New York Knicks: Derek Fisher Shares Opinion Of Current Team

Former New York Knicks head coach Derek Fisher is not impressed with the job Jeff Hornacek is doing and believes he was doing more with less.

The New York Knicks are struggling mightily in the past couple of weeks. They have only five wins since Christmas and have dropped in the Eastern Conference standings. Their 21-29 record is pretty close to being on par with what Derek Fisher was leading them to.

We are coming up on almost one year since Phil Jackson relieved Fisher of his coaching duties. Fisher was let go last season when the Knicks had a 23-31 record. If you ask Fisher, he believes he was doing more with a less talented roster than what Jeff Hornacek is doing currently.

The Knicks were in the early stages of a rebuild with Fisher. Jackson had torn down the roster and was beginning to build it back up. They fought hard each and every night, but just didn’t have the talent to keep up with some teams.

Jackson changed that this offseason. He went all in on the win-now strategy, trading for Derrick Rose and signing Joakim Noah, Courtney Lee, and Brandon Jennings. Those moves have not panned out as hoped and Fisher believes he was doing a better job with less.

"“We were able to take a team that wasn’t as talented as the team they have now, and we were much better and much further along than this group is that they have now,” Fisher told Bleacher Report. “Because the foundation was being laid.“That’s different than just trying to coach basketball — and it takes longer. That’s the part that you can’t measure in wins and losses either. That’s what we were doing the best at.”"

Fisher has a point. The Knicks lost the most games in a single season in the 2014-15 season. They showed major improvements in 2015-16 as Jackson was able to add some good players, such as Robin Lopez, Kyle O’Quinn, Derrick Williams and Arron Afflalo. He also landed Kristaps Porzingis and Jerian Grant in the first round of the 2015 NBA Draft.

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A foundation was being laid as Fisher said, but Jackson changed course once he fired Fisher. Fisher was unhappy how things unfolded, saying, the positive work he was doing was overshadowed by opinion about a personal matter, speaking on his headline-grabbing incident with former teammate Matt Barnes‘ ex-wife. Fisher, also thought it was strange that his five-year pact was cut short without seeing it through.

Just add this to the list of distractions and negativity for the Knicks this season. Hornacek has had to deal with injuries, which leads to inconsistencies as players aren’t on the court together. Carmelo Anthony and Jackson’s relationship has reached the media and been distracting as well. Arguably atop the list was Rose’s bizarre incident earlier in January when he didn’t show up for a game.

Hornacek was asked about Fisher’s assessment and if there is an unwritten protocol that coaches follow in regards to commenting on the job other coaches are doing.

"“Well, I wouldn’t do it,” Hornacek said at the team’s morning shootaround in Washington, D.C. “I don’t think a lot of other guys would do it. But certain guys will.”"

Fisher still sounds bitter about how things went with the Knicks. It seems out of line for him to demean the work Hornacek is doing and feel wronged; he brought all of the unwanted attention upon himself with decisions he made off the court.

Fisher can feel wronged, but questioning what Hornacek is doing is just taking pot shots at an organization that is struggling. We didn’t hear anything from Fisher when the Knicks were winning in December; he waited until they were struggling to share his opinion.

Next: Is Carmelo Anthony Not Long For New York?

It seems each time that Fisher talks, he does more damage to his chances of becoming an NBA head coach once again. Personal matters aside, Fisher was not a great head coach. While the Knicks didn’t have the greatest talent, a head coach can close the gap with strong game plans and courtside presence; something Fisher didn’t seem to ever have when coaching the Knicks.

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