NEW YORK — An ugly four months in the rearview and the play-in tournament still a real possibility, the Knicks returned two of their most important players to practice.
RJ Barrett and Derrick Rose, recovering from their respective ankle injuries, participated fully in Wednesday’s session and there’s optimism both could suit up in Friday’s game against the Heat.
Barrett, who suffered a sprained ankle about two weeks ago, acknowledged he’s playing through pain but hopes to “beat Miami.”
“Of course I feel something. I’m in pain. I am in pain,” Barrett said. “But just getting back into it; it’s gonna be sore. It’s gonna be sore. But trying to just be mentally tough to get through that. I can move. I can move a little bit, so like I said, being able to go out there and practice and scrimmage and really do that, it was a good sign. I have another one [Thursday], so just gonna continue to see how it feels.”
Rose hasn’t played since undergoing ankle surgery pre-Christmas and represents the Knicks’ best hope for a revitalized final third of the season. The Knicks (25-34), who sit 12th in the East but just 2 1/2 games out of the final play-in spot, have collapsed without Rose while losing 13 of their last 16 games.
Still, Thibodeau indicated Rose will continue to come off the bench because Alec Burks had been the best option. The starting spot was opened after Kemba Walker left the team to “concentrate on next season.”
“Digging into the numbers and stuff, Alec has been our best option so far,” said Thibodeau, who further explained why he doesn’t need a “traditional point guard” in the lineup (Burks is much more of a two-guard). “I don’t necessarily think the NBA is like that today. There’s not traditional, what we would view 10 years ago as a point guard. There’s scoring point guards, there’s power point guards, there’s all different types now.
“That’s what I do like about the guys that we do have is their versatility,” he continued. “What groups work well together? We see Julius as a point forward and RJ’s handling the ball a lot more. So whatever the strengths of the team are, you want to play to those strengths. Derrick was always a power point guard and he played with the ball and off the ball. I think we see that with Alec. Alec can play three positions. So you like versatility. You hear it’s a position-less league now and it really is.”
Rose missed 30 consecutive games around his ankle surgery, which was arthroscopic to alleviate lingering pain. Barrett missed only four games, but his injury was more controversial.
The 22-year-old sprained his ankle in garbage time of a blowout defeat to the Nuggets, leaving Thibodeau open to criticism for leaving Barrett in the game with under a minute remaining and a 15-point deficit.
Barrett, speaking Wednesday for the first time since the ankle turn, said he had no issues with being on the court at that time.
“I just got hurt. That could have happened in the first 10 seconds of the game,” Barrett said. “It doesn’t matter. I want to be on the court at any point in time. I love basketball, so I always wanna play. Especially the way it happened — I stepped on somebody’s foot. It was just a freak thing. It’s cool. I’m back.”
The Knicks went 1-3 without Barrett, who hadn’t previously missed a game due to injury in over two years.
