We should all be having what David Fizdale is having.
In a supremely optimistic TV interview from a Manhattan kids clinic Wednesday, the new Knicks coach said he “clicked” with Kristaps Porzingis, calling him “excited” about the team’s direction, adding all Knicks fans should be excited about what is growing at the Garden.
“It’s already happening,” Fizdale said about the franchise’s rebirth in the interview with Channel 4’s Bruce Beck. “Kristaps will come back healthy. He was already having a big-time season last year when he got knocked down. We had an awesome draft with Kevin Knox, Mitchell Robinson and Allonzo Trier — our two-way player. Scott [Perry] and these guys are sticking to an awesome plan, bringing in guys maybe that didn’t work out at a place before but are high draft picks. [With] good player development, good culture, they can turn into something they were expected to be. We’re doing it the right way.”
The Knicks are pegged in Las Vegas with an over-under of 29.5 wins, with an industry source saying more money is coming in under. Yet Knicks fans, who have suffered through five straight non-playoff seasons, seem to be buying into the rhetoric.
Fizdale and his wife, Natasha, visited the formerly disgruntled Porzingis in Latvia late last month and got good vibes from a four-day visit.
“Oh yeah, Kristaps is excited,” Fizdale said. “I’m telling you right now. We had four days of fun. We talked some hoop. I planned on watching film with him. We had so much fun, we never get to the film part of it. A lot of the conversations was about our culture and the environment we’re trying to create where everyone is held accountable and respects each other. I really felt that clicked with him.
“He likes the challenge of me wanting him to be the MVP and Defensive Player of the Year. Real competitors want that. I’m going right at it with him. I want him to look at himself that way.”
Because of Fizdale’s feud with Spaniard Marc Gasol in Memphis, there was concern about how the new Knicks coach would handle another All-Star European. Fizdale knew he had to make the trip, especially because of Porzingis’ prior disenchantment with the franchise’s blueprint.
“It was a must,” Fizdale said of his trek. “That’s just who I am. I’ve never not seen a player over the summer. Wherever they are, I’m going there. For me and my wife to experience his culture and lived day to day in that city and learn how he grew up and things he ate growing up, places he played — for him and his family to share that with us and let us in and show us hospitality — was amazing.”
The Knicks haven’t declared a timetable for Porzingis’ return from ACL surgery, but NBA’s national networks made the Knicks part of their Christmas Day lineup against the Bucks — the club against which he suffered his catastrophic injury. The Knicks are the only lottery team on the 10-team card other than LeBron James’ Lakers.
Fizdale alluded to former lottery picks the Knicks are trying to resurrect, including July signees Mario Hezonja and Noah Vonleh and returnees Emmanuel Mudiay and Trey Burke. When asked by Beck how he intends to fix the Knicks’ “mess,” Fizdale said: “I don’t like to call anything that was before me a mess. I respect the guys who came before me. They didn’t accomplish what they set out to do. I’m here to accomplish that. I think we can put together something special.”
Training camp begins Sept. 24 in Tarrytown, with the season opener against Atlanta on Oct. 17 at the Garden. Fizdale said his challenge is “being patient. I know I have to keep myself in a state of patience and let the guys grow and go through the suffering of sometimes not looking so good.”
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