ORLANDO, Fla. _ The Knicks return home after a three-game road trip and will have a chance to reunite with Kristaps Porzingis. But despite Porzingis' claims to GQ.com that he is closing in on a return, the Knicks don't expect him on the floor anytime soon.
Porzingis told the website, "I'm already doing some contact drills, and things where I'm competing against somebody. It's good that it's coming to an end." But Knicks coach David Fizdale said he hasn't seen anything hinting that he'll be doing contact with the team in practice.
"I don't think so, no. I don't think it's at that place," Fizdale said. "At some point I would think. I know he's feeling better, obviously his progress. We're all excited about every step he takes forward. The trainers are keeping me in the loop as much as possible while letting me focus at the same time so I don't get my hopes up for 'Taps too soon.
"But hopefully the sooner the better. We're still going to stay with the idea that until it feels 100 percent to he and I, to he and the Knicks, that we're not going to put him in jeopardy to get hurt again. We want to do it the right way by him and also the best thing for our team."
Fizdale said if there have been contract drills it has been, "Just in the rehab sessions, the treatment sessions. But not with us. He's not here with us, not yet, no, no, no. Just with our trainers and the people that's rehabbing him and starting to push on him." Asked if he could begin to join in practice soon, Fizdale added, "Nothing that I've heard that would give me the indication that he's back that soon."
