KEVIN AND HELL
Fiz showing Knox same kind of ‘tough love’ used on Ntilikina
Kevin Knox doesn’t have to look very far to learn from another recent top-10 draft pick of the Knicks who spent entire games on the bench during his first two NBA seasons.
Frank Ntilikina went through what Knox experienced for the first time in his career Friday night, having a “DNP-CD” (Did Not Play — Coach’s Decision) attached to his name in the boxscore of the Knicks’ 101-95 loss to Philadelphia at the Garden.
Ntilikina, the eighth-overall pick in the 2017 draft, has started the past 14 games after spending several glued to the bench during his first two years in the league.
“Sometimes they’ve got to go through some tough love to find themselves and watch the game from 25,000 feet, see it, and see the things that I’m emphasizing,” Knicks coach David Fizdale said when asked about Knox after practice Saturday in Tarrytown. “I was tough on Frank last year and I just feel like Frank has come back with a whole different mindset about how he’s going to go about this season.
“I’ve been so happy with the way he’s played and produced. But I do think a little bit of tough love on some of these young guys isn’t necessarily a bad thing.”
The 20-year-old Knox, the ninthoverall selection in the 2018 draft, averaged 12.8 points and 28.8 minutes per game as a rookie, but those numbers have decreased to 7.8 points and 19.8 minutes through 19 appearances this season — all off the bench.
Asked what he learned from a similar experience earlier in his career, Ntilikina responded: “To stay with it and control what you can control. And see how I can affect the team even when I’m not playing, talk to teammates, give advice, be a great teammate and keep working in practice, keep working on your game, and the opportunity will come. Obviously it’s a long season. An opportunity will
come. Most of it is how can I be a good teammate and still be part of the team.”
Fizdale added that Knox “will be a consideration, for sure,” to return to the rotation in Sunday’s home matinee against Boston, with leading scorer Marcus Morris listed as questionable with cervical spasms in his neck.
Even if Knox doesn’t play, he can learn from Ntilikina, who took Fizdale’s “tough love” to heart and tuned out any outside criticism from fans and media to find his way back into the rotation — and more recently, the starting lineup.
“Both of us were under scrutiny from you guys. We lived it together and we talked about it a lot together, that despite what people are saying, we’re going to constantly keep working to try to make him the best pro that he can possibly be,” Fizdale said. “Through all that, you find a bond and you build a stronger relationship.
“Now where we’re at, our connection now is really strong. Like I said, I’m so proud of the way the kid has grown up and the way he’s attacking the NBA now.”
Ntilikina, who did not play at all in the Knicks’ game Oct. 25 against the Nets, is averaging 8.1 points, 4.2 assists and 1.9 steals with just 1.1 turnovers per game over his 14 consecutive starts. The 21-year-old point guard credited a meeting with Fizdale in the offseason for helping him “grow up” and return this year with a different mindset.
“There’s a lot of noise with this team, a lot of expectations. Around this city, a lot of expectations,” Ntilikina said. “Obviously, those expectations are for us to get better. But what we have to understand, too, is we have expectations, and [Fizdale] wants us to get better, and he wants us to be the best team possible. He wants us to be the best possible, that’s the same for every player.
“So I just gotta stay locked in, stay focused on us. It’s not really selfish, it’s just learning with the right mind and being able to perform at the best.”