In an effort to revitalize the winning culture of the club, New York Knicks head coach David Fizdale brought in legend Bernard King and wants him to build a bond with top rookie Kevin Knox.
As reported by Marc Berman of the New York Post, Fizdale brought in the 61-year-old King during the Knicks' shootaround at the Atlanta’s State Farm Arena. King, who was considered one of the league's premier offensive talents in the '80s, addressed the whole team in terms of pregame preparation. Fizdale wants King to be some sort of mentor to Knox, who's being groomed to be the team's future star:
“I really want to build a relationship with he and Kevin,” Fizdale said. “No one can talk about scoring and preparing and having a game built for certain areas of the floor better than Bernard King. And he’s ours, so I’m going to use him the best I can. You can see they’re over there talking now as we speak. I just think he’s going to be a great influence on Kevin.”
Knox, who's coming off a 16-day absence due to an ankle injury, shared what the Knicks legend told him. King, who averaged as much as 32.9 points per game, told Knox to keep playing hard every game. King seems to be familiar with the 19-year-old's style of play:
“He told me to work on, before the game, visualizing myself performing,” Knox said. “He said it helped [him] a lot throughout his career. He told me about certain spots on the floor that I like and said just get there, keep shooting, keep playing hard and eventually it will come.”
Kevin Knox struggled in Atlanta, failing to score a single point while missing all six shots from the field. However, the Knicks pulled out a 112-107 victory.
Follow Us
Subscribe