Knicks fans have been waiting for Nick Van Exel to join David Fizdale’s coaching staff. Monday, Van Exel took to Twitter to set the record straight.
Straight and to the point, “Nah”, was Nick Van Exel’s response to a New York Knicks fan’s inquiry as to whether he would be working with the orange and blue next season.
Nah
— nick vanexel (@vanexel31) May 14, 2018
This is a direct contradiction to Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News, who reported, late last week, that Van Exel was set to join Fizdale as part of his coaching staff.
“David Fizdale has said he’s just starting to build his staff but among the assistants expected on board is Nick Van Exel, multiple sources told the Daily News.”
The article also mentioned that other current Memphis staff like Keith Smart and Bob Bender may be headed to New York as well.
Van Exel initially joined the Memphis Grizzlies in 2016. That same year he spoke with Pete Pranica of NBA.com about the influence that his years on the court had on his coaching style.
“Playing the point guard position, I had to know everybody’s positon. I had to know the two position, three, four and five – offensively and defensively. So I’m just a reflection of the coach out on the court. I was a big talker, a big communicator, so it kind of rolled right into coaching.”
Knicks fans would have loved to have seen Van Exel work with young Paduan Frank Ntilikina and other guards like Trey Burke and Emmanuel Mudiay.
Van Exel scored over 15 points per game in seven out of his 14 seasons. There’s no doubt that he could have helped to improve Ntilikina’s offensive game.
I mean, we’ve all been there, right? Ask your roommate to clean the bathroom every once in blue moon, and you get a “Nah”. Or you ask that cute girl if she’s coming to your party on Saturday, and you get a “Wait maybe I ca–…..Nah”
This is just the latest rejection in a long line for Knicks fans.
