David Fizdale’s tenure in New York is over. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reports. He went out with a whimper, losing 129-92 to the Denver Nuggets on Thursday night.
The loss was so bad that Knicks owner Jim Dolan as well as executives Scott Perry and Steve Mills all left their seats in the final moments of the team’s loss to the Nuggets. The change felt inevitable at that point. Fizdale was done.
This had been a long time coming. The Knicks have been reeling for quite some time now. They’re 4-18 now and are on pace for a measly 15 wins this season. They quite possibly are the worst team in the NBA, and Fizdale’s 21-83 record wasn’t getting any better. They simply decided it was time to cut bait.
Fizdale wasn’t just a scapegoat in New York
He was actively part of the problem with the Knicks. He was never dealt a good hand to play with, but he made his situation even tougher by consistently playing that hand the wrong way.
His rotations were beyond wonky. There’s no way Allonzo Trier, as their best perimeter scorer, should only play six minutes in a blowout loss against Denver. Marcus Morris, Julius Randle and Bobby Portis spent way too much time on the court together, and Frank Ntilikina didn’t play nearly enough as their best perimeter defender.
Plus, the Knicks’ young guys weren’t really developing. Mitchell Robinson, as great as he is as a rim protector, averages 3.6 fouls in 21 minutes a night. Kevin Knox has also fallen off after a hot start – and don’t even get me started on Dennis Smith, Jr.’s season so far.
Part of that is the player and their individual effort, but it’s also a coach’s individual responsibility to craft systems on both ends that their players can develop and flourish in. Fizdale didn’t do that.
Coming into this season, the Knicks wanted to compete and develop their young guys. They haven’t done either. That’s why Fizdale is out.
The Knicks’ problems still run much deeper than the coach
Fizdale’s departure, as necessary as it might be, isn’t going to stop the bleeding for the Knicks. They’ve still got a roster with absolutely no balance, chock full of veteran power forwards that don’t move the needle one bit at all.
And that’s where the Knicks real problem lies — in the construction of their roster and the person who built it. Steve Mills has been a straight up embarrassment as a team president.
His most notable move is trading the team’s best drafted player since Patrick Ewing – Kristaps Porzingis – to open up cap space for free agents that turned in to Taj Gibson, Randle and Marcus Morris.
There’s more, though. He issued a letter to fans in the summer after missing out on the free agents they thought they were going to sign. Then, months later, he throws Fizdale under the bus by actually laying down the groundwork for his dismissal when the season started to cave.
The thought of this team being competitive was always laughable. The fact that Mills sold Dolan on a vision that was never realistic is the real fireable offense here. But that’s also why the Knicks won’t solve their issues anytime soon.
At the end of the day, the team’s owner continues to settle for mediocrity year after year after year. Fizdale’s failed tenure was just a pebble in the grand scheme. James Dolan’s management of the team is the landslide.