When Frank Ntilikina was selected eighth overall in June's draft, many expected him to be the undisputed starting point guard of the New York Knicks. However, that has not been the case so far as he continues to come off the bench and is only averaging 21.4 minutes of playing time per contest.
Head coach Jeff Hornacek was asked why Ntilikina has been stuck in the second unit, and he explained that Jarrett Jack's solid play with the starters has been a factor to it. He also added, via John Healy of New York News Daily, that he thinks the rookie will get better as the season progresses.
“Sometimes it's who meshes well with what group,” Hornacek said. “Frank is meshing well with our second group, Jarrett (Jack)'s meshing well with the first group. We see times when they do mesh with other group and it's not so comfortable. It's Frank's continued work. He's learning the teams in this league, the guys in this league, he's going to get better as the season goes on.”
“When it gets to the point where we say let's try and get him 30 minutes a game that's maybe a time when you have to look at a start just because the first group usually plays the first six minutes of the game. If you do that the first and second half that only leaves 36 minutes to go. We want to, at times, give him more minutes. Especially this road trip. He's a young guy and playing a lot of games down the road, and that's something he's going to have to adjust to, also, but I think he'll be able to do that and maybe that's when we'll rest some of the older guys, like Jarret a little bit, lower his minutes a little bit and he'll play some more.”
Through 33 games, Frank Ntilikina is averaging 6.0 points, 2.3 rebounds, 3.5 assists, and 1.3 steals nightly. He has shown glimpses of his true potential during some stretches and is developing into the player they've wanted him to be. The belief his coach has on him will definitely help in the long run.
If Frank Ntilikina continues his growth and becomes more mature as he gets more games under his belt, he could be a huge part of their future plans. With Kristaps Porzingis still very young, coupled with some moves the Knicks are expected to make in the coming seasons, the 19-year-old could turn out to be one of the most important players in their roster.
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