The New York Knicks once again made adjustments to their starting five, after head coach David Fizdale named Emmanuel Mudiay, Mario Hezonja, Noah Vonleh, Enes Kanter, and Tim Hardaway Jr. as their starters in their Tuesday night showdown against the Blazers.
The decision came as Fizdale wanted to turn things around early in the season.
Rookie Mitchell Robinson registered five fouls each in his past two outings, which is a big concern for the struggling Knicks.
The20-year-oldd center from Chalmette H.S. has been moved to the bench as he has been getting into early foul trouble that affected the rhythm of the team as per Ian Begley of ESPN.
David Fizdale says he removed Mitchell Robinson from the starting lineup for the foreseeable future because Robinson had been getting in early foul trouble, interrupting the rhythm of the group. https://t.co/KmUg2pRJ4n
— Ian Begley (@IanBegley) November 20, 2018
The Knicks have an abysmal start to their 2018-19 NBA campaign, having lost 13 of their first 17 games, and they rank 13th in the Eastern Conference right now, having lost five straight.
Currently, they have a five-year playoff drought and haven’t won more than 37 games in that span.
Fellow rookies, Allonzo Trier and Kevin Knox were also removed as starters as Fizdale wanted to try different a strategy.
David Fizdale will finally have the chance to start former Magic forward, Hezonja who is impressive from the bench this season with 9.2 points per game in 19.8 minutes per game.
Robinson had displayed flashes of his skills this season against the Nets, Wizards, and Mavericks. The latter of whom he tallied a double-double game in which he scored 13 points and grabbed 10 total boards.
But his benching could be the way he can improve his play and develop into a more mature contributor.
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