POINT BY NUMBERS
Crowded backcourt giving Fizdale plenty of options to play with
David Fizdale has plenty of problems to sort through as he navigates through this futile season of losing. But lacking options at point guard isn’t one of them.
One point guard (Emmanuel Mudiay) is set to return Friday, another (Frank Ntilikina) will get reevaluated that day, and the first-year Knicks coach already has Dennis Smith Jr. and Kadeem Allen at his disposal.
In the near future, Fizdale could have more than a third as many point guards (four) as wins (11). But he sees this as a good problem to have, and plans to use them in tandem together.
“Same way I was doing it with Kadeem and Dennis, mixing and matching different guys, and that’s the way I’ll probably get to a place with them,” Fizdale said following the team’s first practice after the All-Star break on Wednesday. “It’s been kind of that [way] all year with different positions and different situations so we’ll figure it out.”
The scope of the position changed when the Knicks acquired Smith from the Mavericks in the Kristaps Porzingis trade on Jan. 31. Fizdale has raved about him, saying, “I want to put the ball in his hands a lot,” and Smith has put up quality numbers since coming to the Knicks, averaging 17 points and six assists in seven games.
It remains uncertain where that leaves the 22-year-old Mudiay. He had started 32 straight games before straining his left shoulder on Jan. 23 against the Rockets, and was averaging career-highs of 14.7 points per game and 45 percent shooting from the field, along with 3.9 assists and 3.1 rebounds.
He was only expected to be out a few weeks, but instead the one-time lottery pick missed 12 games, and returns with his role undefined. When asked if Mudiay would be in the rota- tion on Friday against the Timberwolves, Fizdale said the coaching staff had discussed it, but declined to offer any details of their plans.
Ntilikina has also missed 10 games with a strained groin, and has yet to return to practice. With both out, Allen was brought up from the GLeague, and has performed well, averaging 10.1 points, 4.5 assists and shooting 50 percent from 3-point range in 10 games.
A free-agent-to-be, Mudiay will be battling Smith, who could be the point guard of the future, and Ntilikina, the team’s first-round pick a year ago, for minutes. Mudiay did like the idea of sharing the backcourt with the athletically electric Smith.
“No doubt, Dennis is great at getting downhill, creating for others, and it just gives us two ball handlers out there,” Mudiay said. “Me and him got a pretty good relationship already.”
The 6-foot-5 Mudiay sidestepped questions about potentially being displaced by the 6-3 Smith, preferring to focus on the positives, like his health, return to the court and getting to play with newcomer DeAndre Jordan, a role model of his. He’s just eager to get back out there, for however long that may be on a given night.
“I just want to play basketball,” Mudiay said. “That’s not my job. I’m going to let coach handle that however he wants to do it. I just want to have fun playing the game.”