TIPPING OFF
Robinson may sit out as Knicks open NBA season with trip to San Antonio
The Knicks learned the hard way that winning matters.
They tried to sell last season that stinking and perception are mutually exclusive, that they can be attractive to free agents simply because they disassociated themselves from Phil Jackson.
But being the worst team in the NBA had its consequences, and the comeuppance was June 30 when Kevin Durant chose the other team in New York.
“The Knicks players, they’re good young players but they still need more experience to match where I was in my career,” Durant explained on a Bleacher Report program with former teammate Serge Ibaka. “It was nothing major against the Knicks. I just think Brooklyn is further along in the process of being a contender.”
Hopefully June 30 prompted a come-to-Jesus moment for the Knicks, who shouldn’t be happy with another year in the draft lottery. Job performance matters. Records matter. Six straight years without a playoff game matters. It’s unrealistic for Steve Mills to feel any pressure at the Garden where he’s resided, and survived, for so many years of slop as James Dolan’s trusted executive.
But coach David Fizdale has to show something. It’s just the way MSG operates. The last coach to survive past his second full season was Mike D’Antoni, and that was before Mike Woodson, Derek Fisher, Kurt Rambis and Jeff Hornacek.
Mills is on his fifth coach as GM or team president. “I just feel that as a coach you always put the ultimate pressure on yourself anyway,” Fizdale said. “Our job is a very volatile job. And so, last year, I put the some amount of weight on myself regardless of who was playing for us or what was expected of us.”
So what are Fizdale’s own expectations?
“I don’t have a gauge or a number but I do think this team will be a lot better,” he said.
Part of Fizdale’s allure as a coach was his positive relationship with stars — specifically LeBron James and Dwyane Wade — and a belief that reputation would manifest in a home run free agency.
It didn’t work out. Not only did Durant, Kyrie Irving and Kawhi Leonard sign elsewhere, the AllStar on the Knicks roster — Kristaps Porzingis — asked for a trade.
Porzingis’ discontent wasn’t on Fizdale, and it’s tough to pin the 65 losses on the coach, as well. But now Fizdale has to coach — and win more often — instead of just talking up culture change.
As Fizdale enters Year 2 at the Garden, there’s a mandate of progress and that should start with consistency and the installation of an identity. Last season, Fizdale’s lineups, rotations and game plans were all over the map. This season he’s hyping up the free agency acquisitions as a stabilizing force.
“We brought in veteran guys who pick up stuff really quickly,” Fizdale said. “And they already have a defensive mindset, so that kind of helps with your defense getting fast tracked a little bit. … So I do feel like we are a step ahead of where we were last year.”
Most of Fizdale’s success arrived as an assistant with the Miami Heat. As a head coach, he won 43 games his first season with the Grizzlies and was fired 19 games into his second.
Fizdale has won just 17 times in his last 90 games as a head coach. In other words, there’s a lot for Fizdale to prove and that starts with tonight’s opener in San Antonio.