Knicks ‘preparing to fire Fizdale’

The New York Knicks are preparing to fire coach David Fizdale after the team’s disappointing start to the season.

The Knicks have lost eight of their first 10 games to open the new NBA season and the last two games at Madison Square Garden have seen the team suffer heavy defeats on their home floor to first the Sacramento Kings and then, on Sunday, to the Cleveland Cavaliers.

During the Kings game, a section of the crowd could audibly be heard chanting for Fizdale to be fired and after the game against the Cavs, Knicks President Steve Mills spoke to the press with GM Scott Perry and criticised the team’s current position.

Mills said: “Scott and I are not happy with where we are right now.

“We think the team is not performing to the level that we anticipated or we expected to perform at, and that’s something that we think we collectively have to do a better job of delivering the product on the floor.”

A source close to Knicks revealed to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski on Monday night, following the news conference, that the team are now indeed getting ready to fire him.

It’s being interpreted as a move by Mills and Perry to convince team owner James Dolan that the team’s current plight is down to coaching dysfunction within the organisation, instead of the construction of the roster itself – which it is understood is viewed fairly dimly by the majority of front office executives across the league.

The source said: “Everyone is moving to their positions now. This is how they’ll make (Fizdale) the fall guy.”

Fizdale himself accepted responsibility for the defeat against the Cavaliers and recognises that the team needs to do better.

He said: “I take the brunt of that responsibility because I am the head coach.

“I make these decisions – what’s happening on the court, what players play, who plays together, what plays we call the defensive system. That’s on me.”

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