New York Post, Thursday, December 3, 2020nypost.comBy MARC BERMANThe biggest surpriseofKnicks president
LeonRose’smodest free-agent signings
latelast monthwas ElfridPaytonreturning
af te r the Knicks declined his $8 millionteam
option.
But itwas no surprisetoPayton, the
Knicks’ starting pointguard mostoflast sea-
son anda clientofRose’sformer Creative
Artists Agency.
“Fromthe beginningwealwayshad inten-
tionsofmecomingback soI wasn’treally
I guess worried,’’Paytonsaid ona Zoom
callWednesday,the second day oftraining
camp.
Just asPaytonwas overlooked, so are
these Knicks.
Witha similarlymodest point-guar d situ-
ationtolast season, league observers believe
these Knicks will scrapeatthe bottomofthe
barrel again.Payton is soaking up the disre-
spect.
“Ifeel like we’ve beencounted out,’’Pay-
ton said. “So justgoout there andcompete
and showwhatwecan do. That’s definitely
somethingwewanttouse as motivation, as
if wedidn’t alreadyhaveenough. But that’s
definitely somethingwe’ve spoken about
in the lockerroomeven in these short days
that we’ve beentogether.”
Rosewas likelyenvisioningre-signing
Paytontoa more modest dealtobea back-
up. Alwaysa favorite ofGM Scott Perry’s,
Payton signeda one-year dealfor $4.7 mil-
lion— afi gurethat indicates hewas being
slotted tofill theroom-exception slot.
However, the Knicks never made ittothe
salary captobe eligiblefor theroomexcep-
tion, soPayton, 26 , justcounts as cap space.
And nowPayton is the narrowfa vorite
tobe starting pointguard on opening night
after someofRose’s optionsfell bytheway-
side—FredVanVleet, DJAugustin, Rajon
Rondo andJeff Teague all signed elsewhere.
All the noise about aPaytonreplacement
became just noise.
“Ain’tmyjob,’ ’ Paytonsa idwhen asked if
he’sconfident he’ll be the starter. “My job
istoworkas hard asI possiblycan and live
with the
results.
It’s not
for me
to pick
who starts.
It’s notfor meto
care about what
other people are
saying.I controlwhatI can
control and that’s the amount
ofworkI put ineveryoffsea-
son.’’
Austin Rivers, a combo
guard,could givePayton the
biggestbattle inwhatisa five-
mancompetition. Riverssigned
for a one-yearguarantee of
$3.3 million.
ReturneesFrankNtilikina and
Dennis SmithJr. andfirst-round
pick, Immanuel Quickley are long-
shot candidates.
Ona Zoom call, Smith discussed his
catastrophic 2019 -20 season that started
with his stepmotherpassingaway, forc-
ing himtotakea leaveofabsence. Injuries
and sloppy playresulted in Smith being the
odd man outatpointguard.
“Iwouldsay just understanding that noth-
ing happenstoyou, it happensfor you,’’
Smithsaid.“AndI had togothrougha lotof
different things mentally —noteven physi-
cally —mentallyI had togothrougha lotof
different things tokindofunderstand that.
But smoothwatersnever made [skilled]sail-
ors, soI ta keit all in stride, and I’mgoingto
keepgetting better.’’
After an early-season hamstring injury,
Paytonreturned in December but not in
timeto saveDavidFizdale’s job. But Payton
righted the ship after the Knicksgot off toa
4-18start.Theyweredecidedly better with
Payton as floorgeneral.Hefinishedaverag-
ing 10 points,7. 2 assists and 4.7rebounds.
“I alwayshaveconfidenceinmyselfI
make things bette r, ’’ saidPayton,whose
weakness is 3-point shooting. “Iguess it’s
alwaysgoodtohaveproof ofthat.”By MARC BERMANNewKnicksswingman Alec
Burkswas inUtahfor eight sea-
sons and cherished his stability.
Nowthat he’sbounced around
oflate, Burksfoundatleast some
familiarity inNewYork.
Knicks assistant GMWalter
Perrin made BurksUtah’s 2011
fi rst-round pick.NewKnicks
assistantJohnnie Bryantwas with
him inUtahfor seven seasons.
“I liked the directionofthe
franchiseand therelationship
I havewithJohnnie Bryant and
Walt factoreda lot into mydeci-
sion,’’ Burkssaid ona Zoom call
We dnesday. “They got me here to
this day.”
The Knicks are hisfifth team
since 2018. Playingfor Golden
Stateand theSixerslast sea-
son, the 29 -year-oldaveraged
15 points, 4.3 rebounds and 2. 9
assists.Most importantly,he
shot 38.3 percent from 3-point
land.The Knicksranked 27th in
3-point shooting last season.
“Ourrelationship hasgrown,’’
Burkssaid. “My secondyear in
the league, [Bryant] came on the
staff. Webonded. Himworkingonmygame.He got meready for
the leagueI wasn’tready [for]at
the time.He’s justa good dude.’’
Characterpl ayed abigrole
inteam president LeonRose
signing Burks as oneofhisfa ll-
back optionsatforward. Bryant
vouchedfor Burks’ ability tobea
bigforce in the lockerroom anda
veteran leader.
It is doubtful he will bea start-
er.
“It’s goingtobea significant
role,’ ’ Burkssaid. “We haven’ t got-
ten downtotherotation. I’m try-
ingtohelp any way Ican.Wedo
havetalentedyoungplayers. [Tom
Thibodeau] willfigureit out.’’➤Austin RiversonrookieObi
Toppin: “He is beyonda freak
athlete,like beyonda freakath-
lete. He’s goingtobereally good.I
know Iobviously didn’tget toplay
against him lastyear but just see-
ing him in here, myGod.”➤The NBAreleaseda five-
game setofChristmasgames and
Knicksweren’t on the slatefor
a second straight season.They
alsowon’t be on nationalTVon
Dec. 22 and 23, when theteams
open their seasons.Without a
star, itre mainstobe seen how
many nationalgames theKnicks
will have.Associated PressThe NBA said
Wednesday that 48
playershavetested
positivefor thecoro-
navirus sincetesting
resumed lastweek.
The league and
National Basketball Play-
ers Associationsaid 546
playersweretested between
Nov. 24 -30in the initial
phaseoftesting after return-
ingto team markets.That
means about 9percentofthe
testswerepositive.
Anyplayer withacon-
firmed positivetest is iso-
lateduntil clearedbyrules
establishedbythe league and
union, in accordancewith
CDCguidance.The league’s
health andsafetyprotocols
for this seasonsay that any-
one witha positivetest in
this pre-camp phase “must
receivemedical clearance
froma te am-designate d phy-
sician anda league-designat-
ed physician priortoentering
a teamfacility,participating
in in-personte am-organized
activities, or interacting in-
person with other” members
oftheirteam.
The league, in its
preseason guidance
to teams sent latelast
week, made clear that
someplayers testing posi-
tivewas tobeexpected.
“During thispandemic, all
this stuff is goingtobe diffe r-
ent this season,” Dallas All-
StarLukaDoncicsaidTues-
day. “Someplayersmight get
corona,get sick, not be able
tobe with theteamfor 10
days. So, Ithink that’s going
tobeabigpart— which
team is notgoingtohave
positivepeople.It’s goingto
bea lotoftimetogether. I
think that’s goingtobekey.”
Playersneeded three nega-
tivePCRtests betweenNov.
24 -3 0before they could be
clearedtostart individual
workouts,which will last
throughoutthisweek.A
handfulofteams are expect-
edtobe clearedtostart
group sessions orfive-on-
fivepracticesFriday,most
others onSunday and Gold-
enState will onMonday.COVID
spikes
with no
bubble
Jazz ties enticed Burks to join Knicks
KNICKSNOTES
Payton hopeful to be
manning the point
Elfrid
PaytonPaul J. Bereswill