❚ Knicks nix coach, but not dysfunction,
The writing – metaphorically speaking – was on the marquee at Madison Square Garden last month.
When Knicks president Steve Mills and general manager Scott Perry delivered an unscheduled postgame news conference before coach David Fizdale spoke after a loss to the Cavaliers on Nov. 10, it was just a matter of time before they fired Fizdale.
That moment came last week. After back-to-back losses of 132-88 to the Bucks and 12992 to the Nuggets, the Knicks dumped Fizdale.
He didn’t last a season and a half with the woebegone franchise.
Fizdale was 21-83 with the Knicks – 4-18 this season – forgettable marks for sure. He has his faults as a head coach following short stints with the Grizzlies and New York.
But let’s be clear about Fizdale, especially this season: The record is not his fault.
The roster provided by the front office is an insufficient mishmash of players illequipped to win in the NBA.
The Knicks have too many forwards, not enough point guards and a considerable lack of talent and direction.
Someone had to be the scapegoat for the poor start, and Fizdale was the easy target. And something had to be done.
The front office shoulders blame for giving Fizdale this roster, and one constant throughout season after season of Knicks’ dysfunction is owner James Dolan.
The Knicks are fond of selling the future, whether it’s Phil Jackson leading or someone else. By the day, it gets harder to buy the product.
The Knicks are on their fifth front office regime since 2008 and interim coach Mike Miller is their seventh coach since 2008. Just one of them – Mike D’Antoni – lasted more than three seasons and he was gone after 42 games of his fourth season.
Since 2005, the Knicks have had three winning seasons and won just one playoff series.
Following the Nov. 10 loss, the hope was Fizdale could save his job by at least making the team competitive. Instead, the Knicks lost nine of their next 11 games, including eight consecutive and four by double figures.
Mills and Perry often have preached patience, saying they were going to rebuild the right way. But they also missed out on free agents when there was some belief the Knicks had a chance to sign Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. Instead, they joined the Nets, and Durant in September told New York’s Hot97 FM, “It’s like the cool thing right now is not the Knicks.”
For a good portion of this front office-coach union, Mills, Perry and Fizdale said they were on the same page. Once Mills and Perry had that November news conference, it was obvious they weren’t even reading the same book.
Now, the Knicks will have another coach. There’s no guarantee Mills and Perry keep their jobs, which means the possibility of yet another front office change looms.
It’s the same old futile Knicks, offering no hope for a better tomorrow.