Derek, fishin’ for job, regrets Barnes brawl

Derek Fisher has changed his tune regarding the infamous altercation with Matt Barnes, moving from defiant to regretful with an acknowledgement it may have affected his standing in the Knicks organization.

The former New York coach, who was fired by Jackson last year, had been passionate in absolving himself for any wrongdoing after he was punched in the face by Barnes and missed a practice two days later. He even published an essay blaming the media for creating stories and “spinning those events as justification for the team’s decision to fire me.”

But in a podcast released Tuesday with The Vertical, Fisher – who is looking for another job on an NBA bench or front office – was no longer pushing back at the idea that the Knicks changed their perception following the incident.

“It’s possible and I can understand why just on appearance you would be viewed differently,” Fisher told The Vertical’s Adrian Wojnarowski. “Hindsight is always 20/20.”

Fisher said he flew from New York to L.A. on a Saturday to spend Sunday with his children during training camp of last season. On Saturday evening, however, he went to the home of his girlfriend – Gloria Govan, the ex-wife of Barnes – and was attacked by his former Lakers teammate. He then tried to catch a red-eye home on Sunday, but an issue with the private plane caused him to miss the preseason practice.

“Looking back, I don’t regret going to see my kids on Sunday. But I shouldn’t have put myself in a position where what happened that Saturday night happened,” Fisher said. “As a coach, if a player had come to me and said, ‘I want to spend the day with my kids’ − as long as he was back to practice on Monday, I would’ve supported that. Then if I had read about something happening to him Saturday night, I would’ve been disappointed as well. Looking back at it from that perspective, I hate that I put myself in a position where I became the focal point.”

Fisher, who hasn’t been able to land another coaching interview after his 40-96 stint with the Knicks, also tried to distance himself far away from the triangle. The 42-year-old tried to tweak the offense in his second season, and was fired in February during a stretch of nine losses over 10 games.

“I was, in a sense, running an offense that I didn’t create or bring to the table. I was trying my best to implement it in the best way I could. But that wasn’t my design,” Fisher said in a plea to NBA decision makers. “Of course. It’s your team. You’re the coach. Not because I’m pushing that on someone else, more that if I’m the president of the team, or owner of the team, and you’re evaluating me now, they have to - more so I’m just saying I need to be able to put myself in position to show people me. And not me in the context of someone else’s design or some else’s team. ”

Time has been good to Fisher’s coaching legacy. The Knicks remain a disaster under Jeff Hornacek, on pace for a third consecutive 50-loss season. Jackson hasn’t stopped forcing his triangle, re-emphasizing it after the All-Star break despite missing the type of players fit for the system. Fisher was working with less talent last season and was fired with a 23-31 record, before interim coach/triangle enthusiast Kurt Rambis took over and the downward spiral continued.

“I didn’t come into it thinking Phil was going to demand that this is the only way that as the coach you can play with this team,” Fisher said. “Did I have a sense that would be something we spent a lot of time talking about and maybe trying to make work and implement? For sure. But my impressions were that he was still going to give me the room to explore and figure out how to coach this team myself. Not meaning I can just freely do anything I wanted. But at the same time, I wasn’t necessarily executing his wishes. ”

Hornacek, unlike Fisher, is listening to Jackson’s input and allowing the president to be more involved in implementing the traditional triangle. Since the Knicks have already given up on the playoffs, they’re using the remainder of the season to evaluate which players fit the system.