David Fizdale, the recently fired head coach of the New York Knicks, is not a martyr, though you’d be forgiven for any confusion. Luminaries such as San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich and LeBron James have eulogized Fizdale as if he were a doomed hero tossed into war by negligent leadership. On those terms, his NBA death isn’t so bad: Fizdale will cash some $17m in checks from the league’s most dysfunctional franchise over the next two seasons, a happy return for him on 18 months of forgettable work. To be clear: his bosses did suck, and the roster was wretched, but Fizdale didn’t really give the world any reason to mourn him, either. The widespread support for the canned coach comes as no surprise. Across the league, the youngish, charismatic Fizdale is about as admired as the ancient, accursed Knicks are ridiculed. Players get along with him. He seems to be a good guy. In fact, Fizdale’s talent for relationship building was a major reason he was … [Read more...] about David Fizdale was another example of the tragedy of the Knicks’ bad taste
