It was expected and still somewhat surprising.
Derek Fisher had accepted the offer to become the head coach of the New York Knicks, but for a moment, he was something else — a little boy from Little Rock, Ark.
Sacramento Kings assistant coach Corliss Williamson looked down at his phone Tuesday, appreciating how far he and his fifth-grade AAU teammate had come.
“Who would’ve ever thought 30 years ago we’d be coaching in the NBA now?” Fisher wrote in a text message.
Fisher’s long path started with small steps, a journey which began with watching someone else’s journey — his half brother, Duane Washington.
Fisher followed Washington’s footprints, almost literally, often shadowing the sibling 10 years his senior as they walked to the Parkview High School gym, located behind their house. One of three children, Fisher watched his older brother play as he one day hoped to play, stepping on the floor when Washington needed someone to throw him passes. It is a role Washington would later assume when Fisher joined the Lakers.
“They went to the gym all the time. He definitely had a big influence on him,” Williamson said. “We followed him and understood his career and the things he went through.”
The things he went through helped Fisher avoid the same mistakes.
Fisher saw greatness in his half brother. He understood what it looked like at an early age. And he saw how it could be squandered, how expectations can evaporate overnight.
Washington was drafted in the second round of the 1987 NBA Draft, but only played parts of two seasons — amounting to 19 games — with the Nets and Clippers. In October 1988, while with the Nets, Washington was suspended for two years by the league for drug use. His cocaine addiction sent him to rehab, where his little brother would call him every day with encouragement and support.
“He was just kind of saying, ‘There’s other opportunities, it’s not the end of the road,’ ” Washington, who was sentenced to 60 days in jail last year for a hit-and-run in Michigan, told the Los Angeles Times in 2001. “A lot of the times, he just kind of reemphasized that what I went through, it would kind of keep him going and keep him going in the right direction and not fall in the same path.”
Fisher would not let it happen to him. Close with both his parents — Annette and John, a retired military officer — he would not let it happen to them again.
In his autobiography, “Character Driven: Life, Lessons and Basketball,” Fisher wrote: “With my half brother’s problems with substance abuse taking a toll on all of us at home, I knew better than to mess with that stuff. I’d seen how sad Duane’s problems had made my mother and father, and I didn’t want to do anything that would add to their pain. … I knew there was a line, and if I crossed it, I would have to pay for it dearly.”
Improvement was everything for Fisher. Work was his focus. It was a reason to wake up, not a reason to want to stay in bed. It was the path to better days, not a reason the day couldn’t end soon enough.
“If some of us were out partying or hanging out with guys, he was getting up extra shots or in the weight room or working on his game,” Williamson said. “He’s always had great character. He’s always been the same guy.”
The skinny kid who couldn’t make Parkview’s varsity team in 10th grade would lead his school to a state title two years later. Under-recruited, Fisher accepted his lone college offer from Arkansas-Little Rock, but a tumultuous freshman season brought a test.
The players had numerous problems with coach Jim Platt and wanted him fired. They had already skipped a practice, and were threatening to boycott a game. It looked like the roster could be barren by the end of the season.
Teammates looked to Fisher — the future NBA union president — for leadership, and athletic director Mike Hamrick looked to an 18-year-old to help save the program, meeting with him multiple times on behalf of the team.
“He was the calming voice in a very difficult situation,” Hamrick said. “He knew the issues and the concerns, but he also he knew what was right and what was wrong. The players weren’t going to play, and I needed Derek to help get them back out on the court. I don’t know if I would’ve gotten through that situation without Derek helping me get through it. He was instrumental in working everything out.”
Platt was fired by season’s end, and Fisher’s growth in college continued under coach Wimp Sanderson. Fisher was Sunbelt Player of the Year as a senior, but his attitude remained consistent — just keep working, just keep getting better.
Ken Coggins, the former strength and conditioning coach at Little Rock, formed a close bond with Fisher, sharing similarly deep religious beliefs, while providing a voice that confirmed Fisher’s confidence mattered more than others’ doubts.
“He’s the same person whether 1,000 people are watching or no one’s watching. That’s his work ethic,” Coggins said. “One day we were in the weight room for three hours and I’d never seen a young man hurting the way he was. He couldn’t even drive home. And he still wanted more.
“Nobody really thought he could be that good, and he just wanted to prove it to the world. He always saw the big picture.”
The 24th pick in the 1996 NBA Draft, Fisher arrived in Los Angeles with fellow Lakers rookie Kobe Bryant. There he grew from a role player to a starter on one of the greatest teams in basketball history, cementing a legacy as one of the game’s all-time clutch shooters in two stints with the Lakers — earning five NBA titles — including the biggest shots of the 2009 NBA Finals, as well as the seemingly impossible 0.4-second buzzer-beater against the Spurs in the 2004 playoffs.
“Instead of being one of the many, he found a way to create a niche for himself and grow and take on a bigger role,” said former teammate Rick Fox, now an analyst for NBA TV. “That’s what makes him unique. A lot of people don’t know how to deliver when given an opportunity. He doesn’t wilt under the pressure. He’s paid his dues. When given an opportunity to get in the door, he does more with that opportunity.
“Respect is earned, so it wasn’t something the teammates or coaches just handed out to him. There’s no greater guy you could have on your team.”
Nothing Fisher had experienced in Los Angeles was like that night in Salt Lake City, however.
During the 2007 playoffs in his lone season in Utah, Fisher’s 10-month-old daughter, Tatum, one of his four children, was suffering from retinoblastoma, a rare cancer of the eye. Tatum was treated at Manhattan’s Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and Fisher made several trips to New York.
Tatum had surgery on the day of Game 2 of the Western Conference semifinals against the Warriors. After the successful, potentially life-saving operation, which went from 6:30 a.m. to 4:15 p.m., Fisher flew to Salt Lake City, arriving during the third quarter.
He hadn’t stretched. He hadn’t warmed up. He hadn’t taken a shot. He then forced a turnover to help force overtime, and hit his only shot, a game-sealing corner 3-pointer in the final minutes.
“I don’t know how I got through this tonight. I really don’t,” an emotional Fisher said after the game.
His teammates didn’t know either.
“We weren’t expecting him. We knew the situation,” Matt Harpring said. “When he showed, everyone respected the fact that he came to support us even though he was going through a hard time. A lot of guys would’ve taken the day off or not been able to focus. It just showed how professional he is. There’s a reason he’s been in the league so long.”
At Fisher’s introductory press conference with the Knicks on Tuesday, his wife, Candace, confirmed Tatum is healthy and doing well.
“She actually runs the household,” Candace joked.
Now, Tatum’s once-a-year doctor check-ups will not be cross-country treks, with Fisher signed for five years in New York.
Less than two weeks ago, he was a 39-year-old playing in Oklahoma City, looking for one last ring. Before that, there was Dallas and Los Angeles and Utah and Golden State and Los Angeles and Little Rock.
The steps can be retraced, the hours can be counted. There is logic to it, though it doesn’t make it all make any more sense to Fisher — the new head coach of the New York Knicks.
“Not in any picture I could ever draw or come up with,” Fisher said. “It’s like a movie that somehow just keeps getting better the longer it goes. I’m thankful that I get to be one of the main characters in this movie. It’s just been an amazing journey, one that will continue with this next phase. I’m excited about it. I’m looking forward to it. I believe it’s a job that I can handle, that I can do well.”