New York Knicks: David Fizdale used first preseason game to show he is willing to experiment

The verdict had already been out on David Fizdale when the New York Knicks preseason started, that he was not going to just assign starting positions. He showed he is willing to experiment with his roster this season.

The New York Knicks opened their preseason with a thrilling overtime victory in DC against the Wizards.

Many things happened this game, but at the end of the night, it was all about experimenting. One of the best things about the David Fizdale hire is that you knew he was going to change things up.

He is going to get the most out of his players and figure out the best way to win. That is typical for all basketball, but the Knicks previously had a system.

Well, in the first preseason game Fizdale put out a starting five that was interesting.

There is a chance that this will be the starting five once the regular season begins later in the month, but there were also many players who came off the bench. Keep in mind how may “guards” the Knicks have.

Mitchell Robinson played a ton of minutes but didn’t start. He was the player of the game if you take into account style points.

But also notably missing from the starting five was Frank Ntilikina.

It is the preseason so to rush the best players into the starting five is not imperative. It is even reasonable to take the starting fives with a pinch of salt.

But, as the game progressed beyond the first few minutes, Fizdale dug deep to finish out this game.

Emmanuel Mudiay ended up playing a lot of minutes. Mario Hezonja saw some time and actually played great in small doses. He even contributed to an alley-oop to Robinson, which Knicks fan should start seeing more often by the way.

Allonzo Trier ended up being one of the leading scores for the Knicks in the game too.

So, the point of the game is not that almost everyone played. That happened, but it is the fact they all tried different things and were able to give a real sample size of what they can do.

David Fizdale is not content with just throwing out a specific lineup in a specific way, or what the status quo is.

He took one preseason game to already show he wants to try to get creative and see which lineup is going to work the best. Who will complement who well on the floor?

The Knicks are in a rebuilding season. Almost all of their talent still has to develop or work on a glaring flaw in their game.

That is why David Fizdale is going to and already showed that he is willing to experiment with his talent.

The regular season will be different and the games will start counting, but if the game vs the Wizards is any indication of how things will go, the Knicks could actually be fun to watch this year with the way Fizdale draws things up.

The lineups are going to be funky and we might see Mitchell Robinson on the floor at the same time as Kevin Knox, Trey Burke, and Hezonja.

Or Mudiay on the floor at the same time as Ntilikina

Either way, just trust if for now. The Knicks are trying to do this right and the lineup is far from set in stone, no matter how that makes people feel.

David Fizdale is already leaving a strong impression. He is committed to figuring things out the correct way, by making everyone earn and outplay each other for their roles.