Knicks president says patience remains the plan

In the event fans of New York basketball haven't waited long enough, Knicks president Steve Mills said the team only needs to be a little more patient before expecting great things.

The Knicks last won an NBA title 45 years ago. They haven't made a Finals since 1999, when they lost to the San Antonio Spurs.

But they hired a new coach in David Fizdale and are feeling good. It will just take some (more) time, Mills suggested.

"I believe fans will accept a team that has a plan and you stick with it and if you deliver players, you do have some hope,” Mills told Newsday. “... We think we have something we can see is different as long as we have the patience to stick to it.”

The Knicks will first need to wait on young, rising forward Kristaps Porzingis to return from an ACL tear. There have been reports that he may not be back until the New Year, or even considerably later.

They will also be hoping recent lottery picks Frank Ntilikina (2017) and Kevin Knox (2018) come around quickly.

“We just come in with the approach that we want to see our guys compete every night, create an environment where they know this is a place where we expect competitors to be here,” Mills told Newsday. “We expect our team to play hard every night, compete every night, win as many games as we can win, and play in a way that gets Knicks fans excited about what we’re doing and the guys that we have on the team.

"So we come into it, we don’t know what the season -- we don’t know what’s ahead of us other than we’re going to go out and try to win as many games as we possibly can."