Let’s be honest here: Phil Jackson was never really sold on Derek Fisher as an NBA coach, and Fisher was never really sold on coaching. While it is a mild shock Fisher has been let go here in February of his second year at the helm of the Knicks — This was supposed to be a more patient regime, was it not? — it is, in the end, a sort of reset for both sides.
Fisher was not supposed to be the Knicks’ coach. For much of the spring of 2014, when Jackson was looking to bring in a coach to implement the triangle offense in New York, it appeared Golden State would hire Stan Van Gundy and the Knicks would land one of Jackson’s former players, Steve Kerr.