Fizdale spent 8 years with Miami during their championship run. In other words, he knows how to win.
I believe this goes without saying but it’s still necessary to stress- Fizdale knows how to win. We’re not going to make any predictions but the blueprint is there and he knows the talent he has to work with. Erik Spoelstra chimed in on his success and what it was like to work with him.
“You’re going to have an incredibly passionate coach and teacher and motivator,” Spoelstra said. “I think Fiz is one of the best basketball minds out there. He’s extremely creative. He’s got a terrific work ethic to match. He’s a versatile coach. He can show that he’s effective in all the different levels, player development, coaching, player management, X’s and O’s, all of those things.
His coaching style is what gives him a bit of an edge, too. If you think back, Fizdale was able to bump up the Grizzlies’ defense after they ranked 19th during the 2015-2016 season. He went into detail as to how he’s expecting them to play.
“I want to get up and down the court, I want to share the basketball, I want to attack the paint,” the Knicks coach told Chris Iseman of NorthJeresey.com. “But none of that will start without us being a great defensive team. We’re going to be a team that really plays a pressure, physical style of basketball, get a lot of deflections, try to get a lot of steals, get into the open court, earn the right to go play a more free-flowing, attacking style of offense.
You can certainly expect the Knicks to get in there this upcoming season.