STARTIN’ SOMETHING
Unlike Frank last season, Knox already pegged for first team
Not long after the Knicks picked Frank Ntilikina last year – and he was older on draft day than Kevin Knox is today, by the way – they decided the guard wasn’t ready to be a starter. He was too raw, too inexperienced.
So they picked up veterans Jarrett Jack and Ramon Sessions, then Trey Burke and Emmanuel Mudiay. It wasn’t until March when Ntilikina started for the first time, and by then the organization concluded the Frenchman was better suited off the ball.
Part of the hesitancy was Jeff Hornacek being a lame-duck coach, a holdover from Phil Jackson’s staff who didn’t have the luxury of time for drawn out growing pains. There were concerns, as well, about Ntilikina’s durability.
With Knox, the approach is already different. (And so is the physical appearance of Ntilikina, who walked into Friday’s press conference with gold tips in his hair and gold-plated glasses).
“I have no problem playing (Knox), starting him, playing him, whatever winds up coming out of it. I wouldn’t have had a problem doing that with Frank,” coach David Fizdale said. “These guys got to swim now. Some of that means there’s going to be some bumps, but you learn faster by going through it. I feel very confident throwing these young guys out there and letting them go through the highs and lows of the league.”
A byproduct of that philosophy is that the Knicks, in all likelihood, will be awful next season. Fizdale has the equity to stink in the first year of his contract. Knox is not only 18 via birth certificate, he very much looks the part with a slim build and young face. As Kentucky coach John Calipari said, “There’s some guys who reach for the ball and there’s no hair under his arm. … He’s one of those.”
But Fizdale can’t think of a reason Knox can’t be the starter.
“I’m looking at our roster right now, absolutely. Who’s our starting three? Any of you guys know?”
When we brought up Tim Hardaway Jr. and Courney Lee – both of whom started at small forward last season – Fizdale dismissed them as too short. In a related note, Lee may have played his last game with the Knicks.
“They’re both 6-6, 6-5, and he’s going to have to guard LeBron,” the coach responded. “Those are the small forward’s in our league.”
Fizdale’s role in drafting Knox should not be overlooked. He fell in love with the 6-9 Florida native during a 3-on-3 workout at the practice facility, when Knox was said to have dominated wing prospect Miles Bridges. Of course, there’s a big difference between impressing against fellow teenagers and guarding LeBron James or Kevin Durant at small forward.
“That was, I would say, our best workout out of all the workouts we had,” Fizdale said. “You’re talking about physical, guys hitting the floor. There were possessions where a guy turns the ball over, chases the other guy down, block a dunk at the rim. No one was giving an inch in that workout. The fact that he shined in that workout says a lot about him.”
Beyond his youth and inexperience, Knox has questions concerning his fitness and jumpshot, the latter of which he converted just 34% of the time from beyond the arc at Kentucky. A wing who can’t shoot 3-pointers is often unplayable in today’s NBA but, predictably, Knox said that won’t be an issue in New York.
“That will improve a lot. That’s something I really worked on this summer. The line got a little bit deeper (in the NBA), so it’s a little bit different type of shot,” he said. “That’s something I worked on all summer. That’s something I’ve prepared for. I’m just going to keep on working on it. I think it shouldn’t be a factor to me.”
We’ll see. That’s going to be the mantra of the Knicks because they’re preaching time, patience and, on Friday, they emphasized opportunity for Knox. Upside is why they felt Knox was a better choice than Mikal Bridges, and the benefit of patience is why they weren’t in a rush to risk it all for Michael Porter Jr.
Knox will get a chance to prove them right.
“Starting should be a goal for every rookie. But it’s not going to be easy,” he said. “I have to work my way up. There’s nothing guaranteed in this league. There’s going to be guys fighting everyday to get the same spot I’m working for. I’m going to work hard every day in practice to compete for that starting role.”