J-Speaks: Knicks' New Head Coach

For nearly 7 ½ years, ESPN color analyst Jeff Van Gundy was the head coach of the New York Knicks from the 1995-96 NBA campaign to the early part of the 2001-02. It was during this time the Knicks had their most success with an NBA Finals appearance in 1999, where they lost to the now five-time champion San Antonio Spurs and an appearance in the Eastern Conference Finals one year later, losing to the Pacers in six games. Since his resignation 17 years ago, the Knicks have gone through 10 different head coaches with only one Atlantic Division title, four playoff appearances and nine seasons of 50 losses or more, which includes the last four seasons in succession. The organization hopes their latest hire will be the one that plots their course into becoming a winner again. 

On Monday, the Knicks hired former Memphis Grizzlies head coach and longtime assistant with the Miami Heat David Fizdale as the 29^th head coach in franchise history, who said at the start of this week that his hope is to “build the type of winning team the passionate fans of New York will be proud of.”

The announcement was made officially on Monday after the two sides agreed to terms the last week on a four-year deal according to ESPN. Fizdale will be the 11^th head coach the Orange, White and Blue squad from the “Big Apple” has had in the last 16 seasons

“To have an opportunity not to just coach for this franchise, but to be part of a rebuild that gets this place back to long-term winning, I couldn’t pass that up,” Fizdale said at his introductory press conference on Tuesday on why he decided to take the job. “I just feel like I don’t want to look back on my life and say, ‘I didn’t take this chance.’”

Fizdale replaced Jeff Hornacek, who was relieved as the team head coach just hours after the Knicks (29-53) 110-98 victory at the three-time defending Eastern Conference champion Cleveland Cavaliers back on Apr. 11. Hornacek was 60-104 in his two seasons as the Knicks head man on the sidelines. 

Over the past 10-plus years, the Knicks since the resignation of Van Gundy have made splashy head coaching and front office hires like Hall of Famers Lenny Wilkens, Larry Brown, Isiah Thomas and most recently Phil Jackson. All those hires as said earlier have gone down in flames. 

The hiring of Fizdale represents a different approach and a different feel as the Knicks led by president Steve Mills and general manager Scott Perry emphasized on Tuesday. They are not looking for a quick way back to prominence. They both said that owner James Dolan, who has not been the most popular executive with Knicks fans in recent years is fully committed to a long-term approach to a building a team that can consistently be a playoff perennial. 

“We have a commitment from Jim Dolan to not skip steps,” Mills said. 

An important part of that rise back to respectably to start was the hire of Fizdale, who was 50-51 in his season and-a-half with the Grizzlies, leading them to the postseason in his only full campaign the season prior before getting the axe 19 games into this past regular season after clashing with All-Star center Marc Gasol. 

Despite that untimely ending, Mills and Perry made it clear that they saw in Fizdale as the right coach for them. He to them is a person who embraces the modern-day style of the NBA of “pace and space,” where a team shoots and makes an abundance of three-pointers, while making a commitment to the defensive end. 

Fizdale also said that he learned a lot from his experience in Memphis and will be a better coach in New York. 

“I just feel like when I went in there I saw a team hitting that point in age, there window is shrinking-I probably went in there a little too much guns blazing, push and push and push and push them. I didn’t let certain things grow organically and just let it happen through the way we structured things,” he said. 

Mills and Perry also pointed out that of the 11 candidates search for the next head coach, Fizdale was a great communicator and a coach who believes strongly in player development. Also, that he had a great “pedigree” having been an assistant for eight seasons on the Heat under former head coach and current team president Pat Riley and head coach Erik Spoelstra.

The best example of how much respect he has across the league was when Fizdale was fired by the Grizzlies, superstars like LeBron James, and Dwyane Wade, who he coached during the Heat’s four straight Finals appearances and two straight championship victories in 2012 and 2013 came to his defense of how great of a coach he was and how the Grizzlies will regret letting firing him. They among many others reached out, called, and sent text messages to him to make sure as Fizdale said on Tuesday that he “was coming out of the house.”

“We believe that experience will help lead our group of players in the right direction, so we can build sustainable growth here,” Perry said about Fizdale’s ability to communicate with the likes of stars like James and Wade in his time with the Heat and with Gasol and Mike Conley with the Grizzlies.

While the hire of Fizdale brings a sense of optimism that has been lacking in New York the past few seasons, the bigger question is what took the organization so long to reach this point where they stopped going for the quick fix to get them back on track? 

Mills said that he and organization have seen how things can go left very quickly when you do not take the time to see things through with the hires they have made and how this time around they will see things through, keeping the bigger picture in mind. 

“We’re about wins, but we’re about creating something where we can win for a sustained period of time. We’ve seen a lot of shortcuts and swinging for the fences, trying to hit a home run all the time…We’re going to build this thing through defense and accountability, and we’re going to stay true to that.” 

As the Knicks have come to the understand how to build themselves back into a winner, Fizdale in making a choice of where he wanted to coach when the next opportunity presented itself, he chose a team that despite having a huge hill to climb to get back to respectability has some upside to it. 

Fizdale, who had spent the remainder of this season as an analyst for ESPN, making appearances on NBA Countdown and on “NBA: The Jump,” hosted by Rachel Nichols had a number of options, but was drawn to the Knicks by the essence that Madison Square Garden and the challenge of building a team from the ground up. 

In attendance for his introductory press conference, Fizdale had his mother, wife and other family members and he said, “I used to tell my mom I was going to play in the Mecca; I said I was going to play in the Garden when I was a little kid. I didn’t get to do that. But I’m going to coach here.”

“The history of the Knicks, I don’t take that lightly. I really take a lot of pride of in that. I will carry that. I will roll up my sleeves and work really hard to rebuild this culture. It’s a great opportunity to build basketball success that will eventually pay off when we hold that [championship] trophy.”

The one good thing that the Fizdale has with this new opportunity is a franchise player in Kristaps Porzingis, who is recovering from a torn ACL, and according to Dolan may not even be back on the court for the 2018-19 season. 

That among many things is why Fizdale and the Knicks front office emphasized patience will be very key in them rebuilding themselves into a consistent winner. 

When Porzingis gets back on the hardwood, Fizdale made it clear that building the Knicks around a player that fits the modern-day style that Gasol had his reservations of changing his offensive style of playing down low in the post. 

“I’m a fresh start for him,” Fizdale said to Madison Square Garden Network of about coaching Porzingis, who he plans to visit in Latvia soon. “I really feel like I’m going to make a great connection with him and his family. And we’re going to build something special around him that he feels great about.”

Along with Porzingis, two other players that will a huge part of the Knicks future are Tim Hardaway, Jr., and Frank Ntilikina, who Fizdale said to Jalen Rose and Michelle Beadle on ESPN, “Get Up,” earlier this week that he can be one of the best two-way players in the league.

“The kid takes real pride in defending,” Fizdale said of Ntilikina. “He’s got big time wingspan. He’s a combo guard. I think we can get him to where he’s knocking down that three-ball every single time, feet set. His shot is already looking pretty good. I think he’s a little to unselfish, but again, he has that competitive streak I really like… I’m really looking forward to coaching this kid and seeing where we can get him.”  

One other issue that is hanging around the Knicks is of All-Star center Joakim Noah, who was exiled from the Knicks after a dispute with Hornacek back in February. 

After being hired by the Knicks, Fizdale said that the former Chicago Bull who signed as a free agent two seasons back and intimated that he was open to the possibility of Noah returning to the roster. 

It has been five years since the New York Knicks made the playoffs. It has been 18 years since the Knicks were in the Eastern Conference Finals, where they lost to the Indiana Pacers led by current NBA on TNT color analyst and Hall of Famer Reggie Miller. They have gone through eight full-time head coaches and 10 in total since the start of the 2002-03 season. Their latest hire in David Fizdale and president Steve Mills, who has been a part of the Knicks for much of that time say that they are committed to not taking shortcuts to get back to becoming a consistent winner and hopefully an NBA champion. They are ready to take on all the pressures from fans, the New York media, and the pressure they will put on themselves. 

“It takes so much to win in this league and if one person is off in one way, it crumbles,” Fizdale said on Tuesday. “So, for us to be here and all on the same page is really awesome for me.” 

Information, statistics, and quotations are courtesy of 5/3/18 www.nba.com article, “Report: David Fizdale Agrees to Deal to Become New York Knicks Head Coach;” 5/7/18 www.nba.com article via The Associated Press, “New York Knicks Name David Fizdale New Coach,” by Brian Mahoney; 5/8/18 3 p.m. “NBA: The Jump,” fueled by Marathon on ESPN with Rachel Nichols, Paul Pierce, and Scottie Pippen; www.espn.com/nba/team/_/name/ny/new-york-knicks; and https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_New_York_Knicks_seasons.