New York Knicks: 5 reasons David Fizdale is an excellent hire

1. Fizdale wanted New York

New York is not an easy place to perform. The fans are passionate and the media will eat you up and spit you out. It takes a special kind of person to handle all of the pressure that it takes to play in the city that never sleeps.

In recent years, it seemed that people were taking positions within the organization just for a payday. How much Fizdale will make with the Knicks has not yet been reported, but one encouraging thing is that he wanted to be here.

Fizdale actually passed on a four-year offer from the Phoenix Suns, according to Mike Scotto of The Athletic.

That means that New York was Fizdale’s first choice and that the Knicks’ first choice was Fizdale. Perry and Mills promised an extensive search and went through with that, interviewing 10 people for the job.

While Mike Budenholzer and David Blatt appeared to be the frontrunners last week, Fizdale landed the job. With only the Suns filling their head coaching job before the Knicks, and none of the people they interviewed being hired, it was clear that Fizdale was their man, and he wanted New York.

Marc J. Spears of ESPN’s The Undefeated shared the same information that Scotto did, adding that New York is where Fizdale badly wanted to be. His risk of passing on the Suns’ job paid off.

The last two times under Phil Jackson that the Knicks hired a head coach, it seemed that they missed on their top choices.

Next: Phoenix Suns - 5 reasons Igor Kokoskov was a great hire

This time around, the stars aligned as they landed the person that they wanted and he wanted to be in New York as well.