Head coach David Fizdale has explored numerous lineups for the New York Knicks. There hasn’t been anything substantial since he took over. He continues to try and find what players work best with each other, and it’s been difficult.
There has been a lot of incomplete lineups whose weaknesses ruin the flow of certain lineups and even games. The most significant flow stopper was, still, in the Orlando Magic game. Fizdale subbed in Morris for Knox, who had the hot hand, and it changes the whole rhythm for the Knicks, ultimately taking another loss.
With that being said, one lineup change that fans should hope for is starting Kevin Knox over Marcus Morris. The Knicks need to be more focused on developing Knox. He has shown signs of progression through this style of play and shooting thus far. Knox shot the ball well in Detroit, 5-7 from the field with 2-3 beyond the arc. His shot looks confident and should get him more minutes. Knox is currently shooting 43.9% from the floor for this season.
The area of concern for taking Morris out of the starting lineup would be his attitude. Morris is a fiery player that will command to play more, especially with his contract, 15 million for one season. Fizdale could start him for 4-5 minutes then sub in Knox to get him more minutes since Morris isn’t in the Knicks future plans.
By switching out Knox for Morris, the Knicks can also tackle another team issue. Ball hogging between Julius Randle and Morris. The two can’t play with each other. They both are ball-dominant players that command one-on-one situations. That hurts the Knicks more as they aren’t used to playing with each other at this time.
Randle should play more at the center position. That would help with the floor spacing and create more plays for the offense to run as compared to one-on-one. Fizdale should find the happy medium with rotating Randle, Mitchell Robinson, and Bobby Portis at center.
Fizdale knows how tough it is to figure out the starting lineup or lineups in general. Finding what players work best with each other is the hardest part of his job, and with eight new players, it can’t be easy. The Knicks and Fizdale need to figure out the lineup situation quick before the already restless fans get even more worried.