Report: Knicks Fire Head Coach David Fizdale After Less Than 2 Seasons With Team
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- According to multiple reports, the New York Knicks have fired their head coach, David Fizdale, after a dismal start to his second season at the helm of the franchise.
Fizdale leaves the Knicks after a 4-18 start to the 2019-20 NBA season and was coming off two of the most embarrassing losses of the year -- a 44-point loss to the Bucks on Monday and a 37-point blowout to the Nuggets Thursday night.
Fizdale coached the team to a 17-65 last season, his first with the team. He finishes his brief tenure in New York with a 21-83 record.
The news was first reported by ESPN reporter Adrian Wojnarowski.
Knicks fired coach David Fizdale, league source tells ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) December 6, 2019
The writing was on the wall with this move, but the timing is curious. The Knicks had a terrible offseason, landing none of the big name players, and once the season began it got worse.
The Knicks are a quarter of the way through the season and only have four wins; putting them on pace for the worst season in franchise history. Last month the team's president and general manager held a strange press conference in support of Fizdale, but recently the Knicks have gone on an eight-game losing streak -- leading up to those final two routs.
Even at practice Friday, Fizdale seemed in good spirits while talking with his bosses, CBS2's Steve Overmyer reports. He didn't get the axe until after the media left the facility.
The Knicks have had six different coaches this decade and are on pace to miss the playoffs for the seventh straight year. At this point, New York has not made the move official.
New York will turn to its 13th coach since Jeff Van Gundy resigned in the 2001-02 season. The Knicks have been one of the worst franchises in sports since, with just a single playoff series victory and a current stretch of six straight losing seasons.
They believed a turnaround could come this summer, when they had enough money to sign two superstars after trading All-Star Kristaps Porzingis to Dallas last summer.
But Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving agreed to join Brooklyn in the opening hours of free agency and the Knicks had to move on to players that included Julius Randle, Bobby Portis, Taj Gibson and Marcus Morris - who largely play the same position.
Assistant Mike Miller has reportedly been named the interim head coach.
Miller joined the Knicks staff this season after four years in charge of the Westchester Knicks. He led the NBA G League franchise to a 108-92 (.540) record and was the league's coach of the year in 2017-18.
(© Copyright 2019 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)