New York Knicks head coach David Fizdale is loving his new job. He has a lot of love for his players, too, with the 44-year-old coach recently claiming that Knicks big man Enes Kanter could be in the running for this season's Sixth Man of the Year award.

Following Kanter's monster game on Monday night against the Chicago Bulls, Fizdale tried to justify his recent decision to relinquish Kanter's starting spot to promising rookie Mitchell Robinson. According to Fizdale, Kanter is “a guy that’s going to have his hat in the Sixth Man of the Year award,” per Mike Vaccaro of the New York Post.

It was a thrilling encounter in Madison Square Garden on Monday with the matchup between the Knicks and Bulls extending into double overtime before Chicago eventually took the 116-115 victory.

Enes Kanter was the Knicks' best player on the evening, scoring 23 points (8-14 FG, 7-8 FT) and grabbing a career-high 24 rebounds. His seven assists were also a career best for the 26-year-old.

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After five starts for Kanter to open the new season (the Knicks went 1-4 during that stretch), Fizdale decided to promote Robinson to the starting unit, sending the veteran to the bench. The move has not appeared to have had any effect on Enes Kanter in terms of his production, as the 6-foot-11 center is currently averaging 15.2 points, 12.4 rebounds, and 2.6 assists off the Knicks' bench.

Nevertheless, the Knicks have only won two and have lost four since the reshuffling, so it seems Fizdale still needs to do a bit more tinkering before the Knicks are able to make some noise in the East.