In my opinion, the tide seems to be turning for New York basketball. On the afternoon of May 3rd, it was announced that David Fizdale would be the new head coach of the New York Knicks. I think this is a good decision by the front office and will overall help the Knicks this summer and next season.
David Fizdale was a rookie head coach for the Memphis Grizzlies two years ago. He lead them to the playoffs in the number 7 seed and they had a scrappy series against the San Antonio Spurs, losing in 6 games. Not bad for a rookie coach on an old roster. The offseason brought a lot of changes for Memphis, but there was hope in the air. Then after a 7-12 record to start to season and benching the best player during the fourth quarter, Fizdale was out of a job. There are different opinions as to why he got fired so suddenly, but it appears to me as though it was a disciplinary decision that the player, Marc Gasol, didn’t like, and neither did management, so they decided to fire him.
But that brings him to the Knicks who fired their old head coach Jeff Hornacek after a few middling seasons and not much improvement on any side of the ball. So the Knicks need a new face to help the players and start to steer the team in the right direction, and I think that is exactly what Fizdale brings to the team. Before coaching in Memphis he was an assistant coach in Miami when the Big 3 were there, and they all have nothing but compliments for him and how he works with the team. Over the past few years he has taken the talented big men he’s had to work with and pushed them to expand their range beyond the three point line. Both Chris Bosh and Marc Gasol started taking and making more three pointers with Fizdale as coach and having more players that can hit threes and stretch the floor for everyone else is always a huge help.
Now he has the Knicks to work with, some exciting young talent but also plenty of room for improvement. The teams is young and what they need is someone like Fizdale who can help develop them into more complete players, work well with them, and form an identity that the team can by into. Kristaps Porzingis and Frank Ntilikina are exciting young players and the Knicks have a first round pick this year that can be added to the mix.
I think this is the first time in a while I can say that the Knicks are making adjustments to the team that will actually improve in and put things together in a way that makes sense for the talent they have. I think putting Fizdale in charge will make things run a lot smoother in New York and help turn the Knicks from a team with potential into a cohesive whole.
