The New York Knicks roster is essentially set. At this point in training camp, a trade is not going to happen. Phil Jackson did everything he could to improve the roster with the little working room he had and now head coach Derek Fisher is tasked with figuring out the perfect starting five. Last season, that unit changed almost every game under Mike Woodson. Fisher does not intend on taking the same route making the task a bit more difficult.
Carmelo Anthony and Jose Calderon are already penciled into the starting five. However, after them it is a real toss up. The Knicks have three big men and slew of shooting guards that could start on the court. Fisher notes that his biggest thing is consistency.
"I do believe in having consistency in your starting lineup," Fisher said, via ESPNNewYork.com. "... It's my belief that players respond better to consistency. So hopefully we'll be able to keep it that way once we settle into it and that we can remain relatively healthy, which is always the key to having a consistent starting rotation."
The Knicks take the court for the first time on Wednesday night and Fisher is staying quiet on who will be the starting five. The biggest question marks are in regards to the shooting guard position where Iman Shumpert, JR Smith and Tim Hardaway Jr are competing for time on the court. According to Nate Duncan of BasketballInsiders.com, Shumpert could have the upper hand. The young guard is the better defender of the group with enough athleticism to move around on the court. Considering the smaller size of the Knicks lineup, starting Shumpert for help on defense might be the best move. Fisher notes all cards are on the table.
It's still somewhat open, not because I'm still debating it; we haven't had our final meeting as coaches this evening [yet]," Fisher said. "We've mixed the groups up a lot during this first week. We have an idea, but we'll make some decisions this evening and then hopefully by the time we come to shootaround, we'll be able to inform the guys so they can prepare themselves and get the right mentality."
If practice was the ultimate judge of who the starting lineup will be, Calderon, Anthony, Andrea Bargnani, Samuel Dalembert and Smith would be on the court first. They were running as the starters during a media practice session. Part of that could be injury related as Hardaway Jr, Shumpert and Amar'e Stoudemire were limited. Fisher is confident that anyone on the team could potentially be starters, it is more about finding the right chemistry.
