PORTLAND – The circumstances surrounding the move were unfortunate, but Frank Ntilikina got finally got his first NBA start Tuesday against the Blazers.
Ntilikina replaced Courtney Lee at shooting guard after the veteran left the team because of a death in his family. Jeff Hornacek also made a change at power forward, benching the struggling Michael Beasley for Lance Thomas.
"We're looking at the defensive end," Hornacek said. "Trying to pick that up."
Ntilikina, 19, said during the All-Star break that one of his goals were to break the starting lineup but the Knicks chose instead to start Emmanuel Mudiay at point guard. As a result, Ntilikina had been playing largely as a backup shooting guard.
It is probably his position of the future, even though the Knicks drafted him as a point guard.
Frank Ntilikina started at shooting guard Tuesday night.
(Claus Andersen/Getty Images)"I think just because of his size - can he be a guy going down the road the next three or four years with strength with the way this league is going, can he play the 3-man, can he guard a 4?" Hornacek said. "He's got the versatility and the size and the length. Once he gets that strength he's going to be a heck of a weapon to try to switch on different guys, play different games with. He's proven already that he can guard 2s."
The Beasley benching was also expected. Always a liability on defense, he'd been also struggling offensively while blaming everybody but himself. Ona Monday, Beasley said about his issues, "I don't call the plays," and hinted that Mudiay and Trey Burke aren't looking for him enough.
Beasley, who'll be a free agent this summer, had started 10 consecutive games but was benched after missing 25 of his last 37 shots. More importantly, he had been lagging significantly on defense.
Thomas is a defensive specialist with a very limited offensive game.
Frank Ntilikina.
(Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE/Getty Images)"Just fixing it up," Hornacek said.
Ntilikina had a difficult first test in trying to stop one of the NBA's best shooting guards in CJ McCollum, who was averaging over 21.6 points before Tuesday. But defense isn't Ntilkina's issue.
If he's going to play off the ball, Ntilikina needs to start knocking down open looks - specifically 3-pointers - and was averaging just 5.5 points while shooting just 35 percent (and 32 percent from beyond the arc.
Hornacek has not lost faith.
"He's 19 years old in this NBA game," the coach said. I can probably look back and I didn't shoot well my first year (28 percent on 3-pointers). He's got the length to shoot over guys. So he's going to be just fine. He's got to go back in the summer and continue working. He's going to be a dynamite shooter."