New York Knicks head coach David Fizdale will bring his players to NBA playoff games for the second straight year.
Fizdale confirmed his strategy to the New York Post's Marc Berman before the Knicks' last regular season game against the Detroit Pistons on April 10.
‘We're going to do that again,' Fizdale said before the Knicks played their season finale against Detroit at the Garden. ‘We're going to take multiple guys to all over.
‘This year, I'm going to have the assistants doing it. Some of the assistants take a guy here, I'll take a guy there. We're going to cover a lot of series with these guys.'
The Knicks coach think it's important, since none of them have played in the playoffs.
‘Experiencing the environment, I really thought that was good for Frank (Ntilikina), Dot (Damyean Dotson), and Mud (Emmanuel Mudiay) last year to go into Boston and watch (the) Boston (Celtics) and (the) Cleveland (Cavaliers) battling it out,' Fizdale said. ‘You got to see it and experience it before you ever get there.'
According to Berman, the Knicks' front office loves the way Fizdale relates to his players. The head coach's strategy of bringing them to playoff games serves as hard evidence.
Should the Knicks lose to the Pistons on Wednesday, they will finish the 2018-19 NBA season with a 17-65 (.207) win-loss record – their worst in franchise history.
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Despite that dubious achievement, New York is in a good position to draft coveted Duke Blue Devils freshman forward Zion Williamson in June.
Several sources also told Berman the Knicks are going to lure Boston Celtics point guard Kyrie Irving and Golden State Warriors forward Kevin Durant to the Big Apple.
If New York scores big with Williamson, Irving, and Durant, it won't be hard to imagine the Knicks taking part – and not watching – playoff games next season.