The slumping New York Knicks sacked Derek Fisher on Monday, promoting Kurt Rambis to the job of interim head coach in a bid to reverse their sagging NBA fortunes.
“It’s time for us to make a change, turn this team around and move forward,” Knicks president Phil Jackson said on Monday afternoon, hours after the team confirmed the move in a statement posted on the club’s Web site.
The decision to axe Fisher, who was hand-picked by Jackson prior to the 2014-2015 season, despite his lack of coaching experience, came a day after the Knicks fell 101-96 to the Denver Nuggets at Madison Square Garden — the Knicks’ season-high fifth straight defeat and their ninth defeat in their past 10 games.
“We have never been truly consistent,” Fisher said on Sunday night. “The reality is that we have chances to win these games, but we are not winning them.”
Jackson said that was just not good enough.
“Some of the onus is on the players,” Jackson said. “It’s a lot easier to fire a coach than 15 players. Unfortunately, it’s not always the coach. There’s a way for them to play better that we should see... We want this team competitive day in and day out.”
Fisher was hired on June 10, 2014, after the Knicks were unable to lure Steve Kerr — who instead coached the Golden State Warriors to last season’s NBA title.
Fisher finishes with an overall record of 40-96.
The Knicks have shown vast improvement from their 17-65 campaign of 2014-2015, but they have veered off course in recent weeks and fallen from playoff contention to 12th in the Eastern Conference — five games behind the No. 8 team.
“I want to express my deepest gratitude to [owner] James Dolan, Phil Jackson, [general manager] Steve Mills and the entire New York Knicks organization for giving me this incredible opportunity,” Fisher said in a statement.
“I also want to thank my staff, players and the fans for their passion and support. This is a very talented team with strong character and I am confident they will succeed,” he said.
Rambis, who was serving as associate coach, becomes the 27th head coach in franchise history. His 18 years of NBA coaching experience includes a stint as head coach of the Minnesota Timberwolves in the 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 seasons.
Rambis was a part of eight Los Angeles Lakers title-winning teams, four as a player and four as a coach or executive.
“I have big confidence in his ability to coach this team,” Jackson said of Rambis, who met with the players on Monday.
“We’ve got to figure out a way to right this ship so we can make a push for the playoffs,” Rambis said.
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