Knicks fire head coach Derek Fisher

New York Knicks president Phil Jackson fired Fisher as the team’s head coach Monday and promoted assistant Kurt Rambis as interim coach.

New York Knicks head coach Derek Fisher during the second half of the game against the Charlotte Hornets at Time Warner Cable Arena. The Los Angeles Lakers are said to be quite interested in Walton, especially as they are being forced to witness Byron Scott having issues with rookie guard D’Angelo Russell and second year forward Julius Randle, two players who are supposed to be the building block of the future.

Fisher’s Knicks went just 17-65 in his first year and are 23-31 this season.

Fisher finishes his Knicks coaching career with an overall record of 40-96.

His pitch to become the new head coach of the Knicks may have come as a surprise, but weirder things have happened in NY. High-profile Jackson acolytes like Luke Walton and Brian Shaw are waiting in the wings. “So it was a very hard situation, regardless of where he coached”, Rambis said. To be fair to the Knicks, Fisher’s time with the team hadn’t exactly been pretty.

But if you peel back the 60s-era psychobabble and read the iPad screenshot closely, Phil Jackson may have just revealed a willingness to let the Knicks steer away from his beloved triangle offense.

Thibodeau is a highly respected veteran head coach who enjoyed success with the Chicago Bulls in the previous five seasons.

Not immediately clear was how much, if at all, Fisher’s well-publicized offseason confrontation with the Memphis Grizzlies’ Matt Barnes might have played into Jackson’s decision. Fans loudly booed when they fell behind by 19 points Sunday during a 101-96 loss to the Denver Nuggets.

He won five NBA championships in that span, distributing the ball to hall of fame center Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant, one of the most prolific shooters to ever play basketball.

“I’ve been around too long to have that hope”, Rambis said of being the coach beyond this season.

In 1996, the Knicks chose to retain interim coach Jeff Van Gundy while the Nets pursued former Knicks coach Rick Pitino, then coaching at Kentucky, before settling for another big-name college coach, John Calipari.

“So we’ve got to figure out a way to right this ship so that we can make a push to get into the playoffs”, Rambis said.