Derek Fisher had some Strong Opinions on the Knicks Direction as a Frachise

By Djack

"We were doing a lot of really good things with the Knicks. That's what bothers me. The good that was being done got overshadowed by opinion, actually—inaccurate opinion about a personal matter. Nobody really knows what happened, because there's been just noise about what happened."What ultimately took place with Fisher's job was Jackson's deeming after a year-and-a-half that Fisher didn't have what it took to be the team president's protege or the right coach for the Knicks."To observe something from the place that Phil has sat and experienced, you can't compare to that," Fisher said. "You can't try and say someone else isn't doing it the way possibly one of the greatest who has ever been able to do it, did it when he did it. They don't teach ninth-grade algebra the same way they used to teach ninth-grade algebra." - Bleacher Report

 So, Derek Fisher started jawing off about the progress the Knicks were making under him, and ultimately blamed his firing on the personal matters between him and Matt Barnes; along with not being able to live up to Phil Jackson's legacy. The reality of the situation was Derek Fisher was screwed from the moment he took the job. Obviously it doesn't help that in his first few weeks with the team he got into an altercation with former teammate Matt Barnes for sleeping with his baby mama, but like in all sports winning cures everything. Too bad the Knicks couldn't win. The reason the Knicks couldn't win wasn't because of Fisher, it was because the second best player on the team that year was Langston Galloway, Tim Hardaway Jr., or Jose Calderon, pick your poison. Not to mention Carmelo Anthony sat out more than half the season. The players on the team were god awful almost to the point where I look back on that roster now and think how was this an NBA team. I don't care how good the system is, or how talented of a coach you have, no one was winning more than 20 games with that 2014-15 Knicks roster. The following season the Knicks added Aaron Affalo, Robin Lopez, Jerian Grant, and Kristaps Porzingis and the team improved dramatically despite how the New York media may have spun it. When you go from winning 17 games in 82 played to winning 23 games in 54 played that's moving in the right direction. Looking at the roster from that season it's obvious the Knicks weren't going to make the playoffs, they didn't have nearly enough talent, but at least they were moving in the right direction. Fisher was fired after 54 games, then Kurt Rambis took over, and Rambis won 9 games out of the remaining 28.

Fisher clearly was let go prematurely for whatever reason. Fisher believes it was because of the altercation with Barnes and because Phil Jackson had unrealistic expectations, I agree with the latter. Phil Jackson wanted to succeed so badly as an executive, unfortunately his plan to sign mark key free agents to put talent around Melo failed miserably. Apparently the 'Zen Master' couldn't quite woe the free agents by putting 11 Rings in front of them like he thought he would be able to. Pressure from the brutal NY media was pouring on and he needed a scapegoat. Fisher was the easiest guy to throw under the bus with media already on his back about his personal problems, so Phil decided to fire him to take the heat off himself. Well, it's now clear to the world that it wasn't Derek Fisher's fault, and Phil Jackson is the one to blame for the Knicks being a train wreck. Fisher will eventually get another shot in the league to coach, but Phil Jackson will never get an opportunity to be an executive after his tenure with the Knicks is up. Looks like Fisher will get the last laugh in this matter.