• In a move that was long telegraphed and perhaps even longer overdue, the Knicks decided to relieve David Fizdale of his coaching duties on December 6.

    Assistant Mike Miller took over in an interim role after lengthy stints in the NCAA as the head coach at Texas State and Eastern Illinois, though he rose through the ranks in the Knicks organization as the team’s G League coach. Following four seasons with the Westchester Knicks, including a Coach of the Year win in 2017-18, Miller was added to the Knicks’ staff as an assistant this season.

    Since taking over, the Knicks have compiled a modest 3-5 record, though that’s a big step forward from the 4-18 mark that the team racked up under Fizdale. Among those games are a one-point loss to the Pacers, a 23-point shellacking of the Hawks and a six-point defeat against Denver. Under Miller’s watch, in an admittedly small sample, the Knicks sit 21st in the league with a net rating of minus-4.9 – nothing game-changing, but again, a definite improvement over the dead-last figure of minus-10.9 that the Knicks were posting under Fizdale’s watch.

    Despite the encouraging signs, it’s just too early to conclude anything significant about Miller’s impact on the Knicks as a whole. One thing we can do, however, is look at the changes he’s made to the team’s rotation. Fizdale was notorious for making sweeping changes at the drop of a hat, and a player’s role on one night had almost nothing to do with his role on the next. Allonzo Trier of all people started at point guard on opening night, played seven minutes and was never subbed back in and has been mostly out of the rotation all season.

    There have been less of those shenanigans so far, but in looking at the Knicks’ eight games under Miller, it’s clear that one player is trending up.

    The big winner so far is Mitchell Robinson, who has only once played less than 25 minutes under Miller, a game in which he fouled out. That has always been Robinson’s issue and it’s something the Fizdale would use as an excuse not to play him, citing foul trouble early and often. That’s all well and good, but planning to limit a player before the game even begins is essentially starting him with foul trouble – it’s not an issue until the fouls are actually on the board. In any case, Robinson is averaging 3.6 fouls per game under Miller, the same mark he had while playing for Fizdale in less time. It remains to be seen if he can sort that out.

    On the flip side, Frank Ntilikina is the clear-cut loser so far, though his situation comes with the caveat that a handful of his games under Fizdale came when both Dennis Smith Jr. and Elfrid Payton were out of the lineup. It’s a bit dispiriting that Ntilikina, who was just moved to the bench on Saturday, is not getting the sort of run that a team like the Knicks should be giving to a player that’s still developing, but at this point it should not come as a major surprise considering New York’s willingness to add other guards to the mix.

    As for Payton, his minutes are trending up, and his slightly lower average is due to some limited runs in the wake of his return from a lengthy hamstring injury. He’s shaping up as the big winner after Robinson, though it’s likely that he’d be much higher on the Fizdale list had he not been hurt early in the year.

    It looks as though the Knicks are ready to move on from Smith, who picked up two DNP-CDs and missed a game with an illness under Miller’s watch.

    Marcus Morris has also seen his minutes dip despite being the Knicks’ only consistently effective player this season, though that shouldn’t come as a surprise given the likelihood that the Knicks attempt to trade the impending UFA at the deadline. There’s no need for Morris to be run into the ground, especially if the Knicks want to explore the trade market.

    On a similar note, keep an eye on the minutes for RJ Barrett, who was subjected to some heavy workloads and insane philosophy under the Fizdale tenure:

    That came at a point when Barrett was averaging 37 minutes per game, and though his playing time was decreased to more manageable levels, the organization should not want Barrett to be on the playing time leaderboard. He should be getting plenty of run, but there’s no need for him to be utilized like that, in games like that, especially with such a cavalier attitude toward a practice that’s meant to provide long-term benefits.

    Only time will tell if the Knicks’ apparent improvement under Miller is a legitimate step forward or a mirage. In the meantime, it’s clear that Mitchell Robinson is getting more room to operate, while the rest of the roster still has plenty to prove.

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