Fizdale reemergence keeps spotlight on Heat bench
MIAMI — The last time the Miami Heat were in the playoffs, assistant coach David Fizdale already had been summoned for an interview by the Memphis Grizzlies. The day after the Heat were eliminated by the Toronto Raptors in Game 7 of the 2016 Eastern Conference semifinals, Erik Spoelstra was prepping his friend for a job he eventually would land.
Now, two years later, the Heat are back in the playoffs and Fizdale is back in play, dismissed early this season by a Grizzlies franchise in turmoil.
With Fizdale having guided the Grizzlies to last season’s playoffs, a postseason the Heat sat out, there are mixed feelings from Spoelstra about reports linking Fizdale as a front runner for the New York Knicks’ vacancy.
“Fiz is a great fit anywhere,” Spoelstra said earlier in this series against the Philadelphia 76ers. “He’s a brilliant basketball mind that has exceptional, gold-standard level communication skills. He’s one of my best friends. But I say that objectively.
“I just think he’s one of the most talented coaches I’ve been around. I feel very grateful that we had an opportunity to work together for so long. I just hope he goes west.”
Spoelstra laughed, but it parroted similar sentiment offered when Fizdale interviewed and then took the job with the Western Conference Grizzlies. That limited the friend-vs.friend exposure to two games a season. With the Knicks, there could be as many as four annually.
“That’s the kind of respect I have for him,” Spoelstra said. “I don’t want him going anywhere in the East.”
While candidates with New York ties also have been summoned by the Knicks, including former Knicks point guard Mark Jackson and Queens product Kenny Smith, the TNT analyst, Fizdale’s temperament would make him a comfortable fit amid the city’s tabloids, able to reduce tensions, as he did during the Heat’s Big Three era, but also able to create the needed headlines, as he did with his “take that for data” rant amid last season’s playoffs against the San Antonio Spurs.
As it is, Fizdale already received the endorsement of Dwyane Wade when the Heat closed their regularseason road schedule at Madison Square Garden.
“He’s a phenomenal coach,” Wade said inside the visitor’s locker room. “I think everyone’s seen that with the job he was able to do in Memphis. His name will be in the running for a lot of jobs. One thing he’s going to bring to a team is his work ethic. He has a great offensive mind, but he has defensive principles with the Miami Heat.
“Pat Riley has instilled that in every coach that’s come here. He’s a good manager of personalities, as well. The sky’s the limit for whatever organization is going to get him and give him an opportunity to really put his fingerprints on an opportunity for a long time.”
To Wade, the confidence comes from the Heat’s coaching tree that went from Pat Riley to Stan Van Gundy back to Riley and then to Spoelstra.
“One thing about the coaches in Miami,” Wade said, “they all go up the ranks. They all do everything before they become a head coach. He can break down film, as well.”
And that’s the thing, Spoelstra said — there is more to come.
With Fizdale’s departure, assistant coach Chris Quinn moved to the front of the bench, joining assistants Juwan Howard and Dan Craig in that role. Now, video coordinator Eric Glass, who inherited the position Spoelstra and Fizdale previously held with the Heat, is poised for his own ascension to the Heat bench.
“The way we’ve worked it,” Spoelstra said, “is guys have really stepped up and taken on more responsibility, and not only D.C., but Juwan is ready to take that next step soon. Chris Quinn, obviously what he did this summer was tremendous; he’s going to be a future head coach. Eric Glass, behind the bench, if you don’t know who he is right now, write an article about him. He’s going to be a head coach and he’ll be the next in line of David Fizdales, Pat Delanys, Dan Craigs to come out of the video room and to get on the staff officially.”
Just as the NBA has had its Hubie Brown and Larry Brown coaching trees, and then Pat Riley coaching tree, Erik Spoelstra’s progeny are taking root.
Only, in the case of David Fizdale, it may prove too close for comfort.