'Dale's pitch
Knick coach front man in persuading top free agents to 'make history'
You don’t have to tell Phil Jackson, Larry Brown, Isiah Thomas or Carmelo Anthony about the risk of losing your legacy in New York if things fall apart. Knicks coach David Fizdale doesn’t see it that way. On July 1, Fizdale will peddle the rewards — not the risks — to free agents. “I think it’s not a risk, it’s an opportunity,’’ Fizdale said in an end-of-season MSG Network special airing this week. “You want to be a guy who says, ‘I was there when …’ “That’s what got me,’’ Fizdale added. “I can be part of the [Knicks’] rebuilding and getting them back to prominence, doing it with the right people and the right way. The beauty of this is we’re doing it the way you’re supposed to do it. We got the right people at the top. They will see it more as an opportunity than a risk. There’s pressure to win it in places, but I don’t call it pressure. I call it a badge of honor.” There seems to be no end in sight for the spin on the Knicks’ 17-65 record this season, considering president Steve Mills and general manager Scott Perry’s select media tour Wednesday and Fizdale selling the product to some media outlets. (Fizdale was not made available for a postseason press conference nor were players made available at season’s end).
No matter how much Perry says this summer is not “the end-all and be-all,’’ it is pretty vital because the Knicks have $74 million in cap room, good for two max contracts.
As potential free-agent candidates Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving work through the playoffs, they should read the newspaper to get a preview of Fizdale’s rhetoric.
Fizdale said he turned down other jobs (in Phoenix, Orlando and Atlanta) last spring because he felt, “We can make real history here.”
“If a guy isn’t up for that, he’s not our kind of guy,’’ Fizdale said. “You got two different kind of guys — guys who are willing to build it and own it, and guys who are very comfortable sliding in. We’re looking for guys who want to build it and own it. Once one domino falls, it’s pretty easy for other guys to fall in line.’’
Fizdale reminisced about the summer of 2010, when he was a Heat assistant and the Miami Dream Team was assembled.
“Biggest thing I remember is how much people hated us,” Fizdale said.
And he hopes that same sentiment is felt about the Knicks.
“I can’t wait,’’ Fizdale told MSG’s Alan Hahn. “I miss being hated. I really do. Once we get this thing right, everyone’s going to hate us because it’s New York. They already hate us anyway. When we get our talent pool together, it will be very nice to get booed again.’’
While Mills, Perry and owner James Dolan will take the blame if things don’t work out, Fizdale is their best asset as far as salesmanship. Almost a year ago, an unemployed Fizdale was embedded with the Warriors, watching them prepare for the playoffs, and got to be around Durant.
“I think I’m going to play a big piece of it,’’ Fizdale said of recruiting. “A player wants to know whom he’s playing for. I want to present them my vision for them.’’
Fizdale was reflective on the job he did this season, coaxing just 17 wins out of a young group. Mills told The Post on Wednesday it was nevertheless a good job because the coach never strayed from the mission of development just so he could protect his record. Fizdale knows, however, he could have coached better during games and said management offered “tremendous support,’’ but “that doesn’t mean they were soft with me.’’
“Absolutely, I might have learned more this year than [the players] did,’’ said Fizdale, whose career headcoaching record fell to 67116. “I self-evaluate hard, practice to practice, game to game. I look at myself first: What could I have done differently? When you lose that many games, you can say to yourself: ‘What could I have done differently?’ ’’
Fizdale is away now on a faraway beach for two weeks, but said, “I’ll have my laptop out, watching close games and our analytics and really take a view from my seat where I can be better for these guys.’’