New York Knicks 2015-16 Team Regular Season Grades

Derek Fisher

Derek Fisher was Phil Jackson’s first hand picked head coach after he missed out on Steve Kerr. If Kerr’s success wasn’t enough to disappoint, the disaster that Fisher turned into on the sidelines only made things that much worse.

Fisher coached the Knicks through the worst season in franchise history in his rookie coaching campaign, as the team went 17-65. Things did look like they were getting better this season though, as the Knicks were competitive and around the .500 mark for the first half of the season. But, it seemed as if the Knicks were winning sometimes in spite of Fisher, not because of him.

His inconsistent rotations were frustrating as no one could get into a rhythm. He constantly changed his minute distributions as players were unable to build any chemistry as well. His inability to set a rotation was troublesome, but his decision making, such as plays out of timeout, were tough to watch as well.

Fisher just did not seem ready to be a head coach, as Jackson essentially admitted to making a mistake when he fired Fisher February 8th in the middle of stretch of games in which the Knicks lost nine of 10. As if the on-court performance wasn’t poor enough, Fisher also made headlines off the court for the wrong reasons.

He was involved in an altercation with ex-teammate Matt Barnes’ estranged wife which made resulted in suspensions and fines. Fisher was also found to be doing the same to his own players, specifically Tim Hardaway Jr., before the guard was traded to the Atlanta Hawks during the 2015 NBA Draft.

That kind of behavior is unacceptable for a head coach, and only added to the reasons for him to be fired. Fisher could receive another head coaching job in the future, but he did very little to improve his stock with a 40-96 record as the head man for the Knicks.

Grade: F

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