FISHER TAKES SWIPE AT JAX, KNICKS
Still bitter ex-coach says team was better under his watch
WASHINGTON — The oneyear anniversary of Derek Fisher’s firing is approaching, and the former Knicks coach has decided his club was better than this year’s Jeff Hornacek edition, despite not having as much talent.
In a feature on Bleacher Report, Fisher al s o derided the complexities of working under team president Phil Jackson and felt teaching a triangle offense to the players was sending mixed messages on who really was the head coach.
They were the most detailed remarks Fisher has given on his dismissal, which he said he felt was undeserved, after the club sputtered to a 23-31 record on Super Bowl Sunday against the Nuggets. Fisher was fired the next day — Feb. 8, 2016.
With 10 new faces, including Derrick Rose, the Knicks sit at 21-28 and could fall eight games under . 500 with a loss Tuesday against the hot Wizards.
“We were able to take a team that wasn’t as talented as the team they have now, and we were much better and much further along than this group is that they have now,” Fisher told Bleacher Report. “Because the foundation was being laid. That’s different than just trying to coach basketball — and it takes longer. That’s the part that you can’t measure in wins and losses, either. That’s what we were doing the best at.”
Fisher has in the past knocked the triangle as antiquated for players of this era. In the new pi ece, he underlined working under the Zen Master was no easy chore because of perception. He indicated Jackson hasn’t moved with the basketball times.
“They don’t teach ninth-grade algebra the same way they used to teach ninth-grade algebra,” Fisher said. “One of the challenges for all of us was we were in the basketball department under the umbrella of Phil Jackson and who he was and who he is and what he was able to do as coach and leader. Then [when you’re] asking me as a head coach in a sense not to create the same results but take the same system or way of playing and try and teach these guys how to play it — and utilize it in similar ways as when he taught it — I think at times, it was more challenging for our players to really understand, ‘ Who am I committing myself to? Who am I selling myself to? Who am I running through the brick wall for?’ ”
Sources told The Post last February Fisher was fired partly due to his lack of communication with Jackson and his failure to answer emails that contained suggestions. Jackson also said Fisher didn’t uti l i ze his experienced coaching staff. Hornacek said last week he gets emails from Jackson after each game with pointers and said he’s implemented some of them. Hornacek said last week triangle sets are just a small portion of the offense.
Fisher now is a studio analyst for Lakers broadcasts and admitted he didn’t get one phone call over the summer about any coaching vacancies. According to Fisher, it was naïve to think because he and Jackson got along swimmingly in a coach-player relationship, they would have the same cohesion as presidentcoach. Both were starting new job descriptions, adding to the awkwardness.
“We both didn’t know exactly what we were doing,” said Fisher, who went 17-65 his first year with the Knicks. “Being the head coach is not like playing. Being president is not like being the head coach. That’s one of the reasons why we didn’t quite complete our meshing and blending of talents and thoughts, because those two positions are not always aligned.”
Fisher said he also believes he deserves a little credit for the continued progress of Kristaps Porzingis, whom he coached as a rookie for most of the season.
“I know what we deposited into Kristaps Porzingis that is coming out this year,’’ Fisher said. “He isn’t where he is now by himself. He deserves all the credit, but what we were helping him do for himself — that matters.”