The New York Knicks have lost five games in a row and nine of their last 10 to bring their record down to 23-31, which has them five games back of the eighth spot in the Eastern Conference. The poor recent play got the team to thinking that it was time to make some changes, and that's exactly what it did. Early Monday morning it was reported that head coach Derek Fisher was fired, and that has since been confirmed, according to NBA.com.
Fisher was handpicked by team president Phil Jackson two offseasons ago to be the Knicks head coach so that he could implement the triangle offense, but his tenure had not gone as planned. Last season the Knicks were abysmal, but Fisher was retained because the roster wasn't very good. So far this season the team has shown signs of being a playoff contender, but recently the Knicks have been underwhelming. Fisher ends his Knicks coaching career with a 40-96 record in about a season and a half.
Associate head coach Kurt Rambis will take over as the interim head coach. Rambis was drafted by the Knicks back in 1980 and does have head coaching experience with the Minnesota Timberwolves from 2009-2011 when he had a record of 56-145. Rambis is expected to finish out the season as the head coach, according to Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN, before the team looks for a full-time coach in the offseason.
As for who that full-time guy might be, there have already been many names mentioned. The big name being thrown out is Tom Thibodeau, who reportedly has always wanted the Knicks job. Thibodeau is currently unemployed after being fired by the Chicago Bulls after last season, but he has been holding out for the right job which might just be in New York. Thibodeau would "crawl to Madison Square Garden" to take the job, according to Ian O'Connor of ESPN.
Other names being mentioned as long-term replacements for Fisher are Brian Shaw and Luke Walton, according to Brian Windhorst of ESPN. Shaw is the former head coach of the Denver Nuggets, where he was fired in the middle of last season. Walton is the associate head coach of the Warriors but was the acting head coach while heaed coach Steve Kerr was out, and he won the Coach of the Month award in November.
