The New York Knicks are slowly building towards opening night as they are fresh off some strong preseason play. However, they are still not close to determining their starting five as head coach Derek Fisher continues to rotate players into the mix. An injury to Arron Afflalo could dictate things as the shooting guard continues to sit out in the preseason.
According to Fisher, while Affalo remains out with a hamstring injury, the Knicks are confident he can still be starter on opening night. The shooting guard is not expected to play for potentially the rest of the preseason, but Fisher still believes he is an option to start.
"He's doing a little bit more each day, but we're not really looking at Arron as day-to-day at this point," Fisher said, via the New York Post. "We're trending towards hopefully in the next week or so getting him back in a position where we can get him back on the floor in a game setting. Hamstrings are just very delicate injuries. It's one of the most difficult things to balance, in terms of how much is too much."
While Afflalo has been out, Sasha Vujacic has been getting more playing time. The shooting guard started against the Washington Wizards and put up nine points and five rebounds in the game. He will likely be the favorite should Affalo not be healthy enough to play. That appears to be fine with Carmelo Anthony who admitted that while he hated playing against Vujacic, he loves his spirit as a teammate.
"He was just one of them little dirty players, sneaky, grab your jersey, foul you after the play. He was speaking in his language, and I couldn't [understand him]. Now I understand what he was saying to me. It made me hate him even more back then," Anthony said, via the New York Post. "But having him on our team now I think is a big plus just knowing how feisty he is. And he's a vet, he knows how to play the game, he knows this system."
Vujacic is not the only player beginning to impress. Derrick Williams is finally making an impact. Right now, it would appear that Kristaps Porzingis is going to be the starter at power forward, but Williams is beginning to make an impression on the team. He had 23 points in the win against the Wizards. After signing a two-year, $9.5 million deal in the offseason, he likely did not expect to have a rookie take his place. Improvements like this could let him earn his spot back.
