During the first three games with the New York Knicks this season, Dennis Smith Jr. is just averaging 1.0 points, 0.3 rebounds, 1.0 assists, 9.1 percent from the field. It has been a rough start to the 2019-20 season for Dennis Smith Jr., who suffered a back injury during the preseason and hasn’t regained his form.
In Saturday’s 118-95 loss to the Boston Celtics, Smith went 0-3 in 11 minutes, and he has missed 24-28 shot attempts since the preseason. Knicks coach David Fizdale believes Smith is overthinking things.
“It seems like he’s overthinking it. And he’s pressing,” David Fizdale said. “It’s funny how it works when you work on something so much, and it doesn’t click for you right away how that can get to you. But he’ll keep working at it and getting better at it.”
The Knicks Fans, however, booed Smith Jr. and was chanting we want Frank as in Frank Ntilikina, who only played in 18 seconds of Saturday’s game per the New York Daily News’ Stefan Bondy.
Smith was asked about the reaction towards him from the Knicks crowd.
“All we got is us in this locker room,” Smith Jr. said. “That’s what we’ve got to focus on.”
Wizards guard Isaiah Thomas thinks the Knicks are putting Smith Jr. in a position to fail. On Saturday evening, Thomas tweeted, “What do you expect from somebody playing those minutes??? They put you in a position to fail, smh.”
What do you expect from somebody playing those minutes?? They put you in position to fail smh https://t.co/fu0Boc977C
— Isaiah Thomas (@isaiahthomas) October 28, 2019
According to multiple reports, the reason why Smith has not been himself because of the death of his stepmother. Smith will not play in Monday’s game against the Chicago Bulls and could miss some time. The Knicks are 0-3 thus far on the young season and are looking to get their first win against the Bulls on Monday night.
