OKLAHOMA CITY — David Fizdale wants to be fast again.
In a move to try to jolt the offense while sacrificing some defense, the New York Knicks coach announced his second starting-lineup shake-up of the young season, inserting Emmanuel Mudiay as starting point guard and reinserting rookie lottery-pick Kevin Knox at small forward.
Out are offensively challenged Frank Ntilikina and slumping Damyean Dotson, who didn’t have a shot, rebound or assist in 12 first-half minutes in Sunday’s Orlando debacle. The Knicks rate last in assists and are 22nd in pace.
“I want to see how it looks from a pace standpoint, from a chemistry standpoint,” Fizdale said at Wednesday’s morning shootaround at Chesapeake Arena. “I’ve said this a lot: I really do believe [Mudiay] is our best passer. He can get certain guys going in certain ways in that starting lineup, maybe get us off to a faster start from a pace standpoint. Again, that comes down with what fits each other, what players fit, what players don’t. I’m really trying to evaluate that.”
Averaging 7.5 points, Ntilikina hasn’t been good enough offensively since he became starting point guard after the fifth game. And for the first time this season when the Knicks face the Thunder on Wednesday, Ntilikina, their 2017 lottery pick, will come off the pine. He was benched for the final 42 minutes of the Orlando disgrace.
The move back to Knox as starting small forward has seemed inevitable after he started all preseason, but came off the bench for the season opener because of errant shooting — with Ntilikina starting at the wing. Knox got injured the third game and is only now getting up to speed, scoring 17 points against Orlando. It’s his first NBA start and likely he’ll last the season.
But Mudiay moving into the starting point-guard slot was a mild surprise. He’s the third starting point guard Fizdale has had after going with Trey Burke to open the year. Fizdale said he’ll try this fivesome for at least three games but gave no further promises.
“[Mudiay] hasn’t started yet,” Fizdale said. “I want to see how he looks with that group, see how him and Mitchell [Robinson] combine together there with Timmy [Hardaway Jr.]. It’s combinations. Dot and Frank’s minutes won’t change. It still will be there at 25 minutes and see how the second unit looks now.”
Fizdale admitted because of personnel, the Knicks have slowed their attack after he preached all preseason about speedball. Now he’s trying to rev up the Knicks’ engine with the club at 4-10.
“A little way to kick-start it,” Fizdale said. “I took a big step back because our offense was getting so random and I was trying to get us organized. Now I see we have to play with a certain level of pace — a young team, the one strength I know we have is youth, athleticism and speed.”
Mudiay missed the season’s first two weeks with an ankle sprain but has done well off the bench. The status of Burke is up in the air.
“I take pride in my passing,” Mudiay said. “I like seeing other people score. I feel like when somebody else scores, it’s like me scoring. I just love to pass the ball, see the ball move around. I think it’s beautiful basketball when the ball is going from side to side and then we score off of it.”
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