A day after the Knicks’ president and general manager held an unusual news conference to castigate the team after a blowout loss at home to the Cleveland Cavaliers, Coach David Fizdale played down speculation that his job was in danger.
Fizdale told reporters Monday at practice that he was in “constant communication” with the president, Steve Mills, and General Manager Scott Perry and that, as he begins a second season with another disappointing record, his contract was still in effect.
“We talk everyday,” Fizdale said. “We’re in constant communication with each other. We’re very raw with each other, good or bad. None of us have an ego about it.”
Asked whether he had received assurances about his job security, Fizdale noted he had two and a half years left on his contract.
“That’s one assurance,” he said. “That’s our business. Assurance is that I have a contract.”
On Sunday night, the Knicks were walloped by the Cavaliers, 108-97, dropping the team to 2-8, one of the worst records in the N.B.A.
Mills and Perry surprised reporters by appearing at a news conference lectern — without Fizdale — to express dissatisfaction with how the season was going.
Mills said they were “not happy with where we are — we are not where we expected to be,” after yet another defeat at home in which the team looked lethargic and outmatched.
“We think we collectively have to do a better job of delivering the product on the floor that we said we would do at the start of the season,” Mills said.
He added: “We still believe in our coaching staff. We believe in the plan that Scott and I put together. And the players that we assembled. But we also have to acknowledge that we haven’t played at the level we expected to play at.”
Asked about the owner of the franchise, James L. Dolan, Mills said he had spoken to him “all the time” over the course of the game.
“Jim still believes in the plan that we put together,” Mills said. “But he’s passionate as we are about this, so he would want us to have better results on the floor as well.”
On the subject of Fizdale, Mills said: “We have patience. We believe in coach, and we believe in the group that we put together.
“But we also know that, as Scott and I have said a number of times, we need to find a way to have a consistent level of effort and execution that has to pull itself together. It’s not good enough for us to play well for two quarters and then play poorly for two other quarters.”
Later Sunday night, Fizdale said that the Knicks’ “consistency is not there and I take full responsibility for that.”
For fans, this must all seem very familiar.
Although billed as one of the most storied teams in N.B.A. history, the Knicks haven’t won a championship since 1973 and have won only one playoff series since 2001. They haven’t made the finals since 1999. And this season has not gone according to plan either.
This Knicks team has been outscored on average by the second largest margin in the league. It has been among the league worst on both the offensive and defensive end. On Sunday, the Cavaliers led the whole game, at one time by 30 points. For perspective, even last season’s Knicks team got off to a slightly better start, at 3-7, and ended up with the worst record in the league.
This is not how this season was supposed to go, as Mills and Perry acknowledged. Even though the Knicks were spurned by several top-level free agents, the franchise was able to add veterans like Julius Randle and Marcus Morris on short contracts, in addition to a blue-chip prospect, R.J. Barrett.
Barrett, who had a hot start to the season and looked to be on his way to becoming a bona fide star, has been mired in a shooting slump — and the 4-for-11 performance against the Cavaliers didn’t help.
To make things worse, the Knicks’ cross-borough rivals, the Nets, added two A-list free agents over the summer that they were chasing: Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant. Once Durant returns from his leg injury, the Nets will be expected to compete for a championship, whereas the Knicks will have to hope to strike gold in the draft and next summer’s free agency.
As upset as Mills and Perry may be with the on-court results this season, they were the ones who decided to sign several players over the summer who essentially play the same position: Randle, Morris, Taj Gibson and Bobby Portis. And in spite of having cap space, the front office was unable to recruit top free agents in a deep class.
In September, Mills said that he was “excited” about how the summer had gone and that the roster was “consistent with how we said we’d build the team.” He also said, “New Yorkers are going to like this team.”
There is still a lot of season left. The Knicks will try to right the ship in their next four games against the Chicago Bulls, Dallas Mavericks, Charlotte Hornets and Cavaliers. The Mavericks game, on Thursday at Madison Square Garden, is expected to feature the former franchise cornerstone Kristaps Porzingis, whom the Knicks unexpectedly traded last year.
Porzingis has played well for the Mavericks. Most of the players the Knicks traded him for are no longer with the franchise.
Source: Basketball - nytimes.com
