NEW YORK CITY, N.Y. – The New York Knicks have decided to part ways with their former head coach Derek Fisher. Fisher in his first season as a head coach, led the Knicks to their worst season (17-65) in franchise history last year. This year, Fisher was given a sometimes healthy Carmelo Anthony and rookie sensation Kristaps Porzingis. Throw in key free agent acquisitions such as Aaron Afflalo, Derrick Williams and Robin Lopez, and you have an actually competitive team with actual NBA talent.
At points this seasons, the Knicks showed flashes of being a playoff ready team. Porzingis was having multiple monster games, and the bench was producing at a high level. Whether that was because of Fisher’s coaching remains to be seen, but New York floated around the .500 mark for most of the season.
Following a 118-111 overtime victory against the Utah Jazz in MSG on Jan.20, New York went into a funk they have yet to shake. Since the win over Utah, the Knicks have lost nine of their last ten games. The offense has looked stagnant and the team unity that was so strong at the beginning, isn’t seen nearly as much.
Fisher had two late game scenarios recently, where trailing against the Memphis Grizzlies and Denver Nuggets he chose not to call timeout off a defensive rebound with less than 15 seconds remaining. The decision proved to be crucial because both shots taken were questionable on those possessions, and neither went in. New York needless to say lost both of those games. This can go back to people saying that Fisher isn’t much of an “x’s and o’s” coach, but then again he wasn’t much of a winner as the Knicks head coach either.
Fisher said in interviews that he wouldn’t be disappointed if the team didn’t make the playoffs. Phil Jackson has said that he envisioned this team as a 40 win team. It was ultimately Fisher’s lack of a visible sense of urgency that led to his demise. Many were hoping to see some type of fire from him on the sidelines, or answers on quickly problem solving Knick woes. Fisher told Knick faithful that the process/progress was what was important, yet Fisher was dismissed as head coach.
New York will look to Kurt Rambis to be the interim head coach for the time being. Rambis has a 56-145 record as a head coach in three seasons. Rambis previously coached the Los Angeles Lakers for one season (1998-99), and the Minnesota Timberwolves for two seasons (2009-11).
There have been many names surfacing to fill the long term position. Such names at the top of the list have been Luke Walton and Brian Shaw thus far. However, Tom Thibodeau has been linked by people close to him saying that New York is the job he wants. Some Knick faithful, including our own staff Vernon McKenzie have been asking for Mark Jackson. It will be interesting to see where the Knicks go in the long term, or if Rambis can achieve his goal of getting this team to the playoffs.
(Featured Image Credit: Jonathan Bachman/AP Photo)
Barry Holmes is a Senior Writer for PureSportsNY.com. Follow him on Twitter @BHO732