Have you no shame?
The New York Knicks fired head coach David Fizdale last week after only 104 games as head coach. The Knicks got off to a 4-18 start this season, and the front office made it clear they expected more. But the rest of the NBA world, including other teams, analysts and fans, knew the Knicks were not going to be good.
They also know something the Knicks will not admit: there is a structural problem in the organization, and until it is solved, the team will continue to be mired in basketball ineptitude.
https://twitter.com/K_Zalew/status/1204635015109337089?s=20
The Knicks, at .400, have the worst winning percentage in the NBA in the last 20 years. What are the only constants in those years? Owner James Dolan, front office executive Steve Mills, and a propensity for unaccountability, insecurity, and questionable decisions.
After an NBA-worst record in 2018/19, The Knicks went into the offseason hoping to secure the number one pick in the NBA Draft, and get two superstar free agents. In fact, the Knicks traded their best draft pick since Patrick Ewing in Kristaps Porzingis just to clear cap space (a move they wouldn’t have needed to do if they didn’t give out horrible contracts in years prior) to sign top-tier talents. The Knicks, and Dolan, were confident they would get Zion Williamson, Kevin Durant, and Kyrie Irving.
Instead, they ended up with none of them.
So the Knicks pivoted and decided to sign a plethora of power forwards, not sign a floor general, and have no floor spacing for their team, ultimately setting Fizdale up for failure.
What once looked like a promising young core in R.J. Barrett, Kevin Knox, and Mitchell Robinson under young Head Coach Fizdale, now looks like the same old Knicks. Fizdale is going to get paid his remaining salary, and chances are he’s a whole lot happier not being a part of the most-losing franchise in this millennium.
It was reported that before the Knicks job was offered to him, Fizdale declined offers from the Atlanta Hawks, Charlotte Hornets, and Phoenix Suns. Fizdale, a bright young mind and a champion as an assistant coach with the LeBron James-led Miami Heat, didn’t even meet with the Milwaukee Bucks, home to superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo. That’s how much he wanted the Knicks job.
It is hard to imagine another smart coach making the same mistake.
The Knicks, at the behest of their thin-skinned owner, hold impromptu press conferences slamming the coach when they think the team should be better, instead of meeting with him to discuss such things privately.
The Knicks hold press conferences to acknowledge that the team did not sign the superstars fans thought they would, instead of staying silent on the issue like a regular franchise would. And then after a few weeks, the franchise claims they would not have even offered said superstar a max deal because he is dealing with an injury.
The franchise reeks of insecurity, and it all starts from the top. After all, a fish rots from the head. Now the Knicks are 4-20, after losing to the Portland Trail Blazers and Carmelo Anthony, the Knicks’ best player in recent memory, who they ran out of town. How’s that for irony?
Melo with some words of encouragement to the struggling Knicks. pic.twitter.com/So4BZ2q3UF
— Dime (@DimeUPROXX) December 11, 2019
After calling out and then abandoning the young coach that should have led the Knicks into the next decade, the Knicks are in no man’s land.
Actually, they are in a minefield, as every step the franchise takes has the potential to be catastrophic, and usually is. So there’s only one question left to ask, James Dolan, have you no shame?