Derek Fisher sees plenty of value in the Knicks' learning "mindfulness techniques."

"I think it falls into the category of mental performance," Fisher said. "We've seen that evolve in professional sports in recent years, where instead of always focusing on improving your performance in just the muscles and the bodies and the shooting, there is a very big muscle up here that also needs training sometimes. And so mindful training, mental performance, we take it seriously."

Phil Jackson revealed Sunday that the Knicks have brought in an instructor to teach the team mindfulness, a form of meditation that stresses staying in the moment.

Amar'e Stoudemire said Monday that the Knicks met with an instructor during training camp to undergo mindfulness training. It is unclear how often the team will undergo training. But Stoudemire intimated it would continue during the season. The veteran thinks the Knicks can benefit from it.

"Everyone has thoughts that creep into their mind. But you want to make sure you eliminate those as quickly as you can," Stoudemire said. "It will definitely help, for sure. It just keeps you focused on the task at hand. It keeps you in tune. There's so many ups and downs throughout the game of basketball. Having awareness of your mind will definitely help."

Fish hopes start to solidify rotations Wednesday: Fisher said after Monday's game that he hopes to begin to determine his rotations and lineup after Tuesday's game against Philadelphia.

The Knicks have five days between games. Fisher hopes to use that time to meet with his coaching staff, assess what he's seen so far and make some lineup decisions.

Phil Jackson said he expects Jose Calderon and Samuel Dalembert to start alongside Carmelo Anthony. Starters at shooting guard and power forward are unclear at this point.

"We'll start to fine-tune it a little more with those final three games," he said.

Why no Amar'e? Fisher started Quincy Acy at power forward over Stoudemire for the second straight game Monday.

After announcing the lineup, Fisher made it clear his decision had nothing to do with Stoudemire. He said it was based on trying to get a better look at Acy.

"I think Amar’e’s going to do great," he said. "This is all new for our guys, so we’re trying to figure out in our frontcourt who works well offensively and defensively. So it’s not related to anything Amar’e hasn’t done or hasn’t shown."

Stoudemire, for what it's worth, struggled with his shot against Toronto. He went 2-for-9 but pulled down a team-high eight rebounds in 15 minutes.

Question: Do you think there is a benefit to the Knicks' mindfulness training?

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