Knicks Backcourt Bench: Back-Up Point Guard by Committee

Miles McBride: Utility Guard

McBride is a defensive pest, plain and simple. That 6-foot-9 wingspan on a 6-foot-1 frame is absolutely ridiculous for disrupting opposing guards. The offensive improvements have been impressive and fun to watch. His 2024-25 season showed significant growth, shooting 40.6% from the field and 36.9% from three-point range while averaging 9.5 points per game.

But here’s where it gets tricky: McBride still looks uncomfortable as a primary ball-handler. He doesn’t come off as a true Point Guard, but a great utility scoring guard the Knicks can use in different ways. His 2.9 assists per game last season shows he’s improving as a facilitator, but that’s still not natural point guard numbers. The shooting improvement is real though – going from below 30% from three in previous seasons to nearly 37% is a complete transformation of his offensive game.

Tyler Kolek: Playmaker with limited experience

Tyler Kolek comes closest to being a true point guard, but he’s basically a rookie in terms of NBA experience. How much can you really lean on him in crucial moments? The kid sees passing lanes incredibly well.

The problem will they have to sacrifice defense or worry about being mismatched when he is in the game. The preseason brought on a roller coaster – brilliant one night, turnover-prone the next. You can’t have that kind of inconsistency but then again, it is a new offensive system. His 20-point, six-assist showing against Washington was encouraging, but it is up to Mike Brown to put appropriate expectations on a 24 years old, who has not played a lot of minutes. The ceiling might not be as high as we’d like to think.

Jordan Clarkson: Scorer, not a floor general

Clarkson brings instant offense – no doubt about it. The man has led all bench scorers in total points since 2020 and grabbed Sixth Man of the Year in 2021. When you need buckets, he wants to score the basketball. Again, not a bad characteristic, but Mike Brown will need to find balance. During his award-winning 2020-21 season, he was launching 15.8 shots per game in just 26.7 minutes. I mean the guy only averaged just 2.5 assists per game that season while hoisting nearly 16 shots. Total opposite of a guy like Tyler Kolek who’s game replicates, a real point guard finds ways to set up teammates first. Clarkson’s game is built around self-creation, isolation scoring, and hunting his own shot every time down the court. This type of skillset will always be good to have off the bench.

He can handle the ball, sure. But handling and facilitating are two different skills. When you slot Clarkson at point guard, you’re essentially running a score-first offense with a green light for one player. That works in spurts off the bench – it’s why he won Sixth Man. But as your primary backup point guard behind Brunson? That’s asking him to play a role that goes against every instinct in his game. The Knicks need someone who can manage the offense and keep it flowing when Brunson sits. Clarkson needs the offense to flow through him. We will really see him as a backup shooting guard who can put the ball on the deck to get his shots.

Coach Mike Brown’s philosophy on rotation depth

Brown’s track record suggests he’s built for this kind of approach. He’s already made it clear he wants to use more bodies than Tom Thibodeau ever did. “If you’re looking at what I’ve done in the past, choosing nine and a half to ten guys,” Brown stated. That’s a massive change from Thibodeau’s seven or eight-man rotations that left players gassed by playoff time. Brown put it simply: “I try to play as many guys as I can, man”. His system in Sacramento turned the Kings into an elite offensive unit.

The Knicks bench was a disaster last season, averaging just 21.7 points per game – dead last in the NBA. A committee approach is exactly what they need to to fix the biggest issue upon elimination in the Eastern Conference Finals. Mike Brown has options, but none of them are slam dunks. Each Knicks backcourt pairing brings something different to the table, and his preseason experiments have shown both promise and concerning gaps that need addressing.

Josh Hart might be the most underrated piece of this puzzle. He’s not your traditional point guard, but he handles the ball effectively in multiple lineups. His rebounding numbers (9.6 per game) create extra possessions that turn into easy transition buckets. The stats don’t lie – Hart ranked second on the team in assists behind Jalen Brunson. Tom Thibodeau recognized what he brought during his coaching tenure as Hart always had the pace-pushing ability to create offense in transition.

Brunson staggered minutes with bench units

This might be the real and only right answer for the time being. Jalen Brunson remains the engine that makes everything work, regardless of who’s around him. Brown can maximize bench production by keeping Brunson on the floor with different combinations of reserves. Nobody has separated themselves as the clear backup option, which actually supports the staggered minutes approach. Keep your best player on the floor as much as possible, but give him different supporting casts. The rotation stays fluid heading into the regular season, and that might be exactly what this team needs. The Knicks painted themselves into a financial corner, and now they’re paying for it. External solutions for their backcourt void exist, but the money isn’t there to make it happen easily.