David Fizdale inserting three rookies in Knicks' starting five vs. New Orleans

NEW ORLEANS — Reality comes quick for rookies in the NBA, finding the leap from summer league glory to the grind of the real season — and facing real NBA players every night — a wake-up call of just how much they have to learn.

But David Fizdale, the Knicks’ first-year coach, has little hesitation for playing his rookies and so with the team in a free fall of late, he tweaked the lineup and inserted all three of his rookies into the starting five Friday against the New Orleans Pelicans.

Kevin Knox, the No. 9 overall pick, made his first start a game earlier in Oklahoma City. Mitchell Robinson has been anchored in the starting lineup since the sixth game of the season despite coming to the team as a second-round pick who didn’t play at all last season — his last game before this season coming for Chalmette High School just a few miles from the Smoothie King Center. And Allonzo Trier went undrafted, joining the Knicks as a free agent with a two-way contract, and was plugged in for the first time other than an emergency start when Tim Hardaway Jr. couldn’t play.

So with three straight one-sided losses and a 4-11 record, Fizdale has turned to the rookies, putting them in with Hardaway and Emmanuel Mudiay. The last time the Knicks started three rookies was April 12, 2017, when Willy Hernangomez, Ron Baker and Maurice N’Dour got the assignment. Prior to that, it hadn’t happened since Jan. 19, 2006, when Nate Robinson, David Lee and Channing Frye all started.

Even Fizdale admitted he didn’t see this coming so soon, just 16 games into the season, but he said: “I didn’t have a preset mindset coming in where I was saying, ‘I’m expecting this to happen.’ I just wanted to keep an open mind to everything and see how it plays out.

“All of these guys to their credit have really shown some great moments in the NBA. So I figured why not look at them all together out there with Timmy and with our best passer and see how that looks if they’re moving up and down the court fast.”

Great moments in the NBA might be a bit of a stretch. Fizdale had Knox penciled in as a starter since the start of training camp, but he lost that job after struggling with his shot. He then sprained an ankle in his third game and just worked his way back into action before getting the start in Wednesday’s 25-point loss. Robinson blocked nine shots against the Magic last week, but still is raw with a remedial offensive game outside of finishing lobs to the rim. Trier has shown flashes of one-on-one offensive prowess.

“Coach said he’s going to play [those] who work hard and rookies who earn their spots,” Knox said. “This is different from summer league, but we’re trying to keep playing hard and keep doing what the coach wants us to do so he keeps us on the court as much as possible.”

“It kind of means a lot,” Robinson added. “When you get in there and put in hard work and you come out at the end, you get to start, that’s actually great. We’ve got a lot of vets on the team and for us to be rookies and just come in and start, it makes it kind of amazing.”

The one thing the Knicks rookies don’t have is hesitance to step into the spotlight.

“I’m so naive to the situation,” Trier said. “I’m just going to go out there and play hard and compete at a high level like I try to do every single night. My job is to go out here and play good basketball, try to help make winning plays for this team. That’s what I’m going to do whether I’m starting or coming off the bench. That doesn’t change my mindset or approach to the game.”