SAN ANTONIO — Cross off one potential competitor for the Knicks in the quest for the coaching services of Derek Fisher.
The Lakers want a coach with previous NBA experience, according to the Los Angeles Times, and that obviously takes Fisher out of the running. The veteran point guard, who turns 40 in August, must decide whether he wants to retire following his season with Oklahoma City and if he wants to coach.
If he answers in the affirmative to both, the Knicks and president Phil Jackson, who coached Fisher with the Lakers, appear willing to embrace him and could do so this week.
At the NBA Finals on Saturday, two players, San Antonio’s Matt Bonner and Miami’s James Jones, gave Fisher high praise as a potential coaching candidate, based on what they saw working with him in the players union.
“From a leadership standpoint and working with him in the union, he has a ‘coach’s air’ for sure,” Bonner said. “If he’s as good a leader on the court and in the locker room as he appears to be, as people have played with him say he is, he should make a great coach.”
Jones pointed to the experience Fisher has amassed over 18 seasons.
“This game today is about being able to manage, instruct and guide and D-Fish has been able to do it on the court so I suspect he’ll do it just as well or better off the court,” Jones said. “Whatever he does, from management to coaching, I know he’s prepared and equipped to be one of the best at it.He played with some of the game’s greatest players and one of the game’s greatest coaches and he’s been able to soak that up.”
Hall of Fame coach Hubie Brown, here as a broadcast analyst, also gave an endorsement, but stressed Fisher who would need to surround himself with a veteran staff and “teaching guys.”
“He’s never been a head coach but other guys have done this: right there in Brooklyn, Jason Kidd,” Brown said. “More important, think of the tough locker rooms he has been in: L.A. and Oklahoma City where the expectations were really high and yet he would be a heard voice.”
But New York is a different animal, said Mark Jackson, the ousted Golden State coach who is widely considered the people’s choice for the Knicks.
“It’s certainly different,” said Jackson, here for the TV broadcast. “The coverage, the way to handle the media, the fans, your team, the way to handle the pressure. It’s different than anywhere else. That’s why it’s better than anywhere else if you win. … It’s just different. If you can do it there with the pressure and scrutiny, you are celebrated and people appreciate it.”