Knicks’ Thomas ready to lead duo by example
Lance Thomas spent Friday at an Upper East Side school talking to kids about doing the right thing and playing the right way. In a sense, the Knicks co-captain and Brooklyn native will be doing the same thing when training camp starts Sept. 24.
One of the integral roles for Thomas, the longest-tenured Knick and their defensive specialist, is teaching and grooming the two young draft studs — 18-year-old Kevin Knox and 20-year-old Mitchell Robinson — during this rebuilding.
Thomas already has a bond with Robinson, who works with his former New Orleans-based trainer, Marcell Scott. And in Knox, Thomas will take under his wing a player who lines up at his position.
Both are hybrid combo forwards.
The 6-foot-9 Knox dominated summer league in Las Vegas. Starting with the Knicks’ voluntary workouts after Labor Day, the former Kentucky star will look to dominate the 30-year-old Thomas.
“He’s going to have a steady diet of me this year,’’ Thomas said after running a basketball/life day for New Heights Youth, which helps kids from impoverished backgrounds. “If he can get around me easily, he should be able to get around most guys easily.”
When Thomas was with New Orleans, he worked with Scott. This week Scott, who is also Anthony Davis’ trainer, told The Post he hopes Thomas becomes Robinson’s mentor.
Thomas said Knox and Mitchell showed “grit and toughness’’ in Vegas.
“From what I‘ve seen from Mitchell, the kid is good — a freak athlete,’’ Thomas said. “He’s going to continue to learn the game. At the bare minimum, the kid knows how to work because Marcell would’ve kicked him out of the gym.”
Thomas will compete with Knox for the starting small-forward position, though the lottery pick’s smashing Las Vegas performance makes it likely coach David Fizdale will go with youth.
After getting hired, Fizdale said he wanted to get Thomas to defend in the same class as a Draymond Green. Fizdale has spoken to Thomas about his role of creating a “defensive mindset.’’
“Draymond Green is a certified winner — to be compared to someone with that much success in his career, I’ll take the compliment,” Thomas said.
Indeed, Thomas will never be an All-Star, but nobody’s character is stronger than the Duke graduate’s.
As team leader, Thomas plans to have inspiring words for Knox and Robinson as he had for the kids during an offthe-court lecture. As the fifth through eighth graders gathered around Thomas at a small lunchroom table, he told them of his unlikely journey of 10-day contracts and not having a guaranteed deal to start a season until his fifth campaign.