Phil Jackson’s fishing expedition is over. Second choice or not, the triangle offense will live at the Garden next season with Derek Fisher as its teacher.
Jackson came to New York to be the Knicks president and also coaching mentor. He has hired his former point guard, Fisher, who finished up his playing career only nine days ago with Oklahoma City.
Fisher finalized a deal to become the Knicks head coach Monday, ending Jackson’s rocky search at seven weeks. The Knicks will hold a press conference Tuesday at their practice facility to announce the hiring.
Fisher, who turns 40 in August, said after the Thunder were eliminated from the playoffs that coaching was his “calling,’’ and now he has Jackson as his mentor.
Yahoo! Sports reported the deal is for five years and $25 million, indicating Jackson learned his lesson from the Steve Kerr fiasco. According to an NBA source, his final offer to Kerr was four years, $17.6 million — $4.4 million per season.
Fisher, who won five titles under Jackson as a player with the Lakers, is expected to install the triangle offense revered by Jackson. Kerr, also one of his former point guards, was Jackson’s first choice, but he backed out of a verbal agreement last month to join the Warriors.
All along, Jackson preferred to hire someone from his “big circle’’ despite some Knicks officials encouraging him to consider hiring a coach without triangle experience, such as Mark Jackson.
“He was a lead guard and lead guards have a vision a lot of the times,” Phil Jackson said nine days ago. “Derek is one of those lead guards that had a real good concept of the game and liked doing the skill work and the drill work that’s necessary to hold guys to the premises of how to execute. I was not a lead guard, but somehow I wound up being a coach. I don’t know how that happened. It doesn’t happen in this day and age.’’
Fisher has a close relationship with Kevin Durant, a 2016 free agent who raved about Fisher’s coaching potential during the playoffs, saying he is “a great leader, great communicator.’’
Fisher, who played 18 seasons, becomes the league’s third-youngest coach. He could prove a valuable recruiter in 2015, when the Knicks have cap space, and in trying to convince Carmelo Anthony, who is friends with Durant, to return.
Jackson said last month he thought it intriguing to hire someone with “a clean slate,’’ meaning no coaching experience.
The Lakers, looking for a coach with experience, never got in the mix for Fisher. Lakers president Jeanie Buss, Jackson’s fiancée, could have played a role in their disinterest, not wanting to steal him away.
One concern was whether Fisher would want to move to New York. His four young kids live in Los Angeles. A native of Little Rock, Ark., Fisher recently said New York “grew on him” after he was so afraid of the city on his first visit, as a rookie with the Lakers, he locked himself in his hotel room.
During the 2011 lockout, Fisher spent weeks at a time in New York as president of the Players Association. One of his daughters also was suffering from a rare eye disease six years ago and traveled often to New York to see a top eye specialist.
Fisher, in his two seasons with Oklahoma City, was considered the strongest voice in the locker room and was recently voted by NBA players as the likeliest to move into coaching.
“I think I’ve always — for the last decade — really felt my purpose in life and calling was to be in a leadership position or some position of impact on other people,” he said earlier this month. “Somehow I’ve been blessed to positively impact other people.
“Coaching allows me to positively impact other people’s lives, to help people find success when they haven’t or have — working together for a common goal. There’s a love for helping other people. Not playing anymore — if that’s what it’s to be — coaching or being in the front office or being in a role where I can positively impact others and work together for a common goal is exciting to me.”