Knicks Fire Coach David Fizdale

In a letter to season-ticket holders in April, Mills and Perry described an “extremely bright” future thanks to the Porzingis trade, which positioned the Knicks to “potentially sign up to two max free agents.”

But the Knicks could only watch helplessly on June 30 when the Nets — with no history as a destination for stars — secured free-agent commitments from Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving.

Hours after seeing Durant and Irving land with the Nets, Mills issued a statement to the news media acknowledging that “while we understand that some Knicks fans could be disappointed with tonight’s news, we continue to be upbeat and confident in our plans to rebuild the Knicks to compete for championships in the future, through both the draft and targeted free agents.”

In an October radio interview, Durant shed some light on how much the Knicks’ stature has diminished under Dolan since the franchise’s last trip to the N.B.A. finals in 1999, saying that younger players, unlike fans, don’t remember the Knicks ever being good.

“I remember the Knicks being in the finals, but the kids after me didn’t see that. So the brand of the Knicks isn’t as cool to them as, let’s say, the Golden State Warriors or even the Lakers or the Nets now,” Durant said. “The cool thing right now is not the Knicks.”

A coaching change is bound to lead to better efforts from the Knicks, but their problems run far deeper.

Neither Dennis Smith Jr., the standout player acquired from Dallas in the Porzingis trade, nor Kevin Knox, the Knicks’ top draft pick in 2018, has shown signs of progress this season. The players Mills and Perry did manage to sign in July when they whiffed on Durant and Irving have created a logjam at power forward.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/06/sports/basketball/david-fizdale-knicks-coach-fired.html?emc=rss&partner=rss