crzymdups wrote:nyknickzingis wrote:Phil Jackson just fired a coach who was a close friend.
He just called out Porzingis in a light way, and challenged him to play better basketball.
He talked about the needs.
He's doing the media and taking the heat now that a big move happened in Fisher being released.I don't see him going to the Lakers any time soon. He could go there in 2 years, if that happens so be it. I trust in the meantime he'll do everything in the best interests of the franchise. This story has been out there for a while, and it hasn't changed the fact that Phil drafted Porzingis. You draft a talent like Porzingis only if you're looking out for the longterm best interests of the franchise. The moves he's making, all moves for the longterm best interests of the team. If he sets us up right and goes to be with his wife, so be it. I trust he won't screw us along the way. I much rather have Phil for 3 or 4 years, than have some idiot GM who would have traded away our draft picks, signed away max contracts in free agency to players not even close to being max players.
Yeah, all that is fair.
I guess I just can't shake the feeling that there was something fishy (no pun intended) about the Fisher firing.
Like maybe it was Dolan who ordered it and Phil is fed up?
We had something like this with Donnie Walsh and D'Antoni - supposedly MDA decided to call it quits on his own. Walsh supposedly supported it. Then Walsh quietly left the team two months later.
I wouldn't be surprised if this firing was a Dolan overreaction. It just doesn't make sense with the whole culture thing Phil was trying to build. I think Phil would've been much more about "the process" as Fisher claimed to be, than about "the business of winning."
Also there is the fact that it comes right after playing Memphis twice in the past three weeks (supposedly Dolan and Phil were very down on the whole Barnes situation. I almost wonder if the whole team was - this 1-10 stretch started and ended with losses to Memphis - both games Melo sat out).
I am getting serious bad vibes on this and I think something funky is going on behind the scenes.
I am not blaming Phil - but I think there may be a larger clash going on behind the scenes that we will find out a lot more about this summer or maybe sooner.
I don't think it was Dolan.
I think it was 3 simple things
1. Team was in a tail spin and he lost confidence in fisher. If team crumbled the next 30 games we'd (a) hurt our FA attractiveness and (b) affect our players confidence. Was a calculated judgment about whether fisher would pull it out or whether new coach was needed
2. And this was probably big: I think he was fed up with the lack of cohesion among coaching staff and fishers "got it" replies to phil's emails etc. he wanted cohesion and communication. And cohesion doesn't mean having a bunch of "yes" men assistants. But means coaches sharing a vision of the team and challengings each other's thought processes for the betterment of the team. He didn't want "got its" which could come across as passive aggressive. He wanted follow up discussions. I was always turned off by fishers irritability when phils name came up
3. And this I'm less sure of: phil might have come to the conclusion that fisher simply wasn't good enough. That he was running the risk of a tailspin and all that would come with it, for an average or slightly above average coach at best. Was it better to fire him now, or at the end of the season
I trust his judgment. (Which is odd given how much I hated him when he was with the Bulls)
