New Knicks coach Fizdale already planning for Porzingis return
New York Knicks’ Kristaps Porzingis, center, celebrates with team mates during the first half of a NBA basketball game against Sacramento Kings at Madison Square Garden in New York. AP
The New York Knicks still don’t know when Kristaps Porzingis will return from a torn left knee ligament, but new coach David Fizdale already has plans for the tall, talented Latvian.
“It really is a luxury for me to have a guy that I can move around at different positions,” Fizdale told reporters at summer league practice in Las Vegas on Thursday.
“I just see a lot of places I can use him to be dynamic for us,” Fizdale said, according to Newsday.
Fizdale said he could play Porzingis at center, but could also use the 7-foot-3-inch Porzingis at small forward occasionally in a lineup that would give the Knicks “a whole bunch of wingspan.”
Fizdale said he would travel to Latvia after summer league play ends to get to know his star.
“He’s going to get tired of me but about two of those days over there we’re going to watch film in Latvia because I got so much stuff I’ve broken down and pulled,” Fizdale said.
“Stuff that Jeff (Hornacek) was already doing from the year before. Stuff that was similar where I can show him from his own film, ‘Hey I’m going to use you this way’ or ‘I’m going to use you this way.'”
“At least I have some visual examples.”
Fizdale, sacked by the Memphis Grizzlies last November, was hired by the Knicks in May after they missed the NBA playoffs for a fifth straight season.
He took over from Hornacek, who was fired at the conclusion of the Knicks 29-53 campaign.
Porzingis was already on the sidelines by then, after injuring his left knee when he landed after a dunk in a game against the Milwaukee Bucks in February.
He was averaging just under 23 points per game with 6.7 rebounds and 2.4 blocked shots and had been due to play in the All-Star Game.
