Knicks fire coach Fisher; Rambis gets interim job
GREENBURGH, N.Y. — Derek Fisher had just finished a long playing career when Phil Jackson picked him to coach the New York Knicks. Just 1½ seasons later, Jackson decided he needed someone else.
Fisher was fired Monday, with his team having lost five straight and nine of 10 to fall back in the Eastern Conference playoff race.
“It’s time for us to make a change, turn this team around and move forward and get some wins and keep going down the road we had started here at the beginning of the year,” Jackson said.
Associate head coach Kurt Rambis was promoted to interim head coach at least through the rest of the season. Rambis, like Fisher an ex-Laker player and a former assistant under Jackson, went 56-145 in two seasons as Minnesota’s coach.
The Knicks have fallen to 23-31, dropping Fisher’s overall record to 40-96. Jackson hired Fisher in June 2014, just weeks after Fisher was done playing.
Though Jackson praised Fisher’s work ethic, he had seen enough of the Knicks’ slow starts and faulty finishes. Jackson also questioned whether Fisher took advantage of the experienced assistants Jackson hired to work with him, such as Rambis and Jim Cleamons. Jackson, who won an NBA-record 11 championships as a coach, also told Fisher he may not have mentored him as well as he could have.
Fisher got off to an embarrassing start this season during training camp. He was involved in a fight with Grizzlies forward a nd former tea mmate Matt Barnes at the home of Barnes’ estranged wife in California.
“No one’s happy about how that happened and what came out of that,” Jackson said. “That was embarrassing for us and for Derek, but that had nothing to do with what’s happened here today.”
Fisher became the fifth coach to be fired this season and the second in New York. Brooklyn already dumped Lionel Hollins.
“This is a very talented team with strong character and I am confident they will succeed,” Fisher said in a statement. “Obviously, I’m disappointed, but have learned an immense amount from this experience and hope to grow from it.”