The Knicks surrounded their guest lecturer on the practice court Thursday, and David Fizdale only can hope what Ben Wallace had to say resonated with his team.

Wallace was a member of a “no-stars” Pistons team that won the NBA championship in 2004 over the Lakers and lost in the Finals the following year to the Spurs.

Though no one expects the Knicks to even come close to matching such accomplishments this season, that certainly is the all-for-one mindset Fizdale wants his players to adopt and embrace. Knicks general manager Scott Perry also was a member of the Detroit front office that season.

“Man, I want this team to embody that kind of identity: toughness, the will to win, competitiveness, the defensive mindset, the team mindset,” Fizdale said ahead of Friday’s preseason game against the Wizards at the Garden. “(Wallace) was one of the most selfless players in the league. He spoke to our guys today.

“It was extremely powerful what he talked about, his experience and how he sees a lot of similarity to what we’re doing to how they built it in Detroit.”

Big Ben was a four-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year and four-time All-Star during a 16-year NBA career. The selfless big man even was a finalist for the Basketball Hall of Fame this year, despite a career scoring average of just 5.7 points per game.

But under coach Larry Brown with Detroit, Wallace combined with a core of Chauncey Billups, Richard Hamilton, Rasheed Wallace and rookie Tayshaun Prince to upend Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal and the Phil Jackson-coached Lakers in five games in the 2004 NBA Finals.

“No stars. You aren’t a team of superstars. You gotta be a team,” Fizdale said. “You look at that Detroit team: Chauncey Billups had bounced around five teams, Rip [Hamilton] had been two or three teams, ‘Sheed, himself. Tayshaun was the only one who was drafted in Detroit.

“[Wallace] talked about everybody being willing to sacrifice and contribute to the team from the standpoint it could be someone different every night.”

Julius Randle, the 24-year-old power forward signed to a three-year contract worth $63 million with the Knicks in July, believes what Wallace preached about defensive and team concepts clicked with his teammates.

“It should. … That guy has done everything that we want to do as players. From the team standpoint, individual standpoint, the success he had. If you’re not listening, it’s foolish,” Randle said. “We knew from the beginning when this team was built, when Scott and [team president] Steve [Mills] put this team together, that it was built on being a team, being a deep team one-through-five, and playing hard.

“We knew that was a strength of our team: how many guys that can come in and contribute. That’s what it is, man. We have a bunch of guys who can come in and contribute and buy into what Fiz is saying. If we do that, we’ll be fine.”

With that in mind, Randle and veteran forward Taj Gibson stressed that the Knicks aren’t paying attention to outside projections for their win total this season. FiveThirtyEight has predicted them to finish 25-57, while BetOnline.com has set an over-under at 27.5.

“Being a Knick alone you kind of see getting criticized every day, everywhere you go. We just believe in what we’ve got going here, we got a great group of guys, a great, hungry group of guys,” Gibson said.

“I don’t give a damn, bro, I’m not going to lie to you,” Randle added. “I don’t know what they got us projected at, I don’t know what they got us projected at in the East. Does it really matter? I’m self-motivated. I’m not really worried about what somebody else has to say. This is my sixth year in the league. Somebody done had something to say about me every single year, something about my team every single year.

“And at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter. You’ve got to go out and make whatever you want happen. You can say what you want, but at the end of the day, if you win a damn championship, what are they going to say? It doesn’t matter.”