Burke hopes to help build winning team
Trey Burke talks now as if he will be the Knicks’ starting point guard next season.
Certainly he’s solidified his status as starter for the rest of this lost season with five games left. In his fourth straight start, Burke notched 18 points, 15 assists and just one turnover. Still, it amounted to their season’s 50th loss, though Burke predicts a turnaround for 2018-19.
“It don’t sit well at all,” Burke said. “Everybody wants to win. You don’t like losing. I haven’t been here the whole year but I’ve been here. I’m a part of this team. These are the moments where in the future when you are in the playoffs, you look back on these moments and you cherish being in that spot because you know where this organization has come from, you know the struggles it’s been through.
“As a competitor, a guy who’s won on every single level, I’m ready to get back to that culture of winning. The bad news is it’s 50 losses. The good news is all of these games were down to the wire. We have to figure out how to finish out games, to close out games. It’s not easy. But it’s doable.”
Burke, 25, has by far outplayed the other two point guards, rookie Frank Ntilikina and Emmanuel Mudiay, benched last weekend after 14 straight starts. Signed out of G-League Westchester, Burke, a 2013 lottery pick of the Jazz, has been a steady stream of production, giving Knicks brass an offseason pointguard conundrum that could lead to a trade.
“I’m still adjusting,’’ Burke said of starting. “I think I’m pretty good in both roles. I haven’t started since my second year. It’s still something I’m getting used to after being the sixth man for a while. I’m trying to figure out how to be that same person at the same time being more aggressive because I’m starting.
“Obviously we’re not playing for nothing, but I’m evaluating the way I’m playing. I can learn from it going into the summer, getting ready for next season. These games will help me on what I work on for the 2018-19 season.”
Hornacek isn’t ready to veer away from Burke, averaging 12.6 points, 4.4 assists on 51.7 percent shooting in his 31 games.
Burke and GM Scott Perry have Michigan ties. Also, when he worked in Orlando, which visits the Garden on Tuesday, Perry nearly selected Burke in the 2013 draft before choosing Victor Oladipo.
“I appreciate the opportunity,’’ said Burke, whose career nearly got derailed after a subpar stint with the Wizards last season. “Now that I’m here, I’m making him look good as well. He brought me in. I called him this summer to just ask him to take a look at me. I have faith in this process.”
When the Knicks traded Willy Hernangomez for two future second-rounders, they were hopeful rookie Luke Kornet would shine. But he’s struggled with his 3-point shooting — his best attribute. Though he dished out three assists, the 22-yearold undrafted center from Vanderbilt, who is on a twoway G-League contract, shot 1-of-5 from 3-point range against the Pistons, his percentage falling to 28.8.