David’s relationship with NBA’s Goliath is what this hire is about

The hiring of David Fizdale was made with one player in mind and it’s not Kristaps Porzingis. Steve Mills and Scott Perry will talk about rebuilding and player development until they’re blue in the face. Sure, that’s part of it, but in truth every team is constantly rebuilding and developing talent. The Knicks act as if they discovered the concept last week.

But watch how quickly rebuilding turns into win-now if the Knicks, with Fizdale acting as the point man, can land LeBron James. Is it a pipe dream? Perhaps, but Fizdale at least puts the Knicks in the room with LeBron either this summer or in 2019.

Fizdale, the former Miami Heat assistant coach and Memphis head coach, was contacted weeks ago, even before Jeff Hornacek went from dead man walking to officially fired. It’s a cut throat business and Hornacek was collateral damage. That doesn’t excuse Mills and Perry from running over Hornacek after the fact but that’s a story for another day.

Fizdale checked all the boxes for the Knicks front office; he’s young, dynamic and has LeBron on speed dial. Did I mention that Fizdale has a history with LeBron?

Think about it for a moment: last month Mills and Perry used coded language when describing their ideal candidate.

“Today’s player,” Mills said, “is very different than yesterday’s player. You have to be a person that understands who these guys are, where they come from and understand the complexity of today’s NBA game.”

“A guy who can connect very well with his players,” Perry said.

And yet Mills and Perry hire a coach who was fired this season after 19 games due to his deteriorating relationship with Memphis center Marc Gasol, a professional with a reputation of being mild mannered.

According to a source close to the situation, some of their problems started when Fizdale dismissed Gasol’s success on the international stage. He also reminded Gasol that he, Fizdale, won two championships and that Gasol had zero. The general feeling among the Grizzlies was that Fizdale’s two championships as an assistant coach in Miami were because of LeBron James.

Fizdale’s brief history coaching a European big man should be very comforting to Porzingis, who is now onto his fourth coach in three years. That has to be a record for a 22-year-old. The Knicks and Porzingis aren’t on the same page to begin with so Fizdale has his work cut out for him.

We all know that Fizdale got along just swimmingly with LeBron and Dwyane Wade but that was as an assistant coach. It’s easy to play the good cop in that role. Once Fizdale moved into the big seat things changed. When the Grizzlies ran Fizdale out of town, LeBron and Wade were incredulous and demanded answers. That was good for Fizdale. But notice how none of the Grizzlies players questioned the move. Fizdale was seen as cocky and a little full of himself for a rookie head coach. Think Derek Fisher but without ever having played in the NBA. The hiring of Fizdale could have happened sooner but there was a wrench thrown into it: Mike Budenholzer severed ties with the Atlanta Hawks and became available. The Knicks should have considered it a lucky break, hired Budenholzer and moved on. Instead, they’ll have to explain handing the

job to a coach without the experience, record and history in player development as Budenholzer.

Coach Bud spent 17 years as Gregg Popovich’s top assistant. But Mills and Perry, with a chance to tap into the San Antonio Spurs franchise, passed. Why? LeBron. The Knicks, for the sake of public relations, did what you would expect. They interviewed Mark Jackson. They had a phone conversation with Jeff Van Gundy but decided not to go there and give the fans false hope. Even Patrick Ewing was called because the Knicks wanted to cover all their bases. It was a quick phone conversation and nothing else.

Jackson, Van Gundy and Ewing all deserved better but in the end they were simply window dressing. Remember that the next time you hear that “Once a Knick, Always a Knick” spiel.

The final tally was 11 interviews but the target was Fizdale. On Wednesday, a story surfaced hinting that Fizdale and the Knicks were moving closer to a deal. The story cited Fizdale’s reputation for developing strong relationships with players. There was no mention of Gasol. How’s that for spinning a false narrative? Fizdale had one head coaching job and he fought with his best player. Yet we’re to accept that his coach/player relationships are beyond reproach?

No one is saying that Fizdale’s career should be defined by his first head coaching job and one sour relationship. A lot of coaches have struggled in their first job. But you can’t build Fizdale up as the “player whisperer” without acknowledging his history with Gasol and wonder how it will play out with Porzingis.

Maybe that doesn’t even matter to Mills and Perry. After all, James Dolan has already said that Porzingis could miss all of next season. So maybe the only relationship Mills and Perry care about is Fizdale’s association with one guy and one guy only.

LeBron.