New interim coach Kurt Rambis said he may hire an extra assistant, but couched it as a “slim possibility”.
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Phil Jackson, the New York Knicks president, takes questions from reporters at the teams practice facility in Elmsford, NY.
Two teams on the wrong side of the postseason divide in the Eastern Conference face off when the New York Knicks host the Washington Wizards on Tuesday, but only one them will be operating under a new coach. Rambis coached the Minnesota Timberwolves from 2009 to 2011. The Knicks have fallen to 23-31 midway through Fishers second season, dropping his overall record to 40-96. He could choose the Knicks, but it is most likely is the case that he ends up coaching the L.A. Lakers since he played there.
“It’s a huge transition from being a player to a coach at any point in time, let alone the season after you retire from playing”.
“I respect Tom as a coach, he’s a very good coach”, he said. Jackson, who coached Fisher, believed that Fisher could turn the Knicks franchise around. We’ve had conflicts, we’ve had disagreements and we know how to work things out. He also said some players are untouchable.
Fisher’s credibility as a free-agent recruiter could have been hampered by the Matt Barnes fiasco that Jackson admitted was “embarrassing”. “When we’re talking about a system, it just happens to be a system that we are familiar with”.
Fisher seemingly lost favor within the organization due to his lack of player development. After that, Fisher coached one more game, a 101-96 loss to Denver, also at the Garden.
This season Barnes was fined $35,000 for his comments before a game against the Knicks when he said “violence is nver the answer, but sometimes it is”, a reference to his off-season incident with Fisher when he reportedly punched Fisher. He led the Bulls to five playoff appearances but was sacked by the Bulls and was replaced by rookie mentor Fred Hoiberg before the 2015-2016 NBA Season. Anthony being comfortable with the next coach will be integral to the Knicks having success, because if he doesn’t buy into what the new coach is selling the whole thing will be a disaster. Brooklyn had already dumped Lionel Hollins.
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Jackson said he has “complete confidence” in Rambis and added the team is not hunting for a coach at the moment. Obviously, Im disappointed, but have learned an vast amount from this experience and hope to grow from it. The Knicks went 17-65 last season but upgraded their roster during the summer with the drafting of Kristaps Porzingis and the signing of veterans Arron Afflalo and Robin Lopez. When Jackson took over the Lakers job in 1999, Rambis became the team’s assistant general manager and later joined Jackson’s bench as an assistant from 2001-04 and 2005-09 and was a part of two Lakers championships during that time. Or Phil Jackson could wait and perhaps make at a run at another of his former players, Luke Walton, who led the Warriors to the best start in National Basketball Association history while Kerr was recovering from back surgery.
