Burks bumped out of Knick rotation
CHICAGO — It’s fair to say Alec Burks is out of the rotation.
Burks, who the Knicks acquired in the Quentin Grimes trade with the Detroit Pistons, did not play in Milwaukee against the Bucks on Sunday.
In the three prior games, he logged eight minutes against the Bulls, nine minutes against the Sacramento Kings and just three minutes against the Miami Heat.
It’s a clear about-face from the minutes load Burks assumed when he first arrived in New York.
The veteran wing logged double-digit minutes in 17 of his first 19 games following his trade to the Knicks.
Now, it appears he’s out of the rotation.
“Just stay ready, stay ready,” head coach Tom Thibodeau said of Burks’ role in the rotation ahead of tipoff against the Bulls on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Bojan Bogdanovic — the headliner of the Pistons trade — is finding a shooting rhythm.
Bogdanovic scored 15 points on six-of-nine shooting in 17 minutes in the Knicks’ 122-109 victory over the Bucks. He scored 12 or more points in five of the eight games leading into Tuesday’s matchup against the Bulls.
It’s a welcome sight for a proven veteran scorer and playmaker who went through a shooting drought before breaking free in recent games.
Bogdanovic went six games from March 12-23 in single-digit, low-efficiency scoring. He averaged 20 points per game in consecutive seasons for the Pistons before arriving in New York.
“We know he’s made shots his whole career. I think the last 10 games he’s over 50 percent. He’s getting a good rhythm,” Thibodeau said of Bogdanovic. “He scores a lot of different ways — catch and shoot, running the floor, transition, the post. I think his teammates are starting to have a good understanding of the things he does well, so I think that’s helped him as well. He’s getting a good rhythm.”
Bogdanovic’s shooting is timely for a Knicks team ramping up for the playoffs. He is part of a tightening Knicks rotation: Thibodeau is playing starters Jalen Brunson, Donte DiVincenzo, OG Anunoby, Josh Hart and Isaiah Hartenstein, as well as Bogdanovic, Miles McBride, Mitchell Robinson and Precious Achiuwa off the bench.
Burks is the odd man out with Thibodeau whittling his rotation down to nine players.
And according to his head coach, he has to stay ready in case his team needs him in pressure playoff minutes.