If New York Knicks players want to be atop the pecking order of their respective positions, they will have to prove they deserve to be so this offseason. New Knicks head coach David Fizdale does not seem to care about the team's performances from last season and would rather judge his wards and their capacity to be a starter based on how the players approach their preparation for the upcoming 2018-19 campaign.

Via Marc Berman of The New York Post:

“I’m not even going to touch it yet,’’ Fizdale said. “I’m going to let them clash over it. Because I don’t know what’s going to be best for this group right now, because I don’t want to guarantee anybody anything because it totally contradicts the culture. Everything is about you keep what you kill. I want them to go out with a killer attitude and go into training camp trying to earn anything.”

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Among the Knicks’ top holdovers from last season (at least for now, as the team might make some trades) are Enes Kanter, Courtney Lee, and Tim Hardaway Jr. who are top three remaining Knicks from 2017-18 in terms of starts. Kanter led the team with 71 starts out of his 71 game appearances in 2017-18.

Although David Fizdale likes to paint a picture of uncertainty in the starting lineup, perhaps just to light a fire underneath his players, Kanter is probably a lock to get his status as a starter back, considering the current center rotation of the Knicks. Joakim Noah is never going to be Joakim Noah again, and while Luke Kornet flashed some brilliance last season, he’s still far from Kanter’s level.

In any case, this offseason will be an interesting one for New York, which finished last season with a 29-53 record.