South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
In tank-less Knicks job, Fizdale is driven to win
NEW YORK — There were few doubts when hired in May that David Fizdale fit the New York Knicks’ coaching job to a T.
In recent days, the former Miami Heat assistant has stressed that’s T as in teaching, not tanking.
“I don’t think anybody should just be trying to do that,” Fizdale said of the notion of losing for the lottery. “But you always have to look at the circumstances. And that’s what we’re doing right now. Our circumstance is we have the youngest team in the NBA. And a big part of our future and how good we’re going to be later has to do with a 19-year-old and a couple
20-year-olds, 22-year-olds and
23-year-olds.
“And people can describe that however they want.”
The description from the Heat, who face the Knicks on Sunday night at Madison Square Garden, is right man for the job.
“Fiz is great with young guys and teaching ’em how to be professionals and teaching ’em how to win in the game,” Heat forward Josh Richardson said. “The Knicks got a good one, especially for that group that they have.”
When Fizdale left as Erik Spoelstra’s lead assistant to coach the Memphis Grizzlies in
2016, the challenge was guiding veterans such as Marc Gasol and Mike Conley. Now it almost is solely kid stuff, with the Knicks poised to add yet another lottery pick in June.
“Fiz is very patient,” Spoelstra said. “He’s extremely passionate, and that’s what you want out of a coach. But he understands big picture. But that doesn’t take away from natural competitive instincts.”
Fizdale made that clear this past week. “My guys come out to win,” he said. “I don’t give a damn what anybody says about that.”
But it is the work before and after games that Spoelstra said is where some of the most beneficial Fizdale impact comes.
“Fiz was my right-hand guy for many years and a lot of time we’d craft the plan for player development together,” he said. “He showed the unique quality to be able to develop young guys, but also veteran players, which made him so valuable.”
Guard Tyler Johnson was among Fizdale’s Heat projects.
“He was very instrumental in my personal development,” Johnson said. “He would always try to get me to slow down. His thing was always, ‘Take a deep breath and see the game and don’t always try to be in a rush.’ And that’s one of the toughest things you try to get young player to understand.
“If you don’t see and understand the game, it’s going to be hard for you to make a huge impact in an NBA game. And I think that’s what he was really good at.”
“My guys come out to win. I don’t give a damn what anybody says about that.” — David Fizdale, Knicks coach
With the Knicks going young, it has left Fizdale with similar rotation decisions as Spoelstra, with Enes Kanter and Courtney Lee on the outside in New York just as Wayne Ellington and Kelly Olynyk have been with the Heat.
“Every coach has to deal with that at some point,” Spoelstra said. “You have 15 players, only five can play, 240 minutes.
“Seasons are long. The guys that have been around and gain that perspective usually are the ones that can see the whole picture.”
And coaches that can endure growing pains are the ones who also endure.
That had Fizdale attempting to put perspective on some of the latest playing-time travails with the Knicks.
“What are we going to do, lose more games?” he quipped.
“I shouldn’t make light of it. Sometimes you got to laugh.”
And sometimes you have to teach, even if it looks like tank.
“I did a lot of work with Fiz my rookie year,” Richardson said. “It was kind of like me and him a lot, even when I came in for my workout I talked to him for like 35, 40 minutes.”