Hours before the firing of fired head coach David Fizdale, Knicks players — led by veteran Marcus Morris — held a players-only meeting in support of their now former coach, Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News reports.
Morris stressed accountability and unselfishness to the roster and singled out Julius Randle and RJ Barrett, sources told Bondy. The meeting occurred prior to Fizdale running practice on Friday, hours before his dismissal.
New York was coming off back-to-back blowout losses at the hands of the Bucks and Nuggets. The Knicks became the seventh team in NBA history to suffer losses of 35 points or more in back-to-back contests. Questions surrounding Fizdale’s job security lingered ever since team president Steve Mills and general manager Scott Perry‘s impromptu press conference in mid-November.
At 4-18, the Knicks have the worst record in the NBA and appear headed for another 50-loss season. The team named former G League coach Mike Miller the interim head coach. Now, questions surround not only who will be the Knicks’ next coach but also, Mills’ tenure as team president appears to be winding down.
All told, after missing out on marquee free agents this summer, the Knicks pivoted to signing several role players to fill out the roster. Thus far, it has resulted in the NBA’s worst record and the firing of their head coach 22 games into the season.
Absolute terrible roster construction
Worst record! Top pick! Mills is brilliant!
/s. Seriously, if none of the major FAs wanted to go there, Mills & assoc. did the best they could, given minimum salary requirements for teams. Of course, that means someone guessed wrong… and, why roster clear-outs are not common. They couldn’t even make the gambit work in NYC!
What the heck are you talking about
Funny how Morris points out at the 2 best players in the team! What a loser he should be pointing at himself, what a bum!
Funny how Morris is point blame but none for himself. He’s just been lucky when chucking up bad shots
WTF! Are you serious? Morris has been the one shining light for this team Randall has been a joke of a contract already and Barrett is yet to really show he deserved to be the third overall pick. As a duke guy I can tell you Barry when it’s all said and done will be a genius of a selection but as a Lakers fan I can tell you that he will regret signing Randall the guy is trash.
So, the Knick players had a team meeting to support the HC, but didn’t tell anyone about it until after he’s fired. Maybe Morris should be HC. I’ve been looking for a Knick HC that might hold players accountable for some time.
Have you? You seemed to be one of the loudest Fiz haters, so this is confusing to me
Man, Fiz is just one of the worst HC’s in history, he has totally screwed his 2 gigs, & never got along with his players!
You keep thinking you’re agreeing with me, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Fizdale is lauded by players, and has done a great job developing guys, or helping even great players get better in some areas, most notably, turning Chris Bosh into an all time defender
I don’t agree with you because anyone can see he hasn’t developed any player in NYC, if anything is made them worst, he didn’t get along with one of the nicest guys in the league, Marc Gasol, he has been fired after just 100 games in both Memphis & NYC, his rotations & press conferences are totally out of touch with the real world… you must be related to the dude because he sucks big time, as a matter of fact!
He benched Gasol one time during a comeback win. Get over yourself. And if you havent seen the development of multiple players, both last year and thos year, you havent watched anything. You barely use coherent language or comprehension, so that isnt surprising
Ask LeBron James or Dwyane Wade or Chris Bosh about Davod Fizdale, then tell me that he somehow isnt a players coach. This article is legit about his players being on his side rofl