Knicks head coach Mike Brown said he hasn’t given much thought to how Jose Alvarado and Miles McBride will fit within his rotation when McBride fully recovers from his core muscle surgery.
“I’m not sure. I’ve thought a little bit about it but I haven’t put a ton of thought into it because I’m not exactly sure when Deuce is gonna get back,” Brown said after morning practice at the team’s Tarrytown training facility on Thursday. “But Jose has been fantastic for us. The time that he’s been here, he’s given us a lift energy-wise. And he’s a veteran. He knows the league, the league knows him. And he has a respect level for what he’s accomplished already that’s helped us tremendously.”
The Knicks acquired Alvarado from the New Orleans Pelicans as an extension of the trade that sent Guerschon Yabusele to the Chicago Bulls. The move was made shortly after the Knicks announced McBride would miss a substantial amount of the regular season needing surgery in the pelvic region leading into the Feb. 5 NBA Trade Deadline.
Yet the Knicks provided a significant update on McBride on Tuesday. While no firm timetable for his return is in place, the backup guard has progressed to taking contact in team practice.
Which means McBride and Alvarado could find themselves competing for minutes, though there’s also a chance Brown deploys them together as a defensive tandem meant to provide speed and spacing on the offensive end.
“They’re different players. Deuce might be a little taller than him, I’m not sure, but they’re both smaller guards. But they’re both quick,” said Brown. “Deuce obviously shot the mess out of it. Jose’s speed is up there at the top of the league. Deuce kind of has a medium [mid-range] game. They both get to the ball. Jose picks up full-court a little different than Deuce. They bring some different things to the table, which you like that diversity on the team.”
Alvarado has made an immediate impact since his arrival in New York, averaging six points and four assists in his 18 games with the Knicks. McBride was enjoying a breakout season with averages of 12.9 points on 43% shooting from deep before he left the rotation.
Alvarado believes he and McBride can be productive as a duo.
“[It would be] dope. Whatever the situation is, when we’re on the court together we’re going to be really good,” he said after practice on Thursday. “I’ve seen Deuce play a whole bunch of times. I know how good he is.”
Alvarado said he can handle the ball to make things easier for McBride to score without worrying about creating for himself or his teammates.
“And to be quite frank, he needed somebody to get it rolling. He’s obviously a really good shooter,” he said. “So me getting downhill is going to make it a little bit more easier for him. It’s all going to work out. I think this team has got a whole lot of firepower. Once we start clicking, I think we will be fine.”
The final three weeks of the regular season are critical for the Knicks to shore their rotations entering the playoffs. Brown, for example, said ahead of tipoff against the Indiana Pacers that veteran guard Jordan Clarkson would begin to see more minutes over rookie forward Mohamed Diawara.
“[Roles are] closer to being defined, but there’s still some things I’d like to tinker with,” said Brown, “from certain things we do defensively to a couple of things offensively to even some rotational stuff.”
Plus the Knicks are already small in the back court: McBride, 6-2, is the tallest of the Knicks’ point guards. Jalen Brunson is listed at 6-1, and Alvarado is six feet flat.
Brunson made a case for Alvarado-McBride minutes when the latter makes a full recovery from surgery. With Alvarado, McBride, Clarkson, Mohamed Diawara and Landry Shamet, the Knicks can feasibly run an 11-man rotation.
“They [Jose and Deuce] are definitely different, but they both are very viable. They bring intangibles to the game, the intensity,” he said. “They both do things that help the team win and they complement each other. It would be great to see, once Deuce is back, how that group plays together. I’m really excited to see that.”