FIZ DEFENDS STICKING WITH TIM
Knicks coach explains decision to keep Hardaway on LeVert
As he was being second-guessed by a former Knicks executive, David Fizdale adamantly defended his decision to put Tim Hardaway Jr. on Caris LeVert for the final possession of Friday's loss to the Nets.
The coach said that giving Frank Ntilikina that assignment would have “crushed” Hardaway. So Fizdale stuck with Hardaway, who allowed the game-winning lay-up because he couldn't stay in front of LeVert.
“If I was in a game playing against high school teammate, for him his college teammate (Hardaway Jr. and LeVert played together at Michigan), and we're going tit for tat. And the last play of the game the coach goes, ‘Hey, I'm going to put somebody else on him.' I might lose Timmy. That could crush him,” Fizdale said.
“No. This is a development year. That's part of Timmy's development. He's got to take that challenge. I can't hide him. He's got to dig in and get that stop. He didn't get it (Friday) night but he knows I believe he can. We're going to keep working at it. It was just a personnel breakdown. He knew that kid wanted to go right and he let him get right.
“We'll fix that issue and the next time, get the stop. That's what it's about. It's not about me trying to manipulate the situation to hopefully win a game or whatever it is. The areas that I'm trying to get these guys to be better at when it comes up in a game I gotta let them go through that. I can't hide it from them.”
Clarence Gaines had a different thought. The Knicks' former Vice President of Player Personnel and Phil Jackson's closest advisor tweeted Saturday morning that Frank Ntilikina – whom Gaines was instrumental in drafting last year — should've been on the perimeter against LeVert.
“I'm still putting Frank Ntilikina on the best guard/wing scorer in that situation. Tim's defense was substandard on that play and the weak side
help was inconsequential,” Gaines wrote.
Hardaway is not known as a strong individual defender and he allowed LeVert access to the lane on his dominant right side. Hardaway acknowledged he “could’ve defended it a lot better. …He’s been going to the right the whole game, so I needed to know that.”
Gaines, who was let go by the Knicks after last season, tweeted that Hardaway Jr. would’ve been his third option to defend LeVert, who went off Friday for 28 points on 8-of-13 shooting.
“The NBA is a miss or make league but it’s also a ‘get cooked’ league,” Gaines wrote. “Coaches have to trust their personnel and their Team Defense. That said it’s imperative to have someone defending at the point of attack who can disrupt and dictate to the defender. Tim is not that guy.”
Steve Mills was GM under Jackson, but Gaines was closer with the Zen Master and has been credited for swaying the team to draft Kristaps Porzingis. Jackson’s final consequential move as team president was drafting Ntilikina.
Mills ascended to team president and he quickly signed Hardaway Jr. to a four-year, $71 million contract. Recently, Lakers owner Jeanie Buss told The Athletic that Jackson’s failures in New York were a result of being stabbed in the back.
Buss, who is also Jackson’s former fiancée, declined to elaborate on whom or what she was referring to, a Lakers spokesperson said.
“He should’ve made sure (to control) who was surrounding him, because the people close to you will take the knife and put it in your back,” Buss said.