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David Fizdale isn’t likely to last much longer as head coach of the New York Knicks, so here’s a look ahead to five potential replacement candidates.
The New York Knicks are going to fire head coach David Fizdale soon. They just are. Barring some miraculous turnaround, the Knicks’ 2-8 start and an impromptu press conference from team president Steve Mills and general manager Scott Perry indicated Fiz was on the hot seat, even before ESPN‘s Adrian Wojnarowski confirmed Monday that they were angling for his release.
To be fair, the front office didn’t do its part in constructing a functional roster over the summer. Missing out on the big fish like Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, Kawhi Leonard and Kemba Walker was a massive letdown after trading away Kristaps Porzingis in a move that cleared out max cap space, but failing to upgrade the roster in any significant way while holding half the league’s power forwards for ransom was just as vexing.
With that being said, Fizdale has also done a crummy job. His rotations have been highly suspect, and despite all the positional overlap, New York still has enough established veterans to at least be somewhat competitive. A 2-8 record with a conference-worst minus-10.1 point differential is unacceptable, especially with the team’s last three losses against the Cleveland Cavaliers, Detroit Pistons and Sacramento Kings coming by a combined 62 points.
Both can be true: The Knicks did a poor job assembling their roster this summer, and Fiz has done a poor job trying to manage it.
The question, then, in the wake of Fizdale’s public undermining that will make it nearly impossible for him to do his job, is who will be the next head coach of the Knicks when he’s inevitably canned? Let’s take a look at the best potential candidates.
Honorable Mentions:
- Jay Wright — Wright has thrived at the college level with a modern, NBA-caliber offense, but he’s not leaving Villanova after winning two championships in the last four years.
- Mike Woodson — Woodson served as head coach of the Knicks from 2011-14, most recently serving as an assistant with the LA Clippers, but fresh blood should be the priority over a retread, even if he was at the helm during the Knicks’ most successful season since 1997.
- David Blatt — An underrated option who had to take the fall in Cleveland, but his struggle with Primary-Progressive Multiple Sclerosis could make a return to the NBA tricky.
- Becky Hammon — Hammon should (and will) eventually get her shot, but the media storm this would conjure up might prove to be more of a distraction than anything. Plus, Hammon actually deserves nice things and a competent roster when she finally makes the jump as the NBA’s first female head coach.