LAS VEGAS – David Fizdale wants there to be dogfights for every starting spot on the Knicks.
He’s not even granting nods to the obvious candidates – Tim Hardaway Jr. and Enes Kanter.
“I’m going to let them clash over it,” the coach said. “Because I don’t know what’s going to be best for this group right now because I don’t want to guarantee anybody anything because it totally contradicts the culture. Everything is about, ‘You keep what you kill.’
“I want them to go out with a killer attitude and go into training camp trying to earn anything.”
With Ntilikina, Fizdale said his greatest challenge is instilling aggression, or somehow extracting the Frenchman’s passive nature. Ntilikina averaged just 5.9 points on 36 percent shooting as a rookie.
“He’s such an unselfish kid. He wants to please everyone,” said Fizdale, who watched videos of practice with Ntilkina over breakfast Wednesday morning. “The system will help him. The film work will help him. The drill work will help. Me constantly showing him here’s an opportunity, here’s an opportunity, here’s an opportunity. You’d be surprised when we go back through the film, even he wasn’t aware of times when he just came down and just passed it. And he’s looking at an ocean of paint in front of him where he can go attack. That’s just his nature. I showed him a little thing and he goes, ‘I’m just giving up the ball for no reason.’ I’m like, “I’m just going to keep showing it to you.’ Over reps and time, habits will break. New habits will form.”
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