New York Knicks head coach David Fizdale met up with star player Kristaps Porzingis in Latvia. According to the coach, it went very well.
Since taking over the New York Knicks David Fizdale has lived up to his reputation as a player’s head coach. Fizdale has praised his young core in the media, and now he’s taken a visit to see his star player, Kristaps Porzingis.
According to ESPN’s Ian Begley, Fizdale and his wife, Natasha Sen-Fizdale, visited Porzingis in his native Latvia earlier this week. The former Grizzlies coach spoke to a Latvian television network.
“The NBA is a small world and you kinda know people from afar. But this trip is more about getting to know him intimately. Know his family, know where he’s from, kinda get to see what made him ‘Kristaps,'” Fizdale said in an interview with Latvian television network LSM.
The importance of Fizdale’s visit can’t be understated. New York’s relationship with their star player is likely the best it’s ever been, but Porzingis never bonded with previous coach Jeff Hornacek.
Hometown roots ? pic.twitter.com/n6RewLJV4u
— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) July 26, 2018
Fizdale spoke to Porzingis about his injury, the team’s playing style, and most importantly the future.
“We’ve talked about his rehab. We’ve talked about how we want to play, our style of play. Talked a lot about the culture that we’re building. We wanna make sure that he comes back strong and healthy (from his ACL surgery) and we don’t want to rush it. We’ve had some really good conversations,” Fizdale said. “We talked about the kids we drafted (Kevin Knox and Mitchell Robinson). I’ve tried to make sure that he’s — we’ve been in communication on every decision that we’ve made.”
It’s good to hear Fizdale mention he’s been in communication with Porzingis on decision-making. That’s what team’s do with their star players, and it seemed to be the biggest problem with KP and the old regime.
