Shuffle board
The Knicks’ terrible assist nunumbers are making the team’s cocoach feel queasy. And they may lelead to lineup changes, too.
David Fizdale said Tuesday he’s coconsidering tweaking his starting fivfive again after the Knicks absosorbed back-to-back blowout lolosses over the weekend, and he rerevealed prized rookie Kevin KKnox could be inserted back into ththe lineup. With the coach saying ththe Knicks being last in the league in assists “makes me want to yack,” it would seem making a change at ppoint guard is likely.
“We’re going to look at some more stuff, me and the staff, as we get on the plane,” Fizdale said as he prepared the Knicks for Wednesday night’s game against the Thunder in Oklahoma City. “Look at some groups and some lineups. There may be some changes, but I’m not there yet.”
Fizdale wasn’t ready to reveal exactly what the changes to his starting five would or could be, but he did say it’s “a possibility” Knox will start his first NBA game after scoring 17 points in Sunday’s ugly loss to the Magic. The first-round pick was slated to start at small forward on opening night, but after a shaky preseason, Fizdale opted for Frank Ntilikina instead.
“I just like the fact he’s getting in there now and starting to see his spots a little better,” he said. “He’s getting a little more aggressive.”
As for Ntilikina, he was benched after playing the first 5 minutes, 45 seconds against Orlando on Sunday and has failed to crack double figures in points in six of his past seven games. The Knicks are last in the league in assists (19.1 per game), an indictment of the pointguard position that also features Trey Burke and Emmanuel Mudiay.
“That makes me yack to be honest with you,” Fizdale said. “But we can only go from there. Yes, I hate that we’re last in the league in assists. It drives me crazy.”
Burke, tied for the team lead in assists with Ntilikina at 3.5 per game, doesn’t believe it’s fair to solely pin the ball-sharing problems on the team’s three point guards. Burke thinks it’s the result of the Knicks not getting out in transition enough and playing too much isolation ball in half-court situations. Fizdale talked to them about pushing the ball more, even after made baskets, and playing more freely to create a more uptempo style.”
“I know assists will rise when we do that,” Burke said. “We’re aware of it. This is a very unselfish team. Guys want to see other guys be successful.”
If Fizdale does choose to send Ntilikina to the bench, the secondyear player from France said he would be fine with the decision. Fizdale believes the two have already developed a solid relation- ship of trust. When asked what he needs to work on, Ntilikina said: “Everything.”
“When you get down, you got to keep going until you go up again,” he said. “That’s my mindset and I’m pretty confident about my abilities and I know I’m going to play better the next couple of games.”
Fizdale declined to say how much time he would need to analyze the new starting lineup, but said it would last more than one game. He’s also not worried how changes would impact his young players’ confidence.
More important is finding the right combinations. The season began with a starting lineup of Enes Kanter, Tim Hardaway Jr., Ntilikina, Burke and Lance Thomas. After five games, Fizdale went young, replacing Kanter, Burke and Thomas with rookie Mitchell Robinson, Noah Vonleh and Damyean Dotson. That group has now contributed to a stretch of four losses in five games as the Knicks have fallen to 4-10 entering a three-game road trip against the Thunder, Pelicans and Magic.
“It could be a lot of different things. I’m still just trying to evaluate who fits who, what combinations work together,” Fizdale said. “None of this is about demotions or some guys not [doing] this, some guys not [doing] that.
“We’re trying to figure out who works with who. What talents play well together, which ones really don’t play well together. That’s ultimately what we’re trying to do.”