A somber Carmelo Anthony claimed he didn’t see Derek Fisher’s firing coming, nor did he want it to come, and made references to “politics’’ and “B.S.’’
The shock echoed across the subdued Knicks locker room one day after the team lost its coach in a sudden firing after a 1-9 skid entering Tuesday’s Washington game put their playoff hopes in serious peril. The Knicks’ 111-108 loss to the Wizards didn’t help matters, either.
“We were all surprised,’’ Anthony said. “This was something, I really don’t know if it was a quick decision or if it was lingering. Nobody wants to lose their coach, especially some of the young guys. This is an experience they have to go through. For me, having to keep those guys intact, keep them in line, and let them know it happens. Unfortunately it’s happening to us right now.
“I haven’t seen this coming, nobody seen this coming. This was totally on the management, they made that decision. It’s unfortunate but we have to move on from there.’’
Anthony admitted he’s “kind of immune to all the B.S. that goes on and the politics.’’
Rookie Kristaps Porzingis saw his favorite coach, Scott Roth, fired during the season in Spain last year.
“Last year I saw it coming, this year I didn’t see it coming,’’ Porzingis said.
Sources told The Post some players considered Fisher more “preacher’’ than an X’s and O’s guy, but nobody was hoping for a midseason change.
“Obviously it’s shocking,’’ Arron Afflalo said. “Change is part of this game. All you can hope is it’s for the better for the players and organization. I don’t know the specifics, but the obvious ones are the losses. It’s a winning business and we know that.’’
Asked if Fisher’s speeches became too tiring, Afflalo said, “I believe he was respected. In terms of the motivation and speeches, I for one am a self-motivated guy.
“I don’t know who relies on coach’s pregame speech to that magnitude to give effort, especially the starters. Maybe a change like this puts a lot of guys on alarm that things can happen.’’
Anthony said Fisher will be back as a head coach somewhere.
“My short stint with Fish, my hat goes off to him as a coach, as a player,’’ Anthony said. “I respected [him] a lot especially for coming in and taking on this seat, here in New York coaching the Knicks. First-time coach, so it was a new experience for him. I’m pretty sure me knowing him he will learn from this experience and he will be on somebody else’s sideline pretty soon — if that’s what he wants.’’
Nobody was ready yet to praise new interim coach Kurt Rambis or give a treatise on what could change.
“It’s similar — I think there’s a little more emphasis on different things,’’ Robin Lopez said. “It’s hard though with so few examples — one practice, one shootaround. I guess you could talk about different personalities.’’