As they researched the coaching candidacy of David Fizdale, members of the Knicks hierarchy interviewed many of those who had interacted with him in the past. But they did not meet with Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra, who had a long relationship with Fizdale. They didn’t have to talk with Spoelstra.
They had already talked to Pat Riley.
“After you talk to Pat you don’t need to talk to me,” Spoelstra said Wednesday on a conference call. “You talk to the godfather and he gives the go-ahead, you don’t need to talk to anybody else. Shut down all the interviews and you don’t have to call for references, any of that.