Berman doing a little more work for Mills, throwing Fizdale under the bus a little more after the bus left the station weeks ago:
There are still some excuses you can offer David Fizdale.
The last five games he coached with the Knicks, he faced title contenders in Philly, Boston, Toronto, Milwaukee and Denver. Fizdale did not have starting point guard Elfrid Payton, part of the recent resurgence, for 17 straight games.
And while Fizdale has gotten rousing support from the coaching fraternity, the old Bill Parcells adage is never false: You are what your record says you are.
After gaining revenge on the depleted Wizards in Washington Saturday to close out 2019, Miller stands at 5-6 – already one more victory this season than the 4-18 Fizdale.
All those coaches/ex-coaches who killed the Knicks for firing Fizdale — Rick Carlisle, Steve Kerr, Gregg Popovich, Erik Spoelstra, Stan Van Gundy — are eating New Year’s Eve crow.
Only Jeff Van Gundy was sharp enough to acknowledge Miller as a shrewd basketball lifer deserving a crack at age 55.
“Mike just wants to focus on basketball,” one NBA executive in touch with Knicks brass said. “David is a lot about the glitz and glamour. He may have created some self-created distractions.”
It’d sure be swell if Randle could just be the guy I really liked on the Lakers a couple of years ago. I thought he’d be a nice pick-up then and then he did even better in New Orleans. Then he came here and was horrendous. If he keeps playing like he has lately, though, I’d gladly stick with him (although, if a team wanted to make a compelling offer for him, I’d obviously still listen if I were the Knicks) and see if he can be part of the next good Knicks team in a couple of years.