Derek Fisher's New York Knicks have a quiet confidence heading into the regular season. But that confidence comes with a caveat.
“You never know who you really are until you get punched in the mouth,” Fisher says. “When we get punched in the mouth, that's when we'll find out who we are.”
That first punch may come on Wednesday night, when the Knicks take on the Milwaukee Bucks in the season opener.
With the season upon us,
it's time to take a look at a few storylines worth keeping an eye on early in the year:
How does Carmelo Anthony look? Anthony looked healthy while playing 24 minutes a game in the preseason. Now that the games count, the Knicks will rely on him to play bigger minutes. How will his surgically-repaired left knee respond?
One trend to keep an eye on: In the preseason, nearly half of Anthony's attempts came in the mid-range. That rate should decrease now as Anthony begins to operate in the post more frequently.
What will the Knicks get from Kristaps Porzingis? For what it's worth, the rookie doesn't have any statistical goals in mind. “This is my rookie year. I'm just trying to find my game,” Porzingis says. “So the most important thing is to win games, get some wins, and then later on everything else will fall in place.”
The Knicks will start Porzingis at power forward early in the season, but they'd be wise to monitor his minutes.
The 20-year-old played two games per week in a 50-game season in Spain last year. So playing three to four games a week and 82 games over six months will be a challenge.
Porzingis says veterans have told him “not try to do everything in the first game and have the best game of my life and then get tired for the rest of the season.”
People will be fixated on Porzingis' scoring early on, but it's equally important to look at his rebounding numbers this season. The 7-foot-3 forward averaged six rebounds in 19 minutes per game in the preseason, much better than the four rebounds per 21 minutes he averaged last year for Sevilla.
What's behind the increase?
“Just having that mentality that you want to get every rebound possible,” Porzingis said.
Will the offense be better? The Knicks finished last season ranked 29th in offensive efficiency. They hope that some new personnel -- and a new approach -- can lead to better numbers this season.
As we noted earlier, New York finished 10th in pace in the preseason. (Pace measures plays per 48 minutes.) This is a departure from 2014-15, when the Knicks finished tied for 27th in pace.
Fisher seems pleased with the increased pace -- as long as it leads to more scoring.
“It's not just for the sake of running up and down, playing faster,” Fisher says. “I think there still has to be purpose to what you're doing. So it'll be important we're … trying to score before the defense gets set. But at the same time, trusting that if we don't we can cut hard and move hard, still have some pace even in the half court.”
What will Fisher do in Year 2? It will be interesting to see how Fisher handles a team with competent NBA players this season. In his first season on the bench, Fisher made some mistakes. But the roster was mostly awful. That isn't the case this season.
The Knicks now have players hand-picked by Phil Jackson, so the onus will be on Fisher to get this group to compete on a nightly basis. The coach says he feels more prepared for the job heading into Year 2.
“I understand a lot more -- although there are obviously coaches that understand a million times more than I do,” Fisher says. “…. I feel more comfortable in terms of the things that we need to focus on and be prepared for when the season starts.”
Tough start? The Knicks have an extremely difficult schedule early on. Eight of the Knicks' first ten games are against teams that made the playoffs in 2014-15.
“We're going to find out a lot about who we are now right from the start,” Fisher says.
The Knicks will get a break on Wednesday because O.J. Mayo (hamstring), Giannis Antetokounmpo (suspension) and Jabari Parker (knee) are out.
