New York Knicks & Rumors: Derek Fisher Not Ready for Head Coaching Job, Says Robert Horry
The New York Knicks had a disastrous season in their first year under rookie head coach Derek Fisher. For seven-time NBA champion Robert Horry, the decision to hire Fisher as coach was not a good decision.
Horry, who played alongside Fisher during their stint with the Los Angeles Lakers, said in an interview in the Boomer & Carton Show on WFAN that Knicks president and his former coach Phil Jackson made a bad decision. He said that Fisher did not become an effective coach during his rookie year because he has just ended his playing career.
"I love Derek to death," Horry said of Fisher. "Why bring him in to coach a team with people that he played against and played with? You can't tell me anything."
Horry admitted that if he was a player of the Knicks last season, he will also have a hard time listening to Fisher.
"If I played basketball and you played with me, and all of a sudden you become my head coach, there isn't anything you can tell me," Horry added. "Because your years in the league were just as long as mine. Why are you coaching me? That's one of the things that I hate."
The Knicks had their worst season in franchise history this year, finishing with a measly 17-65 record -- the worst record in the Eastern Conference. Earlier in the season, Dennis Rodman also took a swipe at Fisher and the decision of Jackson to pick Fisher to coach a struggling franchise.
"Derek Fisher's not really coaching," Rodman told Newsday in December. "I know Phil is trying to throw his input in the background but who expected this from Phil?"
Fisher is aware of the criticisms about his coaching and the performance of the Knicks last season, but the 40-year-old said in a recent interview with the New York Post that he is expecting major improvements next season.
Fisher said that he thinks they can win 63 games next season if they want to and also depending on the moves they will make in the offseason. The Knicks hold the fourth overall pick in the upcoming draft and will have enough cap space to make a run at signing key free agents this summer.
"We are 6-21 in games decided by six points or less this year. So we lost 21 games on two possessions," Fisher said of their performance during the regular season. "So we don't have to go from 15 to 36 next year. We can go from 15 to 63 if we really want to. But that is up to us."
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