NEW YORK — Derek Fisher stands alone these days.Until the New York Knicks win a whole lot of games that folks are not expecting them to win, the negative comparisons to Steve Kerr or Matt Barnes or even Phil Jackson will persist.
Fisher himself, though, might struggle to resist a comparison to Oklahoma City's Billy Donovan, because if Fisher hadn't jumped at the opportunity to prowl the sideline at the "World's Most Famous Arena" as the disciple of the world's most successful coach, Fisher quite likely would've gotten Kevin Durant's endorsement to coach the loaded Thunder toward the 2016 NBA championship instead of trying to forget the worst season in Knicks history.
But the stay-in-the-moment task now is for Fisher to do what he always has: identify areas in which he is insufficient and flat-out improve; accept abundant skepticism as fuel for proving his worth.
This is what he does.
Jackson knows, which is why he saw the leadership qualities of a great coach in Fisher.
Despite not possessing the basketball gifts of some of his teammates, Fisher didn't just manage to be a five-time NBA champion who ended his playing career being trusted for crunch-time minutes in the 2014 Western Conference finals, but was determined to make even more of himself off the court.
Besides the epic one-on-one games he played against teammate Kobe Bryant before and after Lakers practices, Fisher submitted himself to a lowly offseason internship for a sports agent early in his playing career. The willingness to put in whatever behind-the-scenes work was necessary placed Fisher in a remarkable number of moments in the spotlight…from the game-winning shot with 0.4 seconds left to down the Spurs in the 2004 playoffs to his daughter's fight against eye cancer to being union president at a critical time in the league's history to appearing at the 2008 Democratic National Convention and speaking at rallies on Barack Obama's behalf.
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And let's be honest, too, in remembering that Fisher's three-pointers locked up the pivotal Game 4 in Orlando in the 2009 Finals, and his incredible Game 3 in Boston was the only road game the Lakers won in 2010.
Character does matter in life's pursuits. It is what puts you on a path where a spotlight other than reality TV's temporary twinkle finds you.
So when the door opened to coaching the Knicks just a week after Fisher's final game, his seize-the-moment spirit was irrepressible. Recent NBA history shows patience might be the greater virtue in these cases: Jason Kidd's poor initial fit rushing into coaching the Brooklyn Nets' loaded roster, Mike D'Antoni's breaking his promise for family time and surgery recovery to join the Lakers in an ever-awkward, underachieving stint.
Fisher had for a long time planned on taking time after his finish as a player to plot his course, most likely entrepreneurial in nature, to allow for the family time he lost out on as a player.
Instead, Fisher jumped into coaching, got divorced and is losing believers by the day.
But the move fits his system, which at the core is to find what he wants and do whatever it takes to get it.
Coaching is just the latest iteration of his process.
"Just continuing to chip away at what my vision is for coaching and teaching and leading," Fisher told B/R of his approach this season. "Last year, coming in, I was learning and trying to figure out the best leadership styles. How do you work with players? How do you criticize players in a constructive way?
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"All these things were unknowns. Just really learning as I went along. Not that I know the world of basketball a year later, per se, but I'm just more confident in what it is I expect and better able to articulate that to our players. Being really clear about what I want and not so much me trying to find that vision.
"It'll be a journey that'll continue my entire career. But for sure, a year later, I feel much more comfortable about what I want."
Part of it is picking spots for his loquaciousness this season so that the players don't tune out his voice. The big beard makes him more Furious Styles than one of the boys in the hood. The agenda includes moving faster (especially on offense) and keeping the mood lighter.
A grinning Fisher popped into the Madison Square Garden locker room late Friday night and began windmilling his arm like a frantic third-base coach to get Carmelo Anthony to jump as the rest of the team waited to get going for the flight to Charlotte.
Anthony chuckled and got a move on. The Knicks had just beaten the Celtics—Anthony's renewed joy this season from a more relaxed manner was noticeable on the floor. The Fisher-like professionalism of new Knick Arron Afflalo had just been unveiled, and what Anthony said of Afflalo could've just as well been Bryant speaking of Fisher back in the day:
"Starts with your work ethic and what you do when the cameras are off. Everyone on this team knows what type of work he does."
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Andrew Bynum, Lamar Odom, Kobe Bryant and Derek Fisher.
Celtics coach Brad Stevens, who turns 39 Thursday, feels young in this NBA landscape, right? Well, Stevens had already begun coaching at the time Fisher was winning just the first of his championships as a player way back in 2000.
That's how much experience Fisher lacks here, no matter that he has polished stars such as Bryant and Durant and driven idlers like Andrew Bynum and Lamar Odom toward execution.
Indeed, it's people like Odom whom Fisher ponders, about what might have been had he taken Jackson's make-good offer to get his head above water instead of letting go of that NBA lifeline before Fisher could ever coach him.
Nothing can be done, Fisher knows, about past what-ifs, fan frustrations over this 15-year drought with just one Knicks playoff series won or speculation about signing Durant come summer.
The Knicks at least have better talent this time.
And you can bank on Fisher's being a better coach.
Get ready for a better Knicks season than anyone expects.
10/20/2015 1:09 PM