New York Knicks: How will David Fizdale’s time as coach be remembered?

Anirudh Subramanian

I have two words for David Fizdale’s time as head coach: epic failure.

Fizdale will be the scapegoat for the lowest moment in New York Knick history. Over his tenure with the Knicks, the .202 winning percentage was the lowest in team history. Add that they struck out on all marquee free agents this year, which was a main reason the Knicks even hired him.

Last year, Fizdale got a break because the Knicks were clearly tanking for Zion Williamson and waiting for the 2019 offseason, The ping-pong balls did not bounce in their favor, though.

The Kevin Durant-Kyrie Irving situation was the killer. All year they were seemingly locked to the Knicks, but they snubbed them for Brooklyn.

After the dust settled, the Knicks front office signed seven veterans, so improvement was expected. Instead, they sat at 4-18, when he was fired. It sure looked like the Knick players gave up on Fizdale after back-to-back losses by a combined 81 points. The Knicks became unwatchable.

To be honest, Fizdale got a raw deal. The roster was not constructed well, with too many of the same kind of players, and a bunch of one-year deals is never easy to coach as many guys will be gunning for their numbers as they look forward to their next contract. But it seemed Fizdale could not get the most out of the roster, as he was content on isolation basketball, lacking any creativity.

In the end, Fizdale is the scapegoat for the lowest moment in Knicks’ history. Things cannot get any worse.