Yep Knicks coach Fiz about to be fired: Management already looking for replacements
- Thread starter Morethan1
- Start date
you gotta be fukking kidding me
Front office is a joke..they are the ones who need to be removed
Even before a startling news conference in the wake of a blowout loss to Cleveland, New York Knicks president Steve Mills had started to lay the internal groundwork for the eventual dismissal of coach David Fizdale, league sources told ESPN.
Mills is selling owner James Dolan on a roster constructed to be highly competitive in the Eastern Conference, leaving Fizdale vulnerable to an ouster only weeks into the second season of a four-year contract that league sources say is worth $22 million.
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Days before exiled star Kristaps Porzingis returns to Madison Square Garden with the Dallas Mavericks, Mills delivered the first public salvo on shaping an organizational narrative that the Knicks struggles aren't born of an overmatched roster, but the lack of a "consistent level of effort and execution."
Rival coaches and executives see a mismatched Knicks roster slow of foot, without legitimate NBA guard play but Mills is selling Dolan on a poorly coached team that is underachieving at 2-8 to start the season, league sources said. Around Madison Square Garden and the league, the timing and tone of the news conference was met with considerable surprise and dismay -- and considered completely undermining of Fizdale.
"Everyone is moving to their positions now," a league source close to management and the coaching staff told ESPN. "This is how they'll make (Fizdale) the fall guy."
After the Knicks 108-87 loss to Cleveland, Fizdale had been meeting with players in the post-game locker room when Mills led general manager Scott Perry into an impromptu news conference. It is customary for a head coach to be the first team official to talk to the media in a post-game setting, but Mills marched to the podium to tells fans that the Knicks had fallen short of management's expectations.
"Scott and I are not happy with where we are right now," Mills said. "We think the team is not performing to the level that we anticipated or we expected to perform at and that's something that we think we collectively have to do a better job of delivering the product on the floor..."
Mills has lorded over the arrivals and departures of five Knicks coaches. His overall record as team president is 165-337, including 48-126 since taking job over from Phil Jackson in 2017.
As an organization, the Knicks could've survived missing out on Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving in July free agency -- but the trading of Porzingis to the Mavericks for role players and two first-round picks looms far more devastating to the franchise's future. Porzingis asked for a trade in February after management was unable to correct a rift with him --- or convince him of a path toward competency in the Eastern Conference.
Fizdale chose the Knicks over several other offers in 2018 -- including Atlanta, Charlotte and Phoenix -- under the assumption that he'd eventually coach Porzingis. Fizdale accepted responsibility for the team's struggles in his own post-game news conference on Sunday night.
"I take the brunt of that responsibility because I am the head coach," Fizdale said. "I make these decisions -- what's happening on the court, what players play, who plays together, what plays we call the defensive system. That's on me.
Mills is selling owner James Dolan on a roster constructed to be highly competitive in the Eastern Conference, leaving Fizdale vulnerable to an ouster only weeks into the second season of a four-year contract that league sources say is worth $22 million.
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Days before exiled star Kristaps Porzingis returns to Madison Square Garden with the Dallas Mavericks, Mills delivered the first public salvo on shaping an organizational narrative that the Knicks struggles aren't born of an overmatched roster, but the lack of a "consistent level of effort and execution."
Rival coaches and executives see a mismatched Knicks roster slow of foot, without legitimate NBA guard play but Mills is selling Dolan on a poorly coached team that is underachieving at 2-8 to start the season, league sources said. Around Madison Square Garden and the league, the timing and tone of the news conference was met with considerable surprise and dismay -- and considered completely undermining of Fizdale.
"Everyone is moving to their positions now," a league source close to management and the coaching staff told ESPN. "This is how they'll make (Fizdale) the fall guy."
After the Knicks 108-87 loss to Cleveland, Fizdale had been meeting with players in the post-game locker room when Mills led general manager Scott Perry into an impromptu news conference. It is customary for a head coach to be the first team official to talk to the media in a post-game setting, but Mills marched to the podium to tells fans that the Knicks had fallen short of management's expectations.
"Scott and I are not happy with where we are right now," Mills said. "We think the team is not performing to the level that we anticipated or we expected to perform at and that's something that we think we collectively have to do a better job of delivering the product on the floor..."
Mills has lorded over the arrivals and departures of five Knicks coaches. His overall record as team president is 165-337, including 48-126 since taking job over from Phil Jackson in 2017.
As an organization, the Knicks could've survived missing out on Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving in July free agency -- but the trading of Porzingis to the Mavericks for role players and two first-round picks looms far more devastating to the franchise's future. Porzingis asked for a trade in February after management was unable to correct a rift with him --- or convince him of a path toward competency in the Eastern Conference.
Fizdale chose the Knicks over several other offers in 2018 -- including Atlanta, Charlotte and Phoenix -- under the assumption that he'd eventually coach Porzingis. Fizdale accepted responsibility for the team's struggles in his own post-game news conference on Sunday night.
"I take the brunt of that responsibility because I am the head coach," Fizdale said. "I make these decisions -- what's happening on the court, what players play, who plays together, what plays we call the defensive system. That's on me.
Flex Luger
Job Is Finished
Yeah they should just stop giving these coaches 4 year deals if they gonna fire them after two years smh
Homeboy Runny-Ray
From Around The Way
means hes on his way towards at least one more big contract.
its not like the spurs are getting out of the 1st round anytime soon anyway.
And that’s why Pill Jackson took the bag
Knicks management has the biggest hand in this. They put together a terrible roster that doesn't fit together. Don't know what they were thinking. Fiz is gonna end up being the scapegoat to their terrible decision.
All Black Everything
As a Knicks fan, the ousting of Melo ruined this franchise. Laughing at his workout tapes and not trying to compete while Porzingis was on the team was the death sentence.
Mills needed to go in 2015. He serves his own agenda and doesn't have to answer for anything.
I'm glad Fizdale is leaving, he is too erratic with his lineups and schemes.
They need to hold a raffle for the next coach like that Eddie movie so I can get our squad some Ws.
King Crimson
Member of a very exclusive gang
I know we all hate Dolan and it makes sense, but I wonder how much of the Dolan hate is overblown. He doesn’t play, he doesn’t coach, is he in the locker room like that? Is he like Jerry Jones where he tells Garrett who to play and how to coach? shyt seems like an easy out.
Dolan doesn’t blame the guy responsible for all of this, who is Steve Mills. That’s his boy so his job is safe. Even when Phil Jackson was there, Mills had a say and was in Dolan’s ear.
Dolan needs to be blamed also because he is enabling Steve Mills to hire and fire guys before their contract is up. He’s the one who overpaid Hardaway Jr. and then traded Porzingis to get out of it. If Dolan doesn’t fire Mills and Perry then he is to blame for all of this.
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King Crimson
Member of a very exclusive gang
