Last year Jason Kidd went from player straight to being the head coach. A lot of people were shocked, including me. For the most part Kidd was a team first player, but he was also a former star player with no formal coaching background. He probably isn’t the first player to make such a jump, but from my knowledge he is and no I’m not google searching to see if this is a fact or not. This brings me to today’s topic, Derek Fisher.
Fisher was hired by his former head coach and now president of basketball operations Phil Jackson to be the head coach of the New York Knicks. Fisher received a five-year $25 million deal, which isn’t bad for anybody including a guy who was making the veteran minimum in 2013-14.
Fisher won five championship all with the Los Angeles Lakers and that’s where the Jackson connection began. Fisher hit countless big shots and was always known as the glue to the team with a few all-time great superstars. He was the guy who on every team he played for was the leader a.k.a. the coach out on the floor. So it was no shock to me he was considered to become a coach when his playing days were done. I didn’t know that he would jump to become a head coach fresh off the floor, but after seeing how successful Jason Kidd was at the head spot it seemed to be a no brainer to give Fisher a shot at having the reins of a team.
