Mike Woodson is among 11 candidates who interviewed for the Knicks’ head coaching job, but he would be happy as an assistant if David Fizdale is hired, relays Marc Berman of The New York Post.
Fizdale is reportedly among the favorites, along with Mike Budenholzer and David Blatt, as the Knicks get closer to a decision. Woodson is currently the top assistant with the Clippers, but Doc Rivers isn’t certain to return next season and Woodson said he would listen if offered a similar post under Fizdale in New York.
“I love David. I gave him his first job on the bench — I know he worked one season before in Golden State,” he said. “We’re very close. I’m sure he would call.’’
Fizdale, who is set to interview with the Magic, has also talked to the Hornets and Hawks, along with the Suns, who will fill their vacancy with Igor Kokoskov. Fizdale spent four seasons as Woodson’s assistant in Atlanta and they share an agent, so they have a good working relationship.
If Fizdale does come to New York, he may not have access to all the assistants he had in Memphis, which decided to keep interim coach J.B. Bickerstaff, Berman adds. That group is made up of Keith Smart, Bob Bender, Nick Van Exel, Greg Buckner and Adam Mazarei. Heat assistant Juwan Howard, who worked with Fizdale in Miami and interviewed for the Knicks’ opening as well, could be a candidate for Fizdale’s staff.
Woodson called his interview with Knicks president Steve Mills and GM Scott Perry a “great meeting,” adding that “everyone’s just waiting.”
Fizdale is legit, hard nosed coach who’s not afraid of telling it how it is. Marc was too sensitive to learn from Marc, that’s why he’ll never be a cbampion.
True, it’s hard to be a cbampion when you don’t learn from yourself
All David wanted was Marc to take his game to another level and Marc took it personal.
Well I was just making a joke about your comment but I’ll play. What more could Marc have done? Conley is always hurt, they got rid of Z-Bo and Tony Allen, who were the identity of the Grizzlies, they’re wasting so much money on Chandler Parsons and had no other shooters. Dave Joerger didn’t even deserve to be fired for Fizdale in the first place. You don’t think Marc would be a little pissed off after all of that? And on top of it, having the new guy come in and act like he knows everything? Telling an NBA vet how to do his job? Come on, this was an underachieving, undermanned team from the start, built on fringe stars with frequent injuries. Marc Gasol deserves exactly 0% of the blame.
In fact, he’s probably the only player that even cared about winning.
He should just shut it and play, he’s payed millions to play basketball not cry.
They were a perennial playoff team, they didn’t re-sign any of his day 1 teammates, and eventually committed to tanking. You’re telling him to shut up about wanting to win? Eric Bledsoe tweeted that he didn’t wanna be on the Suns. Good veteran players don’t want to play for rebuilding teams.
Plus he was mad at getting benched!! How do you shut up and play when the coach puts you on the bench?
That’s an asinine statement. Because a person is being paid millions means he can be treated less than? No it doesn’t. I don’t know what happened in Memphis but it was enough for Fizdale to be fired.
If someone is paying me 20+ million per year with a contract total over 100 million to play a game…yeah, I’ll shut my mouth and do my job. Entitlement to whine because you make loads of money shouldn’t enable you. Most of these players take it for granted. It’s a privilege to get paid like they do. And it wasn’t like Gasol was being treated like the village idiot, he was benched and challenged. If he’s soft, that’s his problem.
Fizdale is pretty much liked across the NBA and has had a record of success. If he had other player issues, I’d question him. But there aren’t.
I just wish the Knicks had hired Bud.
They’re not whining because they have money, they’re whining because they’re human. Humans whine ALL the time. Or are you insinuating that athletes should not be treated like humans? And anyway’s Marc Gasol was making that money regardless, but he actually WANTED to be on the floor to earn his money. How is Marc Gasol the bad guy in this situation at all? Everything was fine before Fizdale got hired there anyway. Not saying he’s a bad coach at all, like he’s great, but you gotta know how to deal with every player as a coach, not just the one’s you’re buddy-buddy with. I agree on the Bud thing he would’ve been great to develop a culture there like Brett Brown did in Philly, but Fizdale’s outspoken style probably suits New York better. Better to keep the Knicks interesting.
Paid – receiving money for work
Payed – sealing a wooden ship with tar
Sorry, pet peeve.
This is a different job than Memphis, which is a team that, when he was hired, was built to win then. So, it’s really not important to me if he was the right guy there. The question is can he work with a team that has to focus on development and evaluation right now, with a roster having some talent, but as many question marks, and do in conjunction with this front office? The hope would be to get a guy who can deal with losing for a year or so and be the right guy going forward when they’re ready to win. I have no idea, but Woodson possibly joining him isn’t a plus in my mind.
Dionis, as usual you have the 100% wrong take.
yoyo nailed a lot of it, and the other thing not being considered is that Fiz asked him to step up during Marc’s 10th season at 33 years old. Most guys don’t get better in their mid 30’s.
His numbers across the board were either as good if not better than his career averages, and he did it in the same 33 minutes per game that he has averaged throughout his career.
And as for the shut up and stop whining, have you also told that to LeBron, Whiteside, Westbrook, etc, etc?
I live in Memphis and while it was handled poorly, letting Fiz go was the best for everybody, though they probably should’ve sold on Marc for a first rounder. As for the Knicks, i think his attitude is exactly what they need. He’ll have them playing a structure almost similar to the Knicks of the 90s. In a weak Eastern conference, they could show massive improvement once KP is healthy. Adding Juwon Howard and Mike Woodson to the bench would be a big improvement for my hometown Knickerbockers