Kevin Knox will come off the bench in his first real NBA game Wednesday, as coach David Fizdale threw a shocking curveball on the eve of the season opener against the Hawks.
After Knox started all five preseason games and faltered in the final three, Fizdale will use a three-guard alignment that will include Frank Ntilikina off the ball. Fizdale said Knox had played “crappy” in recent games, and Ntilikina had earned the start.
On Friday, Fizdale had guaranteed Knox would start despite shooting 32.3 percent in preseason but said Tuesday he changed his mind, thinking this move could jump-start him.
The alignment will have Trey Burke at point guard, Ntilikina at shooting guard and Tim Hardaway Jr. at small forward.
“I really feel like Frank earned it,” Fizdale said. “I feel this will prod Kevin a little and give him something to go after. They both handled it great. Kevin understands what I’m demanding of him. Frank did a great job this preseason of being a multi-positional guy.”
The former Kentucky combo forward sat down with Fizdale two days ago to learn the news and said it would serve as “motivation.” Knox had shined at the Las Vegas summer league, but his three games at the Garden were putrid, including two five-turnover performances.
“Coach wants me to be more aggressive with that second lineup,” Knox said, “and be a leader with that second lineup and go from there. I’m not surprised at all. He wants to switch up lineups, and we have so much talent on this team.”
Asked if Knox’s confidence could take a hit, Fizdale said: “He was playing pretty crappy, so his confidence was already shook up. So sometimes a little tweak, just taking him out of the lineup for a minute might give him a chance to digest it, take a breath.”
Ntilikina didn’t start his rookie year until mid-March.
“That’s great, I’m thankful for it,” said Ntilikina, who shot a smooth 45 percent in preseason. “We’re going to work to make this rotation be better to try to win the game. I’m really, really happy to be a starter, but it’s not the end of the day. What we want to be is successful with this team. Coach has that confidence in me and Trey, and we’ll do the best we can do in those few minutes and try to be more competitive.”
Fizdale said he will likely go the first five games with the new alignment and then reevaluate. Enes Kanter and Lance Thomas are the frontcourt.
“I don’t think Kevin got to the point where he earned it more than Frank,” Fizdale said. “But there were some good things for Kevin, and I was really happy with him having to go through highs and lows early on. He had the two double-doubles early and then he hit a wall. That’s just a learning opportunity for him. I don’t want to reward that yet. I do think Frank, consistently throughout the preseason, no matter where I put him, he got the job done. So for our culture, that’s more important.”
Knicks GM Scott Perry said Knox’s preseason was “the ups and downs of a 19-year-old.”
Source: Read Full Article