Early Monday morning, Phil Jackson and the New York Knicks pulled the plug on Derek Fisher’s tenure as Knicks head coach, firing him after a combined record of 40-96 over the past two seasons. His firing, while not a huge surprise, brings into question what direction Phil Jackson wants the franchise he is in charge of to take.
It’s not the safest time to be an NBA head coach. With the New York Knicks’ firing of Derek Fisher, five coaches have now been canned before the All Star break (Kevin McHale, Lionel Hollins, David Blatt, and Jeff Hornacek being the others). George Karl also almost joined the ranks as he was all but out the door before the Kings apparently back tracked on their decision to fire him, although I’m not sure if Karl was happy to hear that news or not.
The firings of McHale, Hollins, and Blatt were all met with a lot of surprise, but the response to Fisher was a lot more mixed.
The biggest cause for surprise was the fact that Fisher was Phil Jackson’s hand-picked guy, a young coach that was seen as someone who Jackson could mold in his vision. That vision was also not supposed to happen immediately. Jackson’s plan has been, and still is, to implement the triangle offense that worked so well for him as a coach, in New York. The team that was given to him, and subsequently Derek Fisher, was not ready for that system. With little talent on the roster beyond an aging Carmelo Anthony, patience was to be required in New York, something that is much easier said than done in the Big Apple.
The Knicks of last season were atrocious. 29th in offensive rating, 28th in defensive rating, a 17-65 record, and Melo only played in forty games. There was very little to be happy about when the season mercifully came to an end for New York, but things only got worse when they fell to the 4th overall pick in the lottery, despite having the second worst record in the league. Dropping to the fourth spot meant missing out on the “consensus” top three players, Karl Towns, D’Angelo Russell, and Jahlil Okafor. The Knicks then selected the Latvian “project” Kristaps Porzingis, drawing boos from the New York crowd, children in tears, and a tirade from Stephen A. Smith.
Using their top pick on a player who wasn’t projected to be an impact player for at least a couple of years, expectations for New York’s 2015-16 season remained low.
But, as we all know, Porzingis isn’t a project. He’s an emerging star. Now, after realizing he is good at basketball and is an incredibly unique talent, Knicks fans have embraced him wholeheartedly
The Knicks also turned out to be not that bad this year. They have shown significant improvement on both ends, moving up to 16th in offensive rating and 20th in defensive rating this season. While not fantastic rankings, the progression from being one of the league’s worst offensive and defensive teams last year was definitely encouraging.
New York even found itself in the playoff race. On January 20, after a win over Utah, the Knicks were .500 with a record of 22-22, and firmly competing for a spot in the Eastern Conference playoffs.
Fast forward to the day Fisher was fired, the Knicks were 23-31, losers of nine of their last ten. The zen-master himself Phil Jackson posted a decently long, and not very clear, summary of why he fired Fisher. After referencing Carl Rogers, Abraham Maslow, and plugging his book, Jackson vaguely hinted at why Fisher was gone, and what he was looking for going forward.
“This style of leadership…involves moving the organization or culture of a group towards a higher nature. Transactional management style management is surely effective, but doesn’t match my personal nature,” Jackson said. “This is also a clue for people that inquire about who might work as a leader for this Knicks team. Inside that style of play for that leader is the idea that there should be a system of play that includes the group.”
Obviously he was not willing to spell it out for those curious, but it seems Jackson was hinting that Fisher wasn’t exactly meshing with his personality, or his beloved triangle system. Fisher had been going away from the triangle more as of late, and it’s entirely possible the recently retired player in Derek Fisher didn’t necessarily agree with Jackson’s philosophy and triangle system, which emphasizes a lot of mid range shots, widely regarded as the least efficient shots in today’s NBA.
Fisher has been replaced by triangle believer Kurt Rambis, who has a horrible track record as an NBA coach, but is only leading on an interim basis.
Going forward for New York, Jackson still intends to run the triangle system, but that might not be what’s best for the future of the franchise. The NBA has rapidly evolved since Jackson last won an NBA championship, and his system simply may no longer be effective, and his continued effort to make it work in New York can hold the Knicks back.
The next question will be who he hires as the next head coach. There should be a lot of options this offseason, but it is yet to be seen whether Jackson will want a coach that will run his system the way he intends or will want to change things up.
And Jackson himself could even opt out of his contract this summer, a change that would obviously completely change the make up of the New York Knicks franchise.
With that in consideration, the firing of Derek Fisher may only be the tip of the iceberg for a constantly changing New York Knicks basketball team.
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