Slash Line: .492/.333/.714
Week 6 Averages: 16.3 PPG, 3.3 RPG, 3.0 APG, 1.3 SPG, 0.5 BPG, 1.5 3PM, 47.8 percent shooting
Season Averages: 11.1 PPG, 3.0 RPG, 2.4 APG, 1.1 SPG, 0.6 BPG, 0.9 3PM
Aside from Fizdale, no one expected this from Mudiay. His previous three seasons cast the “bust” label, as he was once a top-10 pick in the 2015 NBA Draft. Even a half-year run with the New York Knicks in 2017-18 furthered this.
Well, under a new coaching staff, Mudiay has dazzled. He has a current career-high in field goal percentage, three-point field goal percentage, points, steals and blocks.
It’s only through 14 games, but Mudiay looks locked in as the point guard of not just the latest starting lineup, but a run that lasts into the winter, especially with what he did against New Orleans.
In the 22-year-old’s best game as a Knick, he had 27 points, seven rebounds, two assists and four steals on 10-for-20 shooting. That featured 15 points in the fourth quarter to push the team forward.
Fizdale has confidence in Mudiay to succeed, as he told Marc Berman of The New York Post. It’s as a “coach” on the floor to call plays, rather than taking signals from the sideline:
"“He’s giving me freedom to call the plays, which is pretty fun,’’ Mudiay said at Saturday’s practice before the team left for Memphis. “He always tells me to be a coach on the court. That’s one thing I’m trying to grow in. When I see Enes [Kanter] has got it going in the post, I’ll try to call a play for him instead of calling a play for someone else. Enes is the one [that’s] got it going, so go in there.”"
With the starting job his, will Mudiay continue his success into the seventh week of the season?