Fisher: I Have Experience in Basketball

(Derek) Fisher, 39, was formally introduced by the Knicks on Tuesday, and he fielded questions for nearly an hour on a variety of topics, ranging from the triangle offense to Carmelo Anthony’s pending free agency to his relationship with Knicks’ president Phil Jackson. He answered them with a breezy confidence, finding comfort in familiar platitudes about bringing a winning culture back to the Knicks.

But when the conversation turned to Fisher’s experience—that is, his total lack of it, from a coaching standpoint—his tone changed, his eyes narrowed and a serious expression crossed his face. He made it clear that despite the unusual circumstances surrounding his appointment and the specter of his high-profile boss, he will command respect.

“I am experienced,” Fisher said in his most emphatic statement of the day. “Basketball is a game that I am experienced in playing, understanding, leading in, guiding in, helping another group of people achieve the greatest gift in the world as a professional athlete, and that’s being a champion. That I have experience in, and that’s the experience that I plan on sharing with these players.”

via Jared Diamond of the Wall Street Journal