NBA Rumors: Coach David Fizdale Talks About Kristaps Porzingis’ Departure And Knicks’ Free Agency Chances
The New York Knicks currently hold the worst record in the NBA, and are set to miss the Eastern Conference Playoffs for the sixth consecutive year. However, despite suffering another disappointing season, most people in the Knicks’ organization remain very optimistic about their future. In a previous Inquisitr article, Knicks owner James Dolan expressed strong confidence that his team will have “a very successful offseason when it comes to free agents.”
In a recent interview with Marc Berman of the New York Post, Knicks Head Coach David Fizdale echoed the same sentiment, adding that they are currently hearing “better” feedback around the league about the culture they are building in New York.
“The beauty of it — as much as I love you guys — I try to have my baseline on people that are having to make decisions around the league when they look at our team,” Fizdale said after the Knicks practiced at a San Antonio church facility. “All of the feedback that we’ve gotten is young kids have gotten better, our guys compete their butts off. We set ourselves up big time for a great future and that’s what I’m listening to when I talk to my friends around the league and the feedback that I’m getting.”
Kevin Knox has been going through another rough stretch, but David Fizdale wants the rookie to "play through the pain." https://t.co/NarBGMipZd
— USA TODAY NBA (@usatodaynba) March 5, 2019
Like James Dolan, Coach David Fizdale believes that the Knicks will become an attractive destination for incoming free agent superstars in the summer of 2019. After dumping the lucrative contract of Tim Hardaway Jr. and Courtney Lee to the Dallas Mavericks before the February NBA trade deadline, the Knicks created enough salary cap space to sign two max free agents next July. In the past months, several NBA superstars have already been linked to the Knicks, including Kevin Durant of the Golden State Warriors and Kyrie Irving of the Boston Celtics.
However, not all people share the same view as Coach David Fizdale about the Knicks’ culture. Recently, Kristaps Porzingis took a subtle shot at the Knicks when praising the culture Dirk Nowitzki and J.J. Barea built in Dallas. Compared to his first three seasons in the NBA, Porzingis said that he’s “actually with a team 100 percent.”
Coach David Fizdale decided not to play into any controversy regarding Kristaps Porzingis’ recent comments, saying that he and the Latvian center had a good relationship in the limited time they spent together with the Knicks. Fizdale said that things just didn’t work out the way they expected and added that “everything doesn’t fit everybody.”
