New York Knicks rookie Kevin Knox faced his first taste of adversity in an erratic outing against the Washington Wizards on Monday night, putting up nine points and five rebounds, coupled with a team-high five turnovers. Head coach David Fizdale attributed it to growing pains from a rookie of his ilk, trying to fire into every cylinder and doing poorly so.
Asked what led to such erratic performance? Fizdale summed it up rather easily:
“Thinking. Trying to be perfect. That always happens to high draft picks,” said Fizdale, according to ESPN's Ian Begley. “They just want to please everybody and do everything right. When you start playing like that, you usually make mistakes. We've just got to get him back into a reckless mode where he's not worried about pleasing anybody or trying to be perfect.”
Knox will have a huge opportunity ahead of him with Kristaps Porzingis out of commission for the near future and ample playing time to shine through. The Knicks are devoted to growing through their young players and Fizdale will quickly unchain the rookie, hoping he showcases as much of his potential as possible during his first season.
Doing so will exhibit Knox's innate scoring talent, but also plenty of weaknesses that he will address during and after the 2018-19 season in hopes to become well-rounded.
While Knox is doing the sensible thing by trying to play under control, he's in a position where his team is hoping he can be unleashed and playing to his heart's content to tap into his scoring talents.
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