SHAKE READY TO ROLL
If Knicks hit rough patch, Milton could be right guy to step in
For Tom Thibodeau, Shake Milton’s process of fitting into a playoff-bound Eastern Conference team has been “very good.”
The Knicks signed Milton off the free-agent market after the veteran guard reached a buyout agreement with the lowly Pistons.
So far, he has logged only one minute of game time, and it came at the end of the Knicks’ 24-point shellacking of the Magic on Thursday.
That could change soon — especially if Alec Burks doesn’t find his jumper.
Burks, who the Knicks acquired alongside Bojan Bogdanovic in the trade-deadline deal with the Pistons, scored 22 points on 7-of-14 shooting in his first game with the Knicks.
He has shot just 24-of-84, or 28.5%, from the field and 10-of-41, or 24.4%, from three-point range ever since.
And after logging double-digit minutes in each of his first 10 games after the trade, Burks played only five minutes in Thursday’s victory.
The reduction in minutes left Thibodeau fielding rotation-based questions about Burks’ status ahead of tipoff against the 76ers on Sunday.
“The game tells you what to do,” Thibodeau said, when asked if third-year backup point guard Miles “Deuce” McBride has leapfrogged Burks in his rotation. “It’s what we need. So the way the game is going, the way he’s playing, just everyone stay ready.”
If Burks falls out of the rotation, the Knicks have a quality guard to step into the void.
Milton spent four-and-a-half seasons largely as a backup guard for the 76ers, who drafted him 54th overall in 2019 then kept him on the roster until trading him to the Timberwolves last season.
Thibodoeau likes what he’s seen so far from his team’s newest addition.
“Just fit in and stay ready,” the coach said. “(Changing teams is) hard in the middle of the season. You gotta learn the system. But I like what I’ve seen from him in terms of his attitude, his approach. He’s been very, very good.”
Milton called the fitting-in process “smooth.”
“It’s a lot,” he said Sunday. “This team is really detail-oriented, so you’ve gotta know what’s going on and what we’re trying to accomplish on both ends of the floor. So from that aspect it’s been good. Just trying to watch a lot of film, and then just be in the gym.
“I’m already a gym rat — but everyone on the team is, so it’s been cool.”
As of now, Milton is outside of the rotation. His status could change if Burks can’t find his shot, especially given Thibodeau has
liked the shots Burks has gotten within the offense.
They have largely been open looks that haven’t fallen. Burks is shooting just 21.1% from downtown when a defender is four-to-six feet away from him since joining the Knicks.
He is shooting 35% on wideopen looks with a defender six or more feet away since the trade, but has been a 40% three-point shooter in each of the four full seasons prior to this one, including the first half of the season with the Pistons and each of his two years in his first stint with the Knicks.
“If the ball is not going in, do something else to help the team, Thibodeau said. “He can put it on the floor. He can draw fouls. He can play-make. Shoot your open shots. It’ll come around.”
Milton is staying ready — not to take Burks’ minutes in particular, but for any opportunity potentially heading his way.
If Burks’ cold shooting streak continues, Thibodeau will have no choice but to dig further into his rotation.
What he’ll find is a player who’s been studying the game plan, even if he isn’t yet in the rotation.
“It’s every single detail that you can think of, trying to cover it and master it,” Milton said. “Make sure we have it down so when we get out on the floor, it’s all about execution and the game can become a little bit easier for us. So that’s where the details come in.”
Just like McBride, who was on the outside of the rotation until the Knicks dealt Quickley and RJ Barrett to Toronto, Milton is preparing for Thibodeau to call his number.