According to several reports, the New York Knicks have fired head coach David Fizdale. The team, which sits at the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings at 4-18, also parted ways with assistant Keith Smart.
Knicks fired coach David Fizdale, league source tells ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) December 6, 2019
Fizdale bore the brunt of the blame for the sputtering start in New York, and the 37-point home loss on Thursday night versus the Denver Nuggets seemed to be the last straw. That loss came three nights after a 44-point drubbing in Milwaukee. Questions of the team’s effort have plagued the Knicks throughout the year and seemed to finally catch up to Fizdale.
The Knicks have lost eight straight and nine of their last 10.
Signs for Fizdale’s potential firing originally popped up in early November. Knicks team president Steve Mills and team general manager Scott Perry held an impromptu press conference following a loss in Cleveland. While they voiced support for Fizdale and the staff at that time, they made it clear that team brass was unhappy with the 2-8 start to the season.
As ESPN Senior NBA Insider Adrian Wojnarowski said on air on Nov. 13:
The dismissal of David Fizdale is inevitable, and there was, I think, a bond broken between management and their head coach with how they handled things after that loss Sunday night.
New York poured resources into free agency this past offseason with the hopes of luring Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving to Madison Square Garden. Both superstars elected to play in Brooklyn instead. The team rallied to spend $70 million in free agency, but the resulting roster is a mismatched mess.
The Knicks pin their hopes now on R.J. Barrett, the No. 3 pick in last year’s draft. His next head coach will be the 7th head coach this decade for New York.
Fizdale finds himself fired early in his second season for the second time in his career. Fizdale was fired in Memphis after 19 games in 2017. Fizdale finishes his tenure as Knicks coach with a career record of 21-83. Overall, Fizdale is 71-134 as a head coach. He spent time as an assistant in Miami during the Heat’s Big-3 era.
New York (4-18) hosts the Indiana Pacers (14-7) on Saturday night.
