped New York 13 games under .500. 

Over the last two weeks (a seven-game sample size), Burks has played more minutes than all but two players in the entire league.

Think about that for a second. 

The Knicks season will mercifully conclude ten days from now. At that point, we can begin the postmortem. Shortly thereafter, we'll dig into draft prep and free agency as we look ahead to the 2022-23 campaign. However, part of determining who the Knicks should select on draft day and target on the free-agent market will be impacted by how the front office feels about players currently on the roster. Unfortunately, an excellent opportunity to evaluate players such as McBride, Toppin and Sims under the pressure of game situations has been wasted…

If we are mining for good news from Wednesday's loss, Immanuel Quickley once again looked impressive. He finished with 16 points (on 6-of-12 shooting), three rebounds and four assists. He didn't commit a single turnover. With the Knicks floundering in the second half vs. the Hornets, IQ jump-started the Knicks' offense, pushing the pace, getting to the free-throw stripe and knocking down momentum-turning jumpers. New York trailed by a dozen points with 10 minutes remaining in regulation before a Quickley-led charge cut the Charlotte lead to two. Yet, less than 60 seconds later, with five minutes remaining in the final frame, Thibs yanked IQ from the floor. 

IQ's improvement as a play-maker and facilitator has been arguably the biggest bright spot for the Knicks since the All-Star break. Over New York's last ten games, Quickley has posted a wildly impressive 4.2-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio. 

Dating back to the start of March, he has dished out 64 dimes while committing only 16 turnovers. Only three players in the league have more than 65 assists and fewer than 20 turnovers this month: Mike Conley, Monte Morris and Tyus Jones.

Over his last 15 games, Quickley is averaging 15.2 points, 5.1 rebounds and 1.9  three-pointers, while shooting 41% from downtown and 86% from the free-throw line. 

The only players to match or exceed IQ's total number of points, boards, dimes and triples in March are Luka Doncic, Jayson Tatum, LaMelo Ball, Kevin Porter Jr., Miles Bridges and Kevin Durant. 

Of those seven players, Quickly has logged the fewest total minutes.

In a couple of weeks, we'll start arguing whether New York should pay $80 million to bring in Jalen Brunson from Dallas or part with valuable assets to acquire a different starting point guard via trade. Many folks that argue against such a move will contend that Quickley is ready and capable of stepping into the starting lineup as the team's lead guard next season. 

(McBride might also be in the discussion, but it's become abundantly clear that Thibs doesn't trust him to run the point at this time.) 

Instead of relying solely on hypothetical projections, the Knicks should use these final five games to develop an albeit small sample size. Throw Quickley into the deep end of the pool over these final two weeks. Start him and point guard and play him 40 minutes a night.

The Knicks don't play again until Saturday. It's a home game at MSG. This would give the coaching staff three full days to prepare IQ, get him and the team acclimated, and do their best to put him in a position to succeed. 

What's the downside? What do the Knicks have to lose at this point? What can possibly be garnered from watching 30-year-old shooting guard Alec Burks masquerade as a starting point guard much longer?