David Fizdale seeking teachable moments for young players
Coach David Fizdale said he has not had any feedback from the Knicks' front office on the starting lineup so far. Credit: Jim McIsaac
BOSTON – If the Knicks were a person right now, they’d be a gawky adolescent, all elbows and knees – not quite a kid, but still very far from the adult they’re supposed to become. It’s awkward. Sometimes it’s painful. And, David Fizdale said, the only way past it is through it, and that takes time.
Fizdale said Wednesday that his young team is still a few weeks away from establishing a firm identity, and until then, they’ll use the next eight to 10 games as part training tutorial, part fact-finding mission. It worked just fine Wednesday night, thanks to an unexpected 117-109 win over the Celtics, but it won’t always be this way.
“I think we have so many young guys and we’re trying to figure out who can do what, whose strengths are what, whose weaknesses are what -- the suffering that comes with that because you’re doing it while you’re losing and figuring it all out,” he said. “We understand that the suffering is part of it and we’re just trying to get to know these guys. And hopefully in the next week or two we can start to get to know them a little bit better and start settling in and maybe that will help us.”
Wednesday marked a rare flash of consistency for the Knicks, who used the same lineup as the night before – the one devoid of rookies. Prior to this, Fizdale used six different lineups in the last eight games; this time, he decided that his team’s gutsy performance Tuesday in a loss to the Trail Blazers deserved a second look. The rookie tutorial is far from over, though, and there’s plenty of work to do.
“I think once we can really get them comfortable with who they’re going to be and sliding them into their roles, I think the basic understanding [will come] of how to be calm under pressure and poised and trusting your teammates,” Fizdale said of the young players. “If a guy is open, move the ball. Things like that. If a guy gets beat, help him. Little stuff like that – the details of the game they’ll start picking up.”
Laura Albanese is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. She's been covering MLB since 2014 after starting at Newsday as an intern seven years earlier.
