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D'Antoni Still Confused, Considering Starting Fields At SG For The Season Opener

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Mike D'Antoni wouldn't commit to a starting lineup Sunday after practice in Greenburgh, but did admit that rookie Landry Fields has a shot of being his starting shooting guard when the Knicks open the season Wednesday in Toronto.

"He could be everywhere from starting to coming in and playing significant minutes," D'Antoni said of Fields. "He is a rookie, so a lot of it is still unknown. But I'm very comfortable with playing him. The thing about him is that he doesn't need the ball to do a lot of stuff. When you have guys like Amar'e (Stoudemire) and different guys you want the ball going to, then you've got to have other guys to be the 'glue' guys. He exemplifies that pretty well."

"I haven't talked to everybody yet and I'm still weighing certain things," D'Antoni said of his plans. "Come Tuesday, we'll know, more or less."

The idea of seeing Fields in the starting rotation didn't come as a surprise to Stoudemire, who will lead the Knicks into Boston on Friday before they make their home debut in the Garden Saturday night against Portland.

"He's a smart player and he played great in college and he's done great in preseason," he said. "Defending guys is going to be tough for him, as it is for any player coming out of college, because the speed of the guys in the league now is incredible. It might catch him off guard."

Via Mitch Lawrence, full article (here)

It's good to see that D'Antoni is seriously thinking this through and being smart about it. The shooting guard dilemma has plagued us for quite some time and will continue to do so until Kelenna Azubuike is ready to play. First it was Wilson Chandler who was going to start at the 2, then Toney Douglas was added to the mix and now Landry Fields. This is more exciting then the Lebron sweepstakes... Sorry Shy-smiley-17312_medium